"Will is a unique talent - something that you kind of get once in a lifetime as a teacher." "(I had a) very high confidence level," she said. Jenifer Wiggins, the choir director at OHS, wasn't surprised that Jones landed in the top spot. He also looks for guidance from others that have performed the pieces and incorporates some of what he sees to make it his own. "I analyze the lyrics (to see) what I would do if I was saying these things." ".You're getting into the character of the song (and) you're really meaning what you're saying," Jones said. He also practices physical movements that he will use when performing on stage in front of a mirror to come off as authentic as possible while finding ways to connect the material as best he can. "Physically, I drink a lot of water I definitely stay hydrated. "I've performed before, and that's helped with the mental (preparedness) when I'm on stage in front of hundreds of people. Jones has been singing his "whole life" but didn't start taking his talents to the next level until he enrolled at Owensboro Middle School when he joined the choir in the eighth grade and taking voice lessons in the past three years.īut more goes into the preparation besides getting the voice ready to deliver to an audience. " 'Am Feierabend' was a heavy song, but in the same song there's a light part and 'It Was A Lover And His Lass' is more smooth and softer, and 'Arise, ye subterranean winds' is just really heavy and crazy and it shows the range." "I was still working on (the diction) the day of the performance." "It took a few weeks to learn the German. When he took center stage over the weekend, Jones belted out "Am Feierabend" by Franz Schubert, "Arise, ye subterranean winds" by Henry Purcell and "It Was A Lover And His Lass" by Gerald Finzi. Jones and Jewett would work together for about an hour once a week.įor the pieces, each participant was required to prepare three songs for the competition, with at least two songs or arias coming from the standard "classical" vocal repertoire and one of the selections being in a language other than English. "That's about when we started working on (the) songs." "He said, 'I really think you should do it,' " Jones said. Jones, a bass-baritone, found out about the competition during the summer from his vocal teacher Dennis Jewett, who is also the associate professor of music and director of voice and music education at Kentucky Wesleyan College.
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