The music department is bubbling with talent and opportunities. This talent overflowed into a choir regional competition that was held at the Community Arts Center.
On Feb. 24, Senior Christian Smith and Sophomore Addison Confer had the opportunity to participate in the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association regionals. These two outstanding students put in loads of blood, sweat, and tears into leading up to the big concert.
There is a simple process that needs to be completed to be able to go to regionals.
“You first need to audition, and get into districts,” said Smith. He went on saying, “Then at the district competition, you have another round of auditions and they take the top ten people in your voice part, from your district, from that audition, and then they go to regionals.”
“Once you get to regionals, then the top four in your region go to states,” Smith said.
Coming into districts, Smith placed eighth out of ten, and then at regionals, he placed seventh out of twenty people there.
“According to Mrs.Gist, I was very close to getting sixth, which is an alternative for states, so I was very, very pleased with that,” said Smith.
“Our conductor pushed us really hard so I was not entirely certain all of the things she wanted us to do were all going to work out, but almost all of them did, so I was very pleased with the performance we put on,” said Smith when asked how confident he felt after all of the hard work put into the concert.
This group of talented singers performed many breathtaking pieces at their shows.
“She [the conductor] really wanted a very high-quality performance from us and there were a lot of things that she was doing and the way she was conducting us, that was not like how most people sing in choirs. A lot of the stuff she was doing was very high level so trying to remember what we had to do was definitely the hardest part” Smith added when asked what the most challenging part of being in regionals was.
A lot of preparation comes with these auditions. Knowing the music and being confident in what you’re singing plays a major role in how well the audition will go, and working constantly is key.
“The biggest thing that helped me prepare was Mrs. Gist’s (and her husband, Jared’s) practice tracks,” said Smith when asked what techniques he used to prepare for his auditions. “My ability to play the piano, meaning I could play it myself and hear it, was also very helpful. It was also helpful for me when we all got to sing the music together and hear it come together before the audition.”
Despite not making it to the states, Smith was still proud of how far he went and how much he accomplished along the way. “Seeing it and getting to hear all the hard work you’ve put in is so rewarding and always fun!”
Featured Image (above): Senior Christian Smith and sophomore Addison Confer take a break from the rigors of the regional choir competition. The competition was Feb. 24 at the Community Arts Center.
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