By Joeliz Gonzalez – Staff Reporter

Ms. Jones is the Choir teacher at Jonathan Law. Advocate Staff Reporter Joeliz Gonzalez interviewed Jones about the recent Choir competition trip to Six Flags and about the year overall.

Joeliz Gonzalez: How as a teacher did you prepare yourself and your students for the big competition?

Ms. Jones: To prepare for the competition was a lot of hard work and dedication during class time rehearsal. We even have outside of school rehearsal for the Advanced Vocal Ensemble. But it was really about taking performances, listening to them, reflecting upon them and improving on these specific vocal techniques so the students themselves would listen back and do constructive criticism work in sections and then we tried to put it all together as an ensemble. Well, they responded to cues to make it the best performance possible.

JG: What is your favorite part about being a Choir teacher?

MJ: My favorite part of being a Choir teacher is obviously the students. They bring so much personality energy to make my day better every single day. The music is amazing but its nothing without the students and their personality so watching them flourish and continue to grow as musicians while also giving a piece of themselves is what makes every day so amazing.

JG: What is your favorite part of the big Six Flags trip?

MJ: Without a doubt, my favorite part was watching the students’ faces after they were finished, performing because you could just see the elation and the pride beaming from their souls. They just know all the hard work, dedication and all the turmoil and struggling that we went through to get to that moment. It was just like a final release and being so proud of it paying off so that was definitely the highlight for me.

JG: What was going through your mind when Law came in first place in the competition?

MJ: Competition is such a strange thing for me because making music shouldn’t be about competition making music is about the camaraderie and the unity and the beauty behind the music so it should be about competing with one another, but it really is a great to get feedback from people outside of your small circle so in that moment is it doesn’t what the outcome is it just matters that we feel good about the performance that we put on, but there is also this feeling of angst and you know hope that all that hard work pays off for the students so that they feel really proud of that moment as well and so it was just a combination of already being proud and knowing that we’ve done the best that we possibly can, but also the excitement of I really hope that that pays off in that way for them so it’s just a lot of hoping and anxiety

JG: How do you feel about the seniors leaving this year? 

MJ: It’s almost like rage bait. I think that this is the worst part of my job by far this student’s graduating I feel like it’s rude and if they cared at all, I’d stay forever, but I think it’s bittersweet because anything that is really great. That always makes it so much harder when you lose it and so anything that is painful or because it’s a loss is really just a mindful reminder of how beautiful it was what you had and so they have been amazing. They put in so much time and effort and they’ve helped build the program to stay in the program and bring new life to it in different ways and so I’m so thankful for them. I wish them all the best in their future and I really look forward to reuniting again every year for the meeting. We are blessed.