Showmen Choir
Reading your article about the success of the Los Alamitos High School Choir, I was hoping you might consider writing about another choir success story.
The Showmen showchoir at Oak Middle School was inspired by the high school boys show choir (Xtreme), at Los Alamitos High School.
The Showmen choir is a new showchoir comprised of 30 middle school boys. It was formed as recently as Fall 2009.
It is comprised of boys with little or no previous singing or dancing experience. Under the tenacious leadership of Mrs. Tina Peterson, this group of middle school boys have had some fantastic accomplishments this school year.
They took home second prize this February in the Xtravaganza competition, and only last weekend, they took home first prize in their division at the prestigious Forum Festival in Fullerton. They perform many genres, everything from Welcome to the Jungle by GunsNRoses, to Harry Belafonte, to the musical Guys and Dolls.
Mrs. Peterson does a fantastic job with these 6th-,7th- and 8th-grade boys who chose boy’s show choir as their elective.
This class is not done by audition, so she has quite the job of teaching them all how to sing and dance and they are fantastic! This is a group of boys from all parts of the school (the jocks, the nerds, the honors students, the troublemakers) who combine all their energy into doing something great.
They may have been worried about being teased by other boys in the beginning, but now the girls are swooning when they perform!
Mrs. Peterson has taught these boys not only music and performing, but also poise, determination and teamwork. During this process, she has given them self-confidence which will stay with them as they leave middle school and beyond.
Oak Showmen will be performing at Oak middle school at their cabaret on June 3 and 4.
Andrea Carpenter
