• Youth

School choir scoops up third place

Megan Hoaes and Peneyambeko Shitaleni





For many years the Swakopmund Secondary School (SSS) choir has been rated as one of the best school choirs in Erongo region. Their recent achievement was in Windhoek where they took part in the HashTag Festival Chamber Choir competition where they performed at Miss High School.

Here they competed against other choirs namely Kuisebmond Secondary School choir, Jan Jonker Secondary School choir, Hage Geingob High School choir and Academia High School choir. The Kuisebmond choir received first place, while Jan Jonker Afrikaner took second place and Swakopmund the bronze. The choirs were judged according to choir etiquette and stage presence, intonation, diction, technique and accuracy, musicality, interpretation and creativity.

Being a choir who is no stranger to hard work and dedication, they practiced for five weeks for the ATKV choir competition earlier this year. They\\ competed against Duinesig Combined School, Windhoek High School and Otjiwarongo High School. The members had a camp at school and they rehearsed all night long before the competition. They had to wake up early the next day for the sound check. Around 10:00 the choir gathered at Namib primary where they engaged with other school choirs. Starting off the competition with a wow factor was the S.S.S choir and ending with another wow factor was the Windhoek High School Choir. They concluded the event with a mixed choir performance were all the choirs had a chance to perform together, resulting in beautiful harmonies. The first prize went to Duinesig Combined School choir, second prize went to Otjiwarongo High School choir and the third prize went to the Swakopmund Secondary School choir. Furthermore the choirs were taught the technics of being in a choir, what to do and what not to do; such as the right mouth position, how to stand in a choir and breathing at the right time.

The choir is preparing themselves for an upcoming competition in Omaruru. In light of the upcoming competition the SSS Times had an interview with Ms. Elizabeth Matias the teacher in charge of the choir and this is what she had to say:

How do you feel about the choir getting third place in all competitions they took part in?

I feel like we have to improve our ratings from third place to first place by working hard.

What difference and improvements has the choir made this year?

We have been practicing very hard. We can even sing in our sleep.

What are your expectations for the upcoming competition in Omaruru?

Obviously a win for S.S.S choir, but if we don’t we can still try next year. We look forward to clash of the choirs in Walvis Bay in September 2019.