Bringing home four sweepstakes awards, Westwood choirs competed at the University Interscholastic League (UIL) on Wednesday, April 4. An annual event for high school choirs all across Texas, UIL consists of two evaluations — one for sight-reading, and the other for performance. Four choirs from Westwood participated, and all received highest scores possible in their categories.  

Preparing for this big event had begun many months before, ranging from music selection to extra morning rehearsals. Directors kept UIL in the back of their heads as they planned out plans for the choir program in general.

“It actually starts in the fall,” choir director Ashley Branson said. “Ms. Coogle and I sit down and talk about where we want our choirs to be, what we want them to sound like, what the ideal is as far as what the program presents to the judges. It’s hard because you don’t know until the students get to school what you’re going to have as far as the voice parts or the numbers.”

Once the overall structure of the individual choirs had been laid out, the directors began to hone down on specific songs and strategies for UIL, planning difficulty, number of voice parts, and sightreading. Meanwhile, they still kept the overall performance in mind.

“We have to think about the program as a whole,” Ms. Branson said. “Are there acapella pieces, is there a language? There’s multiple things we’re thinking about and we’re also trying to present a program that is well-balanced and enjoyable for the judges to listen to.”

On the day itself, choirs went to the RRISD Performing Arts Center (PAC) to perform their pieces and sight-read in front of three judges. For Michelle Li ‘20, her first time at UIL was a good experience.

“We had to wake up really early because our call time was at 6:45,” Li said. “But it went well and we had fun doing it. I really liked it because I felt like everyone was really blending even though the PAC is kind of a dry place to sing.”

Another advantage of going to the PAC was being able to see other choirs perform, and to interact with other students who were also in choir. Students got to perform on the PAC stage and experience the different acoustics. Despite the change of setting, the performances went smoothly.

“We went there kind of early to see the other choirs go, which was cool to see what the sound was like in the auditorium,” Nupur Sampat ‘19, a member of Concert Choir, said. “The performance went well; we had the practice time at the beginning and Ms. Branson made sure to use all the time we had.”

The choirs’ hard work was acknowledged when all individual choirs brought home sweepstakes. Ratings were given for each performance and sight-reading on a scale of one to three, three being the highest, and sweepstakes meant the choir received all one’s.

“It felt so good,” Ms. Branson said. “It’s funny, because I never doubted the ability for everybody to get sweepstakes but I think it’s just so stressful and we build it up all year long. So once you get that feeling like everyone was successful it feels really good.”

The students also said their success felt like their effort paid off. But more importantly, they felt like the experience was enjoyable and rewarding in itself.

“It was really fun,” Sampat said. “It was a team effort. We had a smaller group than usual but we made sure to do our best.”

Overall, UIL was a great way to showcase the choirs’ talents and growth throughout the year.