E.C. Glass High School 11th grader Daron McDaniel didn’t think he was good enough to make the school’s chamber singers, but after being the only guy to make this year’s all-Virginia choir, McDaniel says you better expect to see him at the audition.
McDaniel, 16, has been in school choirs since middle school, but said he found his passion when he was in elementary school.
In his younger days, he said, he was having trouble at home and found that singing was “a way through.”
“It was singing, especially at church,” he said. “Everything would be falling down, but a song, it would help. It would bring a joy to the household.”
Through worship at Shekijah Preparation Assembly, he found singing to be a savior, he said.
McDaniel has been a delegate to the all-district choir for the last two years. As a junior, he was qualified to audition for the all-state choir.
“I auditioned, but I was nervous,” he said. “My sight reading — I think I did well, but it was rocky. Before they gave out the results, I thought, ‘There’s always next year.’”
Finding out he had made the choir was the best moment in his life, he said. When it was announced at the high school, he felt like a celebrity, he said.
It was also a triumph over all the questioning about where music would take him and those who wondered whether he’d be able to do anything with his singing.
“I applied myself and I made it somewhere,” he said.
In addition to practicing in his own free time, he met with a music assistant at E.C. Glass three days a week after school, he said.
His teacher, Nancy Volk-Stalcup, said McDaniel’s ability, focus and work ethic have improved immensely since he came to the high school concert choir three years ago.
“I can depend on him to come to class each day with a positive attitude, ready to sing, work hard and be a leader,” Volk-Stalcup said. “I am so proud of his recent accomplishments, and, if he continues to work hard, I know he will succeed in whatever he chooses to do.”
In the near future, that means making a capella and chamber choirs at E.C. Glass and making a return to the all-state choir, McDaniel said. After high school, he said, he would like to attend The College of William & Mary or the University of Cincinnati to study pre-law.
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