Published: December 31, 2007 10:39 am      

Former Titans on Clash of the Choirs

The eyes of Carl Albert High School's current and former vocal music teachers have both been glued to an NBC show that includes two of the school's graduates.

NBC's "Clash of the Choirs"� ran Dec. 17 through 20. Five celebrity singers went to their hometown and formed choirs. Blake Shelton came to Oklahoma City and chose 20 people from his home state. Two of them — Raymond Mobley and David Taylor — are Carl Albert High School graduates, CAHS vocal music teacher Brenda Mechling said.

Mechling was already pleased with the show, which she thinks will help boost participation in vocal music. When she spotted Mobley and Taylor, she was even more excited.

The CAHS teacher said she had taught Mobley and worked with Taylor because he continued to take part in the school's music programs after he graduated CAHS in 1998 and while attending Langston University.

The one who pushed for Mobley's participation in vocal music was his grandmother, Betty Morganstern, she said.

Morganstern said Friday that Mobley is now attending Oklahoma Christian University and has been a member of several traveling choirs. She mentioned that his birthday was Dec. 16, while he was in New York City for the show.

She said Mechling worked with her for a long time to get Mobley into the vocal music classes.

Both Mechling and Morganstern said Mobley was an outstanding performer as well as singer, which often led him to have a prominent solo in concerts, such as when he was Rudolph in one memorable performance at the school.

Mike Plunkett was the vocal music teacher at the high school when Taylor was a student there. He didn't teach Mobley but knew him as Mobley was a junior high student at the time. He said that Taylor was also an instrumentalist and that it was a shame the show doesn't allow him to showcase that talent also.

"I think that it's interesting that 10 percent of that choir is from Carl Albert. It's amazing really,"� he said.

The former teacher said he knew both students to be very talented and was not surprised that both were soloists for the choir's debut performance. The group sang Tom Cochrane's "Life is a Highway"� (a Rascal Flatts hit also) Monday.

"Not many people can say they were flown to New York, all expenses paid, to sing."� Plunkett said.

He said he was happy to see both students going somewhere with their talent.

"There are a lot of less talented people making a living [off their music]," Plunkett said.

A former junior high teacher was also excited.

"Gosh, all I can think of is that they have always been great kids! I remember being amazed by both of their tenor voices even in junior high! I think David Taylor was a tall then as he is now. When we would stand to sing, he was the tallest in the class. When we would sit to sing, I would get on to him for not sitting up because he wasn't the tallest on the row anymore. Then I realized he was sitting up tall — he's just all legs,"� Suzanne Taylor, wrote Mechling in an e-mail.

The Oklahoma choir survived the first elimination and took third place. They will take home $50,000 for Project Rebuild, which helps with natural disaster recovery and the Army MWR, which supports members of the military and their families.



THE COMPETITION

The other five choirs in the competition were Nick Lachey's Cincinnati choir, Patti LaBelle's Philadelphia choir, Kelly Rowland's Houston choir and Michael Bolton's New Haven, Conn. choir.

Rowland's choir was eliminated Monday.

Lachey's choir won the competition, taking home $250,000 to a charity of their choice.

LaBelle's Philadelphia choir took second place.