Saranac Lake High School seniors Alivia Sapone and Will Gray practice morning warm-ups today at the piano with Director of Choral Activities Drew Benware. (Enterprise photo — Kelly Carroll)

SARANAC LAKE — The Music Department at Saranac Lake High School is busy.

It will have more students than any other school performing in an all-state festival this weekend, two seniors will sing in the all-state conference in December, it’s putting out a Christmas album, and it plans to start giving piano lessons to students and adults alike.

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Area All-State

Sixty of the school’s music students are set to perform at the New York State School Music Association’s Zone 6 Area All-State festival at Chazy Central Rural School at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, SLHS Director of Choral Activities Drew Benware said. Zone 6 consists of Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties, and the concert is a public event.

SLHS has the highest combined representation of any school participating, which includes members of the band, mixed chorus and jazz ensemble. Students will rehearse all day Friday and Saturday morning before the show.

“For many of the folks who have done this before, they’re excited to return; they’re excited to be working on new and challenging repertoire choices,” Benware said. “I think for the students for whom this is their first All-State area experience, they’re working hard; they’re digging in. I think they’re a little apprehensive but excited about the chance to make music with students from all over this area of the country.”

Benware serves as chairman for the mixed chorus. He said students auditioned for the group at the beginning of the school year or joined the group based on their solo score from last May’s solo festival, and have been working with conductor Derrick Fox, director of choral activities and assistant professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha.

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Repeat All-State singers

In addition, Alivia Sapone and Will Gray, seniors at the high school, have been accepted to the NYSSMA All-State Conference at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, which is the highest musical honor in the state of New York, Benware said.

“The unique thing about these folks is that their both second-timers, which is incredibly rare. I think it’s only happened once or twice in Saranac Lake history,” Benware said. “You can only attend conferences as a junior and a senior, and they happened to be accepted both times.”

Sapone, an alto, will perform with the women’s chorus at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, and Gray, a tenor, will participate as part of the mixed chorus at 10 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 4, Benware said. Both performances will take place at Kodak Hall in the Eastman Theatre.

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Christmas album

The school is also putting out a Christmas album featuring the select men’s and women’s vocal ensembles that will be available for $10 donation to the chorus department.

The chorus has performed carols at the Whiteface Lodge in Lake Placid for the past several years, and the idea came about when one parent mentioned a desire to have a recording, Benware said. With the help of 2015 alumnus Chaz Morgan, who is studying sound production at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, the chorus recorded an album last June for four hours at St. Agnes Church in Lake Placid.

Albums will be available for sale at various locations in Saranac Lake this Christmas season and also at the school’s winter concert at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 19 in the high school auditorium.

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“Keyboard lab”

The music program is looking at a long-range project to construct a “keyboard lab” that would entail eight to 12 student keyboards, all hooked up into headsets which are then plugged into a central control that Benware would be able to monitor, he said. The headsets would be equipped with microphones as well so he can communicate with the class.

If the project comes to fruition, the school is looking to create a course called “Intro to Piano” or “Class Piano” to offer as another musical elective. Benware said he also hopes to offer the class to the community.

“What I’m really excited about is a certain number of seats in the master plan, a certain number of seats in the class, will be reserved for community members,” Benware said. “I’m thinking specifically retirees who could come in each day and take the class alongside Saranac Lake High School students. I just think what a wonderful opportunity to bring taxpayers directly into the school to see the fruits of their labors and also a chance to form these inter-generational relationships that are so important to forming the community.”

The 12-keyboard model lab is expected to cost just under $20,000, and Benware said the school hopes to fund it through a variety of sources, including sales of an upcoming Christmas CD, donations, grants and an infrastructure contribution from the district, he said. The school has already received some money for the project from the Stewart’s Foundation.