Live and in person

MT. PLEASANT - The Mt. Pleasant Community Schools music department presented its annual variety show Sunday afternoon. It was the first in-person indoors audience of a music event all year at the high school.

According to choir director Marlene DePreist, the organizer of the event, the show was not officially opened to the public but was open to the parents. Allowing families to see their children perform live for the first time this year, since the marching band season. According to DePriest, families were extremely grateful for the opportunity to see their students perform.

'They have been so ready for an audience, I mean they desperately needed an audience and many parents have said, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you for making this happen,' so everybody was ready for the live performance,” DePriest said.

Although the live performance wasn't without its share of planning and preparation to ensure that the event was safe. To ensure the performance was done safely the variety show was only open to parents of the children, allowing them to limit the number of spectators. The event required masks for performers and audience members at all times.

The show had staggered performance times with the middle school variety show occurring at 2 p.m. and the high school show occurring at 3:30 p.m.

This allowed the high school gym, where the event was held, to be aired out between shows and ensured that the middle school parents were there for the middle school portion and then were allowed to leave once it was complete. DePriest said that they closely monitored the county's positivity rate and other metrics used to measure the spread of COVID-19 and tried to plan for a safe performance to ensure that parents were able to see their children perform.

'We watched the numbers and everything like that, and if we felt that it wasn't going to be safe then we wouldn't have done it. We try to do it in the safest way and think through everything the best that we can,” DePriest said.

With an abrupt end to their season last year, music kids were left feeling uncertain but excited about this year, with no telling what would occur and what would be canceled.

'I'm very excited. It was unfortunate not to get everything last year, and everything's different with masks and safety precautions,” said senior Grace Kelley, one of the hosts of the high school variety show. 'I think it's just as fun and just as exciting to get out there and perform,”

The variety show is often seen as a rite of passage for music students, and a fun form of self expression. Many of last year's seniors were able to perform at the variety show last year but were unable to get events such as Dessert Theater and spring concerts before the COVID-19 shutdown began almost a year ago.

'It's a very good show of self-expression which was very upsetting for a lot of us not to go out,” Kelly said. 'My heart goes out to last year's seniors who did not get that last opportunity, so I'm glad that I get one with my senior year.”

With this being the first socially distanced and limited attendance form of the show, many were skeptical about the quality of the performance. Many were worried about their debut performance.

'It was definitely nerve-racking at first because nobody's seen it, but I think it's a great feeling because they love what you do no matter if you mess up or if it's a mediocre performance we get all of that love and support,” Kelley said.

With the show being a rite of passage for many music students choir Director Marlene DePriest was excited to be able to have the show, bringing back a little bit of normalcy.

'Absolutely, It's just one of those things that kids look forward to, and it's good for the younger ones to see what they have to look forward to in the next several years and I think that we all need that normalcy, the teachers included,” she said.

The variety show saw performances from the middle school jazz band and the middle school show choir group 'Chain Reaction.” The high school performance included the high school jazz 1 and 2 bands as well as their show choir group 'InMotion.” The high school performance saw individual performances by students in a skit-like manner.