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Composing for Middle

and High School Choirs:

A Conversation with

Laura Farnell and

Reginal Wright

by Mark Rohwer

Mark Rohwer is the director of fine arts for west ACDA. He is a sought-after adjudicator/clinician on
Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent the middle and high school levels. Reginal has published
School District (Dallas-Fort Worth, TX). He compositions with Graphite Publishing, Hal Leonard, Carl
was previously the director of choral activi- Fischer, BriLee, and Santa Barbara Music Publishing Com-
ties at Flower Mound High School for over panies.
twenty years. He is a member of the Chor-
Teach editorial board.
Describe the path that led you to composing music
Laura Farnell is an active choral composer, for middle school and high school choirs.
clinician, accompanist, and adjudicator who
resides in Arlington, Texas. She earned a Farnell: I was fortunate to have a musically rich childhood,
BME from Baylor University and taught el- supportive parents, as well as caring and talented musicians
ementary and junior high music in Texas. In and educators in my life, which laid the foundation for me
2004 she received an Excellence in Educa- to have opportunities in music. The path that led me spe-
tion Award as the Arlington Independent School District’s cifically to composition likely began with my participation
outstanding junior high teacher of the year. She is repre- in the “improvisation” category of piano guild in elemen-
sented by Alliance Music Publications, BriLee Music, Hal tary school.
Leonard Corporation, Heritage Music, Kjos Music Press, While at Baylor University completing my music educa-
and other publishers. tion degree, I took a choral composition class with Dr. Rob-
ert Young. His perspective, as well as collaboration with
Reginal Wright is a clinician, composer, other class members, were formative for me. During my
conductor, and educator who teaches at third year of teaching, I transitioned from teaching elemen-
Mansfield High School in Mansfield, Texas. tary music to junior high choir, at which point I found my-
He received BME and MME degrees from self spending quite a lot of time adapting pieces to make
Stephen F. Austin University. His choirs them work for my seventh- and eight-grade tenor bass
have been featured at the TMEA and South- choir. At one point, I thought, “It would be so much easier

ChorTeach Volume 15 • Issue 1 14 Fall 2022