Last week, students at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science traveled across the South in the annual MSMS Sights and Sounds tour. This tour is put on by the MSMS Blue Notes, which consists of the band and choir at MSMS.

For this year’s tour, the Blue Notes traveled to Meridian, Gulfport and New Orleans and performed at various venues along the way.

Caleb Marshall, a senior at MSMS and a member of its choir, took part in this year’s tour.

“My favorite part of Sights and Sounds was that we got to travel all through the state learning of our history and influence on music,” Marshall said.

MSMS senior Jacob McDonald is a member of its band and participated in both last year’s tour and this year’s tour. He said that he enjoyed this year’s tour, but misses aspects from his junior year experience.

“This year had more fun packed into it but last year’s felt longer and I miss that,” McDonald said.

McDonald also pointed out that one interesting aspect of Sights and Sounds is getting to experience his teachers out of the classroom setting.

“My favorite part of being with teachers in this setting is getting to see who they are,” McDonald said. “They’re more relaxed and can talk to you instead of down to you.”

Kaye Truitt, a chemistry instructor at MSMS and a proctor of the tour, has some of the same feelings towards her students.

“What I love about the Sights and Sounds trip is having an opportunity to get to know students in a different way from the classroom dynamic. I see students that I teach using talents very different from those they display in class,” Truitt said. “I see them interact with their peers in a much more relaxed way and get to know the ‘whole’ person, not just the chemistry student.”

Both the MSMS band and choir are led by MSMS instructor, Dawn Barham.

A video of the performance, courtesy of Dr. Heath Stevens, can be found here.