After preparing since June, nine choir students traveled to Waco, Texas, to compete in the TMEA area audition. Twenty students in Area A of Texas competed for the top eight chairs in their respective voice parts to earn a spot in one of the Texas All-State Choirs.

During the audition, students sang assigned cuts, or sections from the pieces of music every student had prepared, as well as eight measures of sight reading. This all took place behind a curtain that blocked the judges’ view of the competitors.

“Going through [the audition] process teaches you time management and what level of preparedness you really need to succeed at the All-State level,” Assistant Choir Director Ms. Jennifer Alexander said. “You learn what it’s like to be an independent sight reader, since you can’t rely on the strengths of others like you do in choir.”  

Area was the last round of the TMEA process, as well as the hardest, since all the students that auditioned had similar skills and were equally qualified to make the the All-State Choir.

“It’s intimidating because everyone’s so good,” Kyra Kornfeld ‘18 said. “Sometimes you just have to get out of your own head.”  

Many of the students that auditioned plan to study music in college, so the pressure they experienced was their first taste of what they would experience in the series of college auditions required for pursuing a music major.

“I remember feeling really prepared at college auditions after going through this process,” Ms. Alexander said.  

Of the seven students from Westwood that auditioned, four made All-State. Martha Beaty ‘18 and Nisha Desai ‘18 made the Treble Choir, Kyra Kornfeld ‘18 made the Mixed Choir, and Osric Nagle ‘18 made the Tenor-Bass Choir. These students will head to San Antonio on Feb. 14 for the three-day All-State Choir clinic and then perform on Saturday, Feb. 17 along with students that advanced from other areas.