Tallassee High School and the Montgomery Biscuits share a few things in common.
Both love baseball to start with. But now the connection is even deeper after Tallassee senior Sarah Jane Patterson and sophomore Gaines Nolin sang the national anthem before games in August.
“It’s always an honor to be selected,” Patterson said. “It’s always an honor to be able to sing our national anthem.”
The students had practice singing the song in choir but never performed solo. The experience was a little bit different standing at home plate by themselves.
“It is a lot more nerve racking,” Nolin said. “It is just you and you don’t have the other people to hide your voice.”
The process to sing on the diamond in Montgomery started with encouragement of Tallassee music teacher and men’s choir instructor Michael Bird. He put the students in contact with the Biscuits organization.
Nolin submitted a video to apply while Patterson emailed about her interest, and both got responses. Finalates were settled and they had their solo performances before the first pitch of a pair of baseball games in Montgomery.
But the students' love for music has been in the making for years.
“I grew up around it,” Patterson said. “It has been my whole life since I was little. I don’t know anything else, but music.”
Patterson’s stepfather is Tallassee band director Dr. Robby Glasscock.
“My mom has worked here at the school forever,” Patterson said. “She does all the choreography for the show choirs. Music is all I have ever known.”
Nolin said he doesn’t have quite the immersion in music as Patterson but he still has a family history associated with it.
“I grew up in church singing,” Nolin said. “My sister was in choir and saw how it was. I tried it last year and here I am.”
Nolin plays the alto saxophone while Patterson plays the trumpet and is also part of the danceline for marching season.
“I like to sing, but my real passion is dancing,” Patterson said. “It’s cool that people notice me for my singing.”
Although Nolin’s plans post-graduation are a ways off, Patterson is headed to Troy University to dance after she graduates from Tallassee but isn’t giving up on her voice just yet.
“I would still like to maintain singing,” Patterson said. “They offer voice lessons and I will probably join the choir.”
Until then, both Nolin and Patterson now have their hopes set on a new goal — American Idol auditions in Tuskegee next month. They said the process starts with auditions over video calls and includes three songs.
“I’m sure they kind of weed out who they want and don’t want,” Patterson said. “It’s kind of a callback situation for the real thing if they like you.”
If selected to audition in person, Nolin and Patterson don’t yet know what they will perform.
“I maybe have narrowed it down to two or three,” Patterson said.
But Nolin is already planning what he’ll share with producers about his story if he is selected.
“Music is my escape,” he said. “You can escape from everything else in the world with music.”