About Our Program
New Kent Middle School Chorus is based out of New Kent Middle School in New Kent, VA. The NKMS choir program consists of 5 groups:
Year-Long Crescendo Choir, Semester Crescendo Choir, Lion Choir, Vox Anima, and A Prideful Roar.
Crescendo Choir (Year Long & Semester)
Crescendo is the musical word meaning "grow". As our 6th grade students experience their first year in middle school chorus, they are sure to grow as students, as singers, and as musicians through instruction in sight reading, vocal technique, and vocal blending skills.
Our Year-Long Choir students not only participate in the major concerts of each semester, but are also invited to join the 7th and 8th grade students for the Veteran's Day Performance, Summer Pops Concert, and to participate in Festivals of Music at Kings Dominion in a typical year.
Lion Choir
Our 7th and 8th graders combine to become one master Lion Choir. This combined group will give students a chance to hear voices of different ages, sing with students with a variety of choral backgrounds and experiences, and will be able to perform larger choral works intended for larger numbers of voices to create a powerful sound.
Vox Anima
Vox Anima, meaning "voice of the soul" in Latin, is the 7th and 8th grade Varsity Choir. Students in this varsity group auditioned in the spring of 2018 and were hand selected by the director for their ability to learn music quickly, sight read, and the ability of the student to listen and blend their voice with their fellow choir members. This group will perform often and more difficult music than could have been achieved in the past of our program. This group competed in District Assessment in March of 2019, and received a Superior rating from all 4 judges who adjudicated their performances.
A Prideful Roar
Prideful Roar is our show choir class of combined 7th and 8th grade students who are interesting in performing more contemporary music and adding a more intensive performance element, including dancing and acting.
Our Director
Rachel Fish is the current Director of Choral Activities at New Kent Middle School in New Kent, Virginia. Mrs. Fish began at New Kent Middle School in 2016, after one year of teaching elementary music in Florence, Texas, and has grown the program from 86 students her first year to approximately 180 students in the years following. Mrs. Fish currently directs all four choirs a NKMS, including the varsity group, Vox Anima, the non-varsity choir, Lion Choir, the beginning choir, Crescendo Choir, and the show choir, A Prideful Roar. Her students have participated in several local and state-wide events including All-Virginia Choir, Northern Neck All-Area Chorus, District Choral Assessments, Festivals of Music Competition, and Music in the Parks Competition. Mrs. Fish began her choral experience at Murchison Middle School in Austin, Texas and has been an active member of the choral community ever since.
In 2015, Mrs. Fish received her Bachelors of Music in Education and Performance Certificate in Voice from the University of South Carolina, where she was a member of the Concert Choir, under the direction of Dr. Larry Wyatt and the International Choral Collaboration under the direction of Dr. Alicia Walker, and toured internationally with USC Choirs in South Africa, Spain, and throughout the Southern United States, as well as studying voice under Peter Barton, and Dr. Donald Gray.
After getting married to her husband, Collin, in July of 2016, she moved to Richmond and joined the Richmond Symphony Chorus, with whom she continues to perform and act as the Alto Section Leader. She is also a member of NAfME, VMEA, and ACDA, and is on the leadership team for FACETS, a conference for women choral conductors. Mrs. Fish was the director for the February 2018 performance of Into the Woods Jr. at NKMS. Mrs. Fish still lives in Richmond with her son, Austin, and dog Daisy, and loves living in Virginia and working in New Kent.