Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Christah Brantley
English 111/1DF
Michael
During my junior year of high school, I was accepted into the Indiana All State Choir. I was the
first student under my teacher to do so. I was also the only student at my school who was accepted that
year. It was not an easy task either. The auditions were tough and about eight of us went. There was a
bass, tenor, four sopranos, and two altos, including myself. We auditioned individually and the audition
eight measures of melodic sight-reading. The hardest part for me was the melodic sight-reading. I
worried it would break my chances of being accepted into the All State choir.
I remember sitting in the common hall of Mississinewa High School, practicing those 32
measures with the other students from my choir. We sang the song about 15 times a piece. One by one,
wed leave the room to go audition. I believe I was third to the last of us. I was so nervous that my hands
were shaking and I could not stop shifting my feet. When I walked into the audition room, there were
three judges sitting at desks. Each had a stack of paper, a clipboard, and a notebook sitting in front of
Nodding, she said, This is for the sight reading portion of the audition, and proceeded to hand
After accepting the sheet of paper, I stood behind a music stand that was placed in front of the
desks so that each judge had a good view of me. I lied down the sheets of paper and took a deep breath
as the judge closest to the stereo started Hallelujah. The song was just breezing by. I was not surprised
Brantley 2
considering it was the only song I had listened to all day, and for the entire two weeks before that. As I
sang, the judges would scribble notes; they probably had something to do with round vowels or
proper breathing. I could feel the song coming to an end and this only made me more nervous. The
sight-reading portion was next. The judge, who had spoken to me before, spoke up again.
She said, On the board behind me is the music that Id like for you to copy onto your staff
paper.
Now, clap to the rhythm you see on the page, she continued.
The judge started the ticking on a metronome to help me keep my pace while I clapped the
rhythm. Like the song, the rhythmic sight-reading breezed by. This only signaled the transition to the
melodic portion. One of the judges got up and played a chord on the keyboard, sending nervous chills
down my spine.
Take your time and look over the music once more, the judge instructed. When youre ready,
just look up and well play that chord for you again.
I looked down at the sheet of music I had scribbled on and it was like chicken scratch. The notes
were dancing on the page and I couldnt make sense of them. So, I did what I would always do in that
situation. I winged it. I actually started off well, I think. However, after a few notes, I was not singing
anything close to what was on the paper. I finished my audition with a small grimace. I felt so
embarrassed leaving the school after that. I just hoped that the melodic sight-reading would not cost me
About a week later, I found out that I had nothing to worry about. I had been accepted into the
Indiana All State Choir. The next few Saturdays were spent in the Mississinewa High School choir room. I
would go to practice the same seven songs, for four hours at a time, with the other students in my
region. They were all insanely talented and a bit intimidating. This only caused me work to harder; I
wanted to prove that I belonged there, too. I stressed myself out during those practices by pushing
Brantley 3
myself harder than anyone could ever push me. I would even go home just to end up practicing for four
All of this was leading up to an event in Fort Wayne. The entire Indiana All State Choir would get
together and perform a showcase with all the songs we had been practicing. My region rode together on
a bus. We arrived in Fort Wayne and pulled up to a hotel that was spilling over with kids my age. We
were led into a giant practice hall. There were seats put out for every student and they were parted into
four groups. When everyone found their designated spots, we started practicing. The sound of 200
trained voices filled the room, bounced off of the walls, and pierced my ears with what is still one of my
favorite sounds. My choir didnt have a lot of guys so I never got to sing in such a full choir. I had also
never sung in a choir that was bigger than 20 people. Even the conductor was incredible. I was in choir
heaven.
I was surrounded by people my age who loved choir and singing as much as I did. At the end of
practices, they would let us roam freely through the hotel. You would think there would be problems
letting a bunch of teenagers loose anywhere, but everyone was just concerned with the music. No one
had any interest in wreaking havoc. There would be about three separate jam sessions going on at the
same time. One person would be playing an instrument with a huge singing crowd surrounding them. It
was so hard not to sing along, like living in a musical. I got to live in this world for two whole days.
The weekend was coming to an end and it was time for our performance. We were all taken to
the big music hall we were going to be performing in. Parents, friends, family, and instructors came to
watch us all perform. For the first time since getting involved with All State, I was not nervous. I stood on
stage with my head held high, happy that I could be a part of such a talented group. I no longer felt bad
about any second I spent stressing out from the auditions or the practices. The whole trip had been
worth it. I can now say that, overall, that was one of the best times of my life.