Excellence prevails in Senior With the start of the 1985-86 year came challenge and excitement for the seventyseven member senior high chorus . The challenge of maintaining the set standard of excellence and the excitement of uniting as one, enabled the chorus to rise to the challenge. The first duty of Mr. Jones was to acquaint the chorus, old and new members, to the newest twist in improved singing - the binder clip. As Mr. Jones explained many times, the binder clip helps one to sing more openly; and, as members came to discover, he was correct. The first performance of the year for the chorus was before a 3000 member crowd at the Benson Auditorium for the Harding University Lectureship. Both director and chorus entered the performance with apprehensions, but after the program began the chorus settled down to present their best. Fall tour took half the chorus to Louisiana to perform. On the two-day trip, the chorus stopped to sing in Monroe, Louisiana, and Monticello. Harding Academy attended the AllRegion Chorus tryouts at Little Rock. Members who made All-Region Chorus and placed high enough attended AllState Chorus later in the year. As December arrived, the sounds of Christmas carols floated down the halls of the Academy as the chorus rehearsed for the annual Christmas program. The program revived the spirit of Christmas as the chorus brought its well wishes for the holiday season. In February, the chorus hosted the Arkansas Christian High School Chorus Festival which brought the Academy chorus and other Arkansas Christian choruses together to rehearse and enjoy making new friendships and renewing old ones. Later that night the choruses presented a program at the Academy. The addition of a men's quartet and a women's ensemble broadened the choral program. These groups entertained with barbershop quartets and sacred music during chapel programs and other chorus presentations. In February the group began raising money to help finance the spring tour to Colorado. Through long hours, hard work, and cooperation the chorus' goal was reached. On the first day of spring High Chorus break, the Harding Academy bus, packed with chorus members, followed the sun to the snow-covered Rocky Mountains. The 1985-86 junior high chorus was, in reality, two choruses in one; the class schedule split the chorus into sections. During the first semester one half of the ninth graders and all the eighth graders met together to rehearse under the direction of Mr. Jones. During the second semester the other half of the ninth graders and the seventh graders composed the junior high chorus. Under this method, both groups benefited from having the experience and leadership of the ninth grade. In the first semester, the chorus spent part of the time working in a theory composition notebook while the other time was spent preparing for the junior high chorus Christmas program in December. In the second semester, the chorus once again worked with theory composition. The latter half of the year was spent preparing for the spring program. Both groups benefited from learning the fundamentals of music, and improvement was witnessed in numerous outstanding chapel programs. Jm Senior High Chorus: Front row: Boaz , Hendon , Diles, J. Tate, Boustead , Newton , Isom , Martin , L. Buss, Fujisawa , Howe , Tallant , Vaughn . Second row : K. Johnson , C. Smith , Kreh , T . Boyd , Farrar , Rowan, Underwood , T. Buss , Adams, Lyons, Pelkey, D . Brown , Durrington , Hite Third row: 300 Chorus Olree, Henderwon , N. Thomas , V . Johnson , Forbves, J. Smith, Lloyd , Norwood , Howard , ]. Ryan , Kinningham , Hillis, Grunwald , B. Brown , Powell , ]ones - director . Fourth row: Joe Dugger, B. Thomas, Altman , ]on Dugger , Lollis , Stanley, W ood, Boaz, C. Johnson , Barden , Griffen , Bailey, Ma ck ey, King , Romine , Flippin. Back row: Shacke lford, Rickey , Bouchareb , W. Ryan , ]. Boyd, House, M . Brown , McGaha , Corder, White, Cook, England, Reed , Yarbrough , Citty , Oldham , Clark . - photo by John Radcliffe.
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