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A Voice For Music, A Vision For Education: A Look Into Caroline Welty’s Dual Passions

 

Music is such a powerful medium for change, it brings us all together.
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By Jala Davis, OCS Communications Specialist & Lila Rhoades, OCS Student Intern 
Caroline Welty, a girl standing in front of a brick wall

 

Caroline Welty, a senior at Cedar Ridge High School (CRHS), has a profound passion for music that has significantly impacted the music culture at her school. 

As the co-president of the A Cappella Club, a member of the Tri-M honor society, and a former participant in the NC Governor’s School for Choral Music, she is truly fluent in the language of music. 

And it shows — she’s been selected as one of 176 North Carolina students to perform in the NC High School Honors Chorus this November. 

The North Carolina Music Educators Association (NCMEA) received over 1,000 auditions from high school students across the state, choosing members for the clinic and performance through a blind selection process.

Welty and the rest of the ensemble will perform for families and music educators on November 10 at the Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem at the NCMEA conference.

In order to be considered for the honors chorus, the students had to audition for judges using the required piece, “Arise, My Beloved,” by Adolphus Hailstork, which is just one of eight pieces the choir will perform. 

“Arise, My Beloved,” has what Welty described as “difficult rhythms” making it a challenging piece to perform. 

“The rhythms are very difficult,” she said. “You have to count all of the measures precisely or else you’ll get off immediately.”

In each audition, each student stands in front of a judge who knows nothing about their school, teacher, or preparation. The entire process takes all of six minutes.

The first step is vocalization exercises to determine each student’s vocal range. Then performing the prepared audition piece. Finally, each student turns over a sheet to reveal a sight-reading passage—singers have 60 seconds to rehearse, then sing something they’ve never seen before! 

Welty said she was uncomfortable with sight-reading until music teacher Elizabeth Brown came to Cedar Ridge during Welty’s sophomore year, which turned things around.

“We sight-read every day, and we practice our sight-reading which I couldn’t do before she came, so that’s been very helpful. She’s very good at correcting us when we sing and giving us good constructive criticism,” she said. 

The preparation and performance will be led by guest clinician Dr. Felicia Barber, the associate professor, adjunct, of Choral Conducting at Yale University and conductor of the Camerata. 

“I love to sing, and it’s just another opportunity to do that in an amazing, big choir led by someone really amazing as well,” Welty said. 

One of the pieces the ensemble will perform is “Dedication,” by Zanaida Robles, with lyrics written by Dr. Barber, giving the students the opportunity to perfect the piece. 

The NC High School Honors Chorus wasn’t Welty’s first big performance in her career. She also attended the NC Governor’s School for Choral Music in summer 2024, which she described as a “life-changing experience.”

Over the four-week program, she and 39 other students (including one of her CRHS classmates) learned 18 pieces of music and performed four shows for choral conductors from across North Carolina. 

Welty has been honing her voice at least since she was in the third grade, inspired by her mother’s love of music to sing in chorus and make it a life-long interest. 

With such a rich background, a career in music would seem like a perfect opportunity for someone like Caroline Welty after high school.

Instead, she’s chosen to use her voice to advocate for changes in education policy. 

“I want to study education and become a teacher, then hopefully a policy-maker, and change the system,” she said. 

Voice Meets Vision

Caroline Welty, a girl standing in front of a brick wall

Education was at the center of Welty’s formative experiences. Her mother and grandparents all served as educators, but it was her own high school experiences that led her to dream of working in policy as a change-maker. 

“I think the policy-making aspect came in because I enjoy many parts of high school, but I also think it’s a bit of a flawed system. Going to high school I’ve seen the amazing parts of our system—and also the parts of the system that could be improved, and I want to help improve them.

“I’ve fallen in love with the idea of getting to help students who are struggling understand that they are smart, and they can achieve whatever they want to achieve,” she said. “It’s not them, it’s the system.”

While music has always been her passion, going into music professionally was never her plan. She plans to keep singing in college as an extracurricular activity, maybe in an a cappella group, but the professional aspect can wait.

“I’ve always had other plans, but I think if it happened for me [a career in music] that would be amazing,” she said.

Welty’s leadership in the classroom started well before she set foot on a college campus. With her demanding schedule as a full-time International Baccalaureate (IB) student, she finds time to sharpen her music skills as a teacher's assistant for Brown. 

Over the years, Brown said she has watched Welty’s confidence grow as she started to take on more leadership opportunities in her classroom. 

“She definitely demonstrates a dedication to music and gives a lot of her time and energy to achieving her goals,” Brown said.

 

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