All Region Honors Choir

This is the time of year when I feel my rollercoaster ride of a life has inched up that giant "hill" and is now plummeting toward the "valley" at break neck speed. My calendar is filling up at an alarming pace and my things-to-list seems neverending. It is a thrilling ride full of ups and downs, loads of excitement and some unavoidable stress. And, as always, my ride is accompanied by beautiful music made by wonderful kids.

I left the high school Friday evening with 14 senior high choir students, a bus driver and a parent chaperone who is also a terrific friend. Our destination was 3.5 hours away and let me tell you, if you haven't ridden a school bus for 3.5 hours lately, you are missing out on a fun time! Another set of parents brought 4 more students to the motel where we all spent the night. Three of the four late arrivals are in band (and choir) and couldn't miss their half-time performance at a football game. The fourth late arrival, also a choir student, is the sister of one of the band members. So, all told, I had 18 choir students primed and ready to audition for all region honors choir on Saturday.

Saturday was a long day of nervous excitement. I spent most of the day judging in the second soprano audition room. My parent chaperones spent the day herding teenagers and the teenagers spent the day singing.

Around 4PM, the results were tallied and posted. Woo hoo!!! I have 10 singers in the senior high all region honors choir!! Fifty-six percent! Yahoo! These are the best results I've had in 15 years of teaching. Maybe I finally know what I'm doing. Seriously, I am just blessed with an awesome group of young people to work with. Out of the ten students who made all region, four scored in the top twelve of their voice classification which makes them eligible to audition for the Arkansas All State Choir in February. My four top scores are: First chair, tenor I; fourth chair, tenor I; fifth chair, soprano II; seventh chair, alto II.

I am so proud of all 18 of my students. They worked so hard and even though some of them were disappointed, I hope they realize singing that solo audition in front of three judges is a major accomplishment in and of itself. Unlike athletics, choir competition isn't limited to competing with schools of the same size classification. So my class 4A students were competing with students from class 5A, 6A and 7A schools. To give you some frame of reference, we have around 600 students total in grades 9-12.

Anyway, have I bragged on my kids enough? Never!! Next Saturday.....junior high all region auditions. I have 23 hopefuls. Wish them luck!!