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Christah Brantley

English 111/1DF

Michael

September 19, 2017

Indiana All State Choir 2013

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

consisted of 32 measures of Beethovens Hallelujah, eight measures of rhythmic sight-reading, and

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

them. One of them spoke up.

Christah Brantley? she asked.

Yes, maam, I replied.

Nodding, she said, This is for the sight reading portion of the audition, and proceeded to hand

me a sheet of blank staff paper.

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
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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.

I followed her directions and waited for further command.

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

all the practicing I did for the audition.

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
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myself harder than anyone could ever push me. I would even go home just to end up practicing for four

more hours in my room.

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.