On Saturday, March 23, South Windsor High School’s award-winning show choir, Choral Spectrum, took the long trip to attend Bishop Hendricken High School in Rhode Island. The group, directed by Mr. Jereme Martineau, choreographed by Tori Brindis, and helped by Emma Luxemburg and Ian Martineau, has been a staple in the New England Show Choir Circuit for just under 2 decades. Bishop Hendricken played host to the third annual Lil Rhody Rumble, and witnessed the group from South Windsor take home the title of Grand Champs, marking the first the feat has been achieved by spectrum since 2018.
The students of Spectrum have been working tirelessly since preseason started back in September. They previously competed in 2 other competitions this year, the Show Choir Spectacular, which took place at Tantasqua Regional High School, and the New England Show Choir Showdown, which had its home in Andover High School, both in Massachusetts. They took a runner-up position at the first, a feat in itself as the group was forced to perform without their director who was out due to Covid. Stiff competition, and a three way tie for second, turned a 3rd place finish into a 5th final position at Andover. All of this built to the Lil’ Rhody Rumble, which became the pinnacle performance for the show choir, and ended their season with a bang.
The Lil Rhody Rumble consisted of around 18 show choirs from across New England and New York, but Spectrum competed directly against 5 other choirs in the Large Mixed Division. The grand champion trophy was not the only hardware they brought home, though. The group also took best vocals and choreography, as well as finishing first in both their division and the show. Individuals within Spectrum won other awards as well. Junior Tiernan Cabot won a Best Soloist Award, while junior Aditi Verma was awarded Best Performer within Spectrum.
It is the first time in over half a decade that Choral Spectrum has pulled off a feat such as this. The last time Spectrum won this big was back in 2018. That year saw the group take first at the Nutmeg Show Choir Festival, which has since shut down. They also took Best Vocals and Best Band, yet could not get the Best Choreography award this year’s group was able to.
This year’s performance was one that will be remembered for a long time in both the music department and in Spectrum. The set list consisted of 5 songs. The opener, “Dance Like Nobody’s Watching/More” featured a solo by junior Nkailu Nsakala, which was followed by “Feel Like Dancing.” The ballad was a beautiful rendition of the Disney classic “When You Wish Upon A Star,” with soloist junior Ava Matthew. “Love Yourself” acted as the fourth song, with senior Kaitlynn Pusztai in charge of the call and response solo, and the set ended with the blazing “Dhoom Machale/Dhoom Again,” with Cabot and senior Anushri Sandeep soloing. The set was performed to the home stage twice, with a shortened version being featured at the winter concert, and the full set seen at Cabaret.
This win enthralls the members of the group. Many students have been competing since middle school, utilizing the middle school program, Spotlight Show Choir, as a stepping stone into Choral Spectrum.
Junior Saumya Shekkar, a multi-year member of the group discussed this united growth when talking to The Prowl, “Growing up through spotlight together made the win in high school so much more meaningful.”
Seniors in particular are feeling very nostalgic over this growth, as well as the program as a whole.
Lil Rhody was the last competition of the season, and for a senior class who has come a long way since their Covid impacted freshman year, the story book ending was the best they could have asked for. While the hubbub and craziness of the season and performance will be missed, the memories made will always be remembered.
“Spectrum has been my favorite high school memory and this was the best last season I could’ve ever asked for,” commented Sandeep, a four-year senior and one of Spectrum’s student leaders and alongside Ryan Brass, Nkailu Nsakala, and Sophia Ghagare.
That camaraderie goes to show that the group was not simply meant to win. Despite their success, the true achievement of Spectrum in many peoples eyes, is not the trophies that they bring home, but the family that is created through the group. “The community of Spectrum is just super special,” commented junior Devin Migneualt, another multi-year member of the program.
While their competition season may be over for the season, they still have one more performance to look forward to. The group will join the rest of the choral department in their POPS concert, coming up in May.
Spectrum’s win has allowed them to be recognized as an essential part of the school community and the music department, and this boost will push them to achieve even greater things in the following seasons. They hope to continue building on the momentum they have, bidding farewell to the class of 2024 while looking ahead to success in the future.
