For Herricks High School senior Joslyn Thomas, her recent experience performing as an alto in the All-National Honor Choir in Nashville, Tenn. was not much more intense than her usual rehearsal schedule but far more memorable.
Thomas, a member of three high school choral groups and three singing groups outside of school, spent four days in Nashville from Oct. 27 through Oct. 30, logging three eight-hour days in rehearsing for seven vocal pieces with 350 other high school students who are part of the All-National Honor Choir.
Their work culminated in a 40-minute concert in the Presidential Ballroom of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel on the morning of the fourth day.
The 350 singers who performed in the All-National Honor Choir, which is sponsored by the National Association for Music Education, were selected from school around the country based on applications and video auditions.
“It was challenging at times. You don’t want to sing too loud,” Thomas said of the rehearsals and the need to preserve her voice. “As I’m going into music in college, it was a great way to challenge myself.”
Thomas said the four days working with choir conductor Rollo Dilworth and the other singers was an “amazing” learning experience. And, she said, she formed fast friendships with many other members of the chorus that she hopes to maintain in the future.
Thomas applied for the choir in the spring of her junior year, performing “Lesberceaux” by French composer Faure. She was notified near the end of the summer that she had made the cut.
“I was in shock,” she said.
The All-National Honor Choir was the biggest choral group Thomas has sung in with 100 more singers than the All-State choir she performed with last year, which had 250.
She also sings in the 100-member Metropolitan Youth Orchestra Youth Chorale.
Thomas received the seven songs the All-National group was going to perform two weeks before traveling to Nashville. They included a spiritual composed by Dilworth, a Greek piece, an Indian piece and two pieces in Latin. Working on the songs was difficult, she said, because she’s accustomed to rehearsing in groups like the Herricks Chamber Choir rather than by herself.
On the trip to Nashville, she had the moral support of Erica Purrone, the Searingtown School teacher who coached Thomas in the first song she ever performed for the New York State School Music Association tests.
In the end, she said the 40-minute concert seemed to take about five minutes.
“It went by in a flash,” Thomas said.
Thomas, who lives in Albertson, started singing in choruses in fourth grade at Searingtown. A member of the Tri-M Music Honor Society, she is now president of the chamber choir, vice president of women’s choir and president of the Herricks 16 jazz/pop group at the high school.
Outside of school, Thomas has been singing in the choir of the Epiphany Marthoma Church in Jamaica since sixth grade. She was choir leader of that group last year and is section leader this year. She also performs in the 24-member Nassau-Suffolk Vocal Jazz Ensemble, influenced by her parents, who she said always liked jazz.
“I always wanted to branch out,” she said.
Thomas will demonstrate her versatility this year by performing as a member of the ensemble in the Herricks fall musical production of “Kiss Me Kate.”
“I just love that you can express feelings that you wouldn’t be able to say,” she said. “It’s just a beautiful thing.”
Thomas said she has been taking private voice lessons for the past three years and estimates that she spends five hours a week practicing her singing outside of school rehearsal sessions.
Thomas said she plans to major in music education in college and eventually wants to teach chorus on a high school level.
In her spare time, she said, she likes to learn jazz or classical songs.
