Leah Tarrant has been teaching choir at Taylorsville High School since the last millennium. Year-after-year, decade-after-decade, her variety of boys, girls and mixed choirs earn superior ratings at region and state competitions.

Many of her top students begin singing for Tarrant as 13-year-old freshmen. By the time they are 18, those students are receiving diplomas and entering the next chapter of their lives. Right behind them is a fresh crop of 13- and 14-year-old performers.

Point is – high school choirs never “age.” They’re always teenagers, exploding with youthful energy.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the place where they perform. While THS students come and go with regularity, the seating and lights remain the same inside the school’s venerable auditorium – decade after decade.

So now Tarrant – and members of her THS Auditorium Improvement Committee – are working to raise money to freshen up their home performance venue.

“I began teaching at Taylorsville High in the fall of 1998,” Tarrant said. “I considered it a dream job – and I still do. Our choirs are among the best in the state. They consistently earn superior ratings at state competitions. But, over the years, our auditorium has simply aged. Many of the chairs are now uncomfortable. The lighting needs to be upgraded. My students perform in many other locations where they nearly always see much more comfortable audiences.”

Tarrant says she completely respects the Granite School District position that issues like heating or air conditioning problems at other schools are more urgent than auditorium upgrades. But, at the same time, the THS situation has now pretty much reached the “enough is enough” stage.

“Our auditorium seating is original to the school.” Tarrant continued. “There have been a few repairs along the way; but essentially, all the seats are nearly 45 years old. Our performance lighting is also very inadequate. So, we’ve decided to work to raise some of our own funds, in hopes of getting the school district to also chip in and move us up the priority list a little.”

Tarrant tabbed Brandalyn Seaman to be the fundraising committee chair when she formed it last fall.

“Leah has taught all three of my kids choir; my youngest will be a senior this year,” Seaman said. “We’ve watched choir performances in many auditoriums around the state – and improvements at Taylorsville are long overdue. We have about 15 to 20 active committee members volunteering their time to help organize fundraising events. Most of them are parents of theater, orchestra and choir students.”

So far, the THS Auditorium Improvement Committee has brainstormed three fundraising ideas they are working this summer to finalize:

• Benefit Concert, Aug. 25 – This fundraiser in the THS auditorium will showcase both the performing talents of alumni and the need for facility improvements. Organizers want attendees to see and feel for themselves the need for an upgrade. This is the only one of the three planned fundraising activities, so far, with a firm date.

• Mini-Madrigals Camp – As many as 250 young singers, in kindergarten through eighth grade, are expected to attend this 1-or 2-day choir training camp, ending with student groups performing for their parents. Cost and dates TBD.

• Dinner/Auction – Committee members are working this summer to secure donations for this fundraising event. Again, cost and date TBD.

Another person hoping the fundraising efforts succeed is Austyn Tarrant. Preparing to enter her senior year next month, Austyn is the daughter of choir instructor Leah Tarrant. She’s performed in about 13 musical theater shows produced by the high school, the Taylorsville Arts Council, Draper Historic Theater and others.

“I began performing at about age 8,” Austyn said. “We have such incredible talent at Taylorsville High and I think we put on amazing shows. But our auditorium is pretty uncomfortable for our patrons. I believe, if the auditorium was upgraded, it would encourage more talented music and theater students to attend our school.”

Earlier this year, every Taylorsville High School choir that qualified for the state finals earned the highest possible “superior” ratings from every judge they performed before.

The THS Auditorium Improvement Committee’s goal of raising $400,000 to $500,000 may seem quite ambitious. But, they say, all they can do is try to reach the goal, one bite at a time.

If you’d like to enroll your child in the mini-madrigals camp, or donate to the benefit dinner/auction, reach out to the group’s chair at [email protected]. λ