Northlake Christian School has never had a large music department. However, the talent among the student is incredible and opportunities for students are always growing. One of these opportunities is Vocal Ensemble, a class taught by Jenni Cowart.

“I love music and performing and I wanted to help keep that going at [Northlake] since there are not a lot of music opportunities offered,” Cowart said, who loves teaching the class.

Unlike many schools, Vocal Ensemble at Northlake offers not only an opportunity to grow musically, but to showcase and openly praise the Lord.

“My favorite part of [vocal ensemble] is when all of us are singing together for the Lord and you can feel the amount of emotion and love in the room,” sophomore Abbie Davis commented.

Davis loves Vocal Ensemble and was excited to participate in it again this year under the new leadership of Cowart, who took up her position at the start of the 2018-19 school year.

“I took Vocal Ensemble because I have been doing it for forever and I wanted to see how the choir would grow under Mrs. Cowart,” David said.

Everyone is welcome in the class, as Cowart is trying to create better vocalist among the student body.  

“I have middle and high school students. Not everyone [would] be considered a ‘solo’ singer yet but they work hard and sound good together,” Cowart commented.

This class focuses on increasing the talent of each individual student, as well as creating a harmonized sound among the group.

“We have mostly been working on vocal exercises [this year]. Singing correctly and learning to listen to each and sing as group [has been a focus]. We have done some music theory and talked about famous vocalists, present and past,” Cowart said.

Each class is unique but always helpful and educational to the students.

“Typically, every class we start out by warming up on the piano and sometimes with videos. Then we review [the] songs that we’ll sing [soon]. After that we either learn and sing a new song or just hang [out],” Davis commented.

The group had many opportunities to get involved in the community at several different events.

“We sang the National Anthem at [Northlake] football games and the Pelicans games in New Orleans. [We] lead worship for Middle School Chapels [as well],” Cowart said.

While Vocal Ensemble might not be for everyone, Davis highly encourages students to check it out for next year.