Talent is a natural aptitude or skill. Singing is up there as one of the most gifted talents.

Fresno City College has five students, Belle Robison, Brittany Johnson, Siena Garcia, James Schott and Genevieve Ortiz competing in a choir conference this weekend, Nov. 19 through the 21,  at the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway in San Francisco. The event is put on by the Music Association of California Community Colleges.

Performing are students from community colleges all over the state of California. Performances include a conference band, a conference choir, a student piano master class, a student strings master class, a student composition master class and a student composition contest.

Mike Dana, music instructor, director of jazz studies and semifinalist for the 2016 Music Educator Award, will also be attending and teaching a class.

Another competition that has been taking place within the EMACC conference committee, is a music theory contest that has been taking place online via email between the competing students within the competing schools. “The last time we checked, our students were in first place,” Julie Dana said.