by Chase Spencer

On March 27, the jazz choir competed at their first state competition, a feat that only 32 choirs have accomplished across the state of Iowa. The competition was held at Valley High School in West Des Moines. They performed the three songs they have performed at their other competition which consisted of “It Had to be You” by Greg Gilpin, a combination of “When October Goes” and “Autumn Leaves” by Paul Langford and “Misty” by Kirby Shaw. A total of eight schools competed in the 2A division at the competition. The PCM jazz choir received eighth place in their division.

“I thought they did very well for their first year. They recently started scat and they performed it best at this competition,” Choir director Chloe McCartney commented.

Scat is a form of vocal improvisation made up of sounds and not words and is popular among jazz vocalists. The entire idea of a jazz choir was new to PCM, so the members of the choir have learned a lot in a matter of months.

McCartney said, “The best part of the jazz choir season was to see them evolve. Seeing them go from knowing nothing to competing at State. They worked hard and did great.”

Sophomore Jacob Cox commented on his favorite part of the jazz choir season, “The best part of the jazz choir season had to be when we got to perform. When we were up on stage you could see that all of us really loved vocal jazz.”

This is the end of the jazz choir season, but they will be back next year with fresh faces and ready to learn more.