OAKLAND -- Messalonskee High School student Ryan Brown performed in "Grease," but he'll be singing in Oklahoma come March.

But this would be Oklahoma the state, not the musical. The Sooner State is where the top choral high school students in the country will gather for the American Choral Directors Association National Convention.

Brown, who sings bass, is one of the those students -- a member of the ACDA National High School Honor Choir I, a group more than 300 strong.

The soft-spoken Brown, a junior, is no stranger to vocal achievement. He has been named to several All-Eastern and All-State choral groups and has been a member of the Kennebec Valley Chorus every year he's been eligible from seventh grade to the present.

For the Rome resident, it makes for a madcap schedule of practices and performances from January to December.

Brown, though, wouldn't want it any other way.

His love for music, he said, is the key to his success.

"As I went up in the grades," he said, "I started taking piano lessons and that's when I started to realize that music really brought out a passion in me. When I listen to music, I hear the emotions."

Messalonskee choral director Kevin Rhein has worked with Brown since the honor student was in fifth grade at what was then called Atwood-Tapley School.

So, too, has Pam Rhein, a fellow music teacher and Kevin Rhein's wife.

Kevin Rhein said Brown has always been a special student, one who has the talent and drive to shine at the highest level.

In his 10 years at Messalonskee High School, Rhein said only one other student has earned a spot on the ACDA National High School Honor Choir -- his daughter, Nia Rhein.

Nia Rhein is now a student at Westminster Choir College, a part of the Westminster College of Arts in Princeton, N.J.

Westminster choirs have a 73-year-old history of recording and performing with the country's top orchestras and conductors, including the New York Philharmonic.

Kevin Rhein said Brown is now in hopes of joining Nia as a student at Westminster.

He went to the college this summer for a two-week choral workshop -- the music equivalent of a Five-Star sports camp.

Brown said the music program in the Messalonskee School District -- especially the lessons and support from the Rheins -- played a vital role in his development as a singer, including being named to the National High School Honor Choir.

"If I didn't have Mr. and Mrs. Rhein as vocal teachers," he said, "I wouldn't have had all the information I needed. I wouldn't be in this position without them."

Brown, meanwhile, can be seen as a benchmark of how far the Messalonskee choir program has come in regard to recruiting and developing boy vocalists.

Rhein said when he became choral director 11 years ago the choir typically had no more than 10 boys.

"One of my goals was to double that," he said. "Within a few years, we had 30 guys in the chorus."

While the number of boys in the choir fluctuates from year to year, the stigma of a guy singing choral music has disappeared, according to Brown.

Brown said as an Atwood-Tapley student he didn't hesitate to get involved with the school's singing program.

"Back then most everyone was interested in it anyway," he said.

And from the start Brown had plenty of support to push himself to higher levels of vocal achievement.

"The thought of auditioning is something we encouraged Ryan to do right through the middle school years and into high school," Kevin Rhein said.

Brown had to send an audition recording to the American Choral Directors Association in order to be considered for its High School Honor Choir.

He used the recently created recording studio at Messalonskee High School to fulfill that requirement. Then he had to wait. That was the hard part, he said.

The letter notifying him of his selection came Oct. 31. But Brown said he didn't see it until the next day.

It was a moment, he said, that he'll never forget.

"I opened it and my mother was sitting next to me," he said, "and when I saw that I had made it I got so excited."

In the musical "Oklahoma!," one of the popular songs is "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning."

That would serve as a perfect theme song for Brown when he goes to Oklahoma for the National High School Honors Choir.

The trip represents the beginning of yet another grand stage in his development as a vocalist.

Colin Hickey -- 861-9205

chickey@centralmaine.com