MUSIC FESTIVAL: Middle School All-Stars In Harmony

400 middle school students from Des Moines gathered Tuesday at the Iowa State Fairgrounds for a Des Moines Middle School Music Festival.

Channel 13’s Andy Fales reports.

“You have about four hours from the moment you sit in the chair to when it’s like, ‘okay, on we go.’” Says Scott Rieker, president-elect of the Iowa Music Educators Association.

Tuesday was the first time the singers and musicians had ever played together as one. “All of these students are very talented,” Rieker says. “You don’t get to be here today without being chosen by your director at your school.”

“You don’t know if they’re going to play it right, or if you’re going to sing it right,” says eight-grade singer Nicole Batz of Brody Middle School, “so you just have to watch the conductor the best that you can.”

From the band, to the orchestra, to the choir, somehow everyone came together Tuesday; parents were impressed.

“Middle school kids and any kind of focus can be a challenge,” Rieker adds, “but you have students here that are driven by their love of the art that they’re performing and by the chance to get a day out of school, and when you put both of those together, you tend to have highly motivated people.”

Junior high harmony; it does exist, and many parents were able to capture it on camera.