photo credit: @oohschoirs on Instagram
The Varsity Singers and Choraliers choirs, met at Big Walnut High School on Friday, March 4, to perform at their annual district competition.
Director of Columbus Children’s Choir Jeanne Wohlgamuth had come in to judge and clinic each of the choirs so that they would be prepared for what they would face in front of their real judges during competition.
Schools are offered scores between 1 and 5, with 1 being the highest. Sophomore and Varsity Singers member Emily Ko was left feeling partially satisfied with her choir’s score of a 2.
“I definitely felt a bit disappointed with the results of Varsity Singers performance, though I still appreciate the effort we had put into performing at districts,” Ko said. “It is still an excellent rating, but I know that what we take from this performance and work on next year will definitely help us improve.”
The week after competition, the choirs receive recordings of the judges’ critiques and compliments to see where they need to improve and what they should continue doing.
“We’ll be working on diction, tall vowels and our cut offs. I hope we are able to improve on that next time and work on our facial expressions as well,” Ko said.
Choir director Cherie Brooks knows the choirs’ areas of weakness and where they’re strongest well. Listening to the recording and incorporating those critiques into rehearsal will reinforce the potential they have to move even further in the coming years.
“No matter the scores, I think they did all incredible; Varsity Singers got a 2 and the Choraliers were given a 1. Now comes the decision of whether they want to move on to states or focus on the showcase,” Brooks said.
Choirs that score a 1 are given this opportunity to move onto States; however, this would give Choraliers added pressure along with the Showcase at the beginning of May. So, the decision to move forward or not is very important.
“I’ll support them in whatever choice they make,” Brooks said. “I’ll understand if they don’t want to go, and we’ll focus on making the Showcase the best that it can be. But if they do choose to go, we’ll get to work immediately.”
