Gear up for the holidays with the 10 choirs at this school as they prepare for their biggest show of the year, ‘Holiday Spectacular.’

Compiled by Lauren Burdick and Meredith Boyd

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The Anatomy of a ‘Spec’ student

• Sparkles. The perfect complement to any of the 40 costume changes during the show
• Spirit fingers.
• The diaphragm contracts while singing. With 20 numbers in a show, that’s a lot of contractions.
• Lungs, located on either side of the heart, transport oxygen to her bloodstream for when she sings.
• Microphone: always ready for some serenading. The choirs have been practicing their sweetest singing since late September.
• Vocal chords vibrate during singing to produce sound. They can vibrate 440 times per second while singing a middle C.
• Note the bags under her eyes from a perpetual lack of sleep due to practices. And there’s no sleep in her future with five performances to put on.
• Fake eyelashes.
• Hair slicked back with no flyaways or static.

Great exSPECtations: Sisters, Accent and senior Amy Marshall and Counterpoint and freshman Laura Marshall, discuss expectations for ‘Holiday Spectacular’

Different Viewpoints

• A: “I’m kind of sad (that this is my last show) but I’m really looking forward to competition and stuff we’re doing next semester even more. I really have enjoyed Holiday Spec. though, and I’m sad it’s my last one.”

• L: “I’m really excited for the dancing. It’s really different from middle school because of the high expectations and because everyone is coming out to see it. People drive from different states.”

Sisterly Bonding

• A: I’m definitely going to (help my sister) especially be cause it’s her first year and I know I would have loved to have an older sibling that was doing Spec. at the same time I was because it can be really stressful trying to do hair and makeup every night and trying to figure out how to get all your homework done.”

• L: (Amy) has helped me with my hair and makeup and learning to sing better.

Wisdom of Age

• A: As I’ve become more involved, I started to see how (Holiday Spectacular) came together more. It was really cool to see that. And I see how hard the choir directors work to get the show

together. It’s a big show to pull together but they always do a great job.