LOYAL. LOCAL. COMPLETE.
On Sunday, April 6, the Paris Cooperative High School choir performed their annual spring concert at the Paris Fine Arts Center. The performance featured the PCHS choir, the boys’ choir and multiple soloists. According to chior director Jessica Hendrickson, the students all did a superb job on every piece during their performance, but a couple of songs really stood out.
“The piece I was the most proud of was ‘Measure Me, Sky’ because it was the 2025 Allstate Choir song, and I was really proud of ‘Sleep’ because it was eight parts and a cappella, and we performed it at a pretty high level,” Hendrickson said.
To keep her students interested and “in the game”, the choir director doesn’t normally introduce music until a couple of months before concerts. She makes sure to work on different sections/pieces each day in class so as not to “overdo each song”. Finally, she also makes sure to give her students days to rest from doing concert work and be able to do other things.
“It is easy to suffer from early burnout when all you do in class is rehearse for the concert,” she said.
When teaching her students new music, Hendrickson has learned to set high goals and expect them to do their best and follow through.
“If you set the expectation high, the students nine times out of 10 will meet the expectation or come close,” she said. “Set the bar high and they will do it. I find that students just need pushed. Some days were rough, and I could tell we weren’t feeling it, but that’s okay. Just push through and try again the next day. It’s a process and in the end it’s always a rewarding one.”
Many of the students involved with the PCHS choir have had Hendrickson as a teacher for several years, creating a special bond between them.
“Having the students from when they are in 6th grade all the way throughout high school is extremely rewarding. I get to watch them grow and be a part of their musical journey from a young age. It’s really cool,” she said.
The choir’s next performance is a POPS concert in May, and Hendrickson has selected a theme around a popular Broadway show-turned-movie, Wicked.
“With Part One recently being released, ‘Wicked’ is super hip right now in the music world,” she said. “Why not theme the POPS concert around it?”