In third grade, Broadway students were offered the opportunity to join “Tipp Tones,” a popular after-school singing club. However, after their time in elementary school, students had to wait two years to use their singing voices at school again. That was until Mr. Parks created a new opportunity between elementary and middle school for talented kids in LT Ball Intermediate School. The students were itching to sing, and now they finally have an outlet. On October 17th, the LT Ball Choir had their first-ever practice. 

It’s no secret that Mr. Parks is an influential teacher in Tipp City. After spending many years as the Tippecanoe High School band director, he’s racked up a long list of students who look up to him and are eternally grateful for his advice, instruction, and guidance. The music teacher has taught hundreds of Tippecanoe alumni, as well as many of their parents, over the years. In short, if you went to Tipp City Schools and you enjoyed music, you knew Mr. Parks. Although he’s no longer leading the marching band to their yearly victories under his instruction, he's still judging band competitions. He continues to build the musical talents and confidence of the younger Tippecanoe students.

After noticing the gap in choir opportunities for Intermediate School students, Parks quickly approached Mr. Vagedes with a proposal for an all-building singing group. Thus began the first year of the LT Ball Choir. The new and exciting after-school club started its first practice with around 110 students signed up to participate. These talented pupils will practice once a week until their two anticipated performances. One is at the school on December 19th, and the other is at the LT Ball Arts Fest later in the year.

Parks directs and plays piano for the choir and says, “The idea is to expose the students to singing in a group and exploring possible choir activities in their futures.” Mr. Parks is no stranger to creating an environment for students who want to explore their musical interests. One of his newest students, Zeke Long, is a fourth grader in his first year at LT Ball. Zeke enjoys many things, like Minecraft, YouTube, and playing with his friends, but he also really enjoys singing. Long partially discovered his love for using his voice in Tipp Tones when he sang one of his favorite songs, “Cold Snap.”

In an interview, he sang part of the piece for me and also mentioned parts of his new choir practices that he really enjoys. Zeke is singing, “Pretty much like all the time.” The young songbird says, “I want to be one of those famous singers like Zac Bryan.” however, he also says he would like to use his singing to “cheer someone up if they’re having a bad day.” Zeke has learned a lot in the last two practices, like singing together in one whole group. He thinks that teamwork makes the best singing music in the whole world.

With a piano and an unfading smile, Mr. Parks has created a choir full of kids like Zeke. These kids look forward to each Thursday when they can line the hallway with their backpacks and find a community of their friends and peers in the music room of LT Ball. Zeke says that by doing choir, he is “inspiring other people to try out new things in life.” And with the help of Mr. Parks, he and the students of LT Ball are doing just that.