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The Results are in!: STE Students in All State Choir and Orchestra

By Laura Newcomer, Saint Thomas' Episcopal School, School Buzz Reporter | November 1, 2019

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CJ Carrol, Norie Yowell, Emma Bennet, Campbell Brickley, Laura Newcomer

Region and Region Treble members (pictured, from left) CJ Carrol, Norie Yowell, Emma Bennet, Campbell Brickley and Laura Newcomer.

Every October, high school students in the Texas Private School Music Educators Association audition for All State Choir and Orchestra. The choir members are chosen through an intensely competitive auditioning process. After submitting a recording of the chosen pieces, the auditions are judged and ranked. Many sopranos and altos make it into Treble Choir, and the top 16 from each voice part are admitted into Region Choir. This year, 10 students from STE auditioned for this choir. Five of them made Region Treble Choir and three made Region.

The audition pieces this year were Awake the Harp from Joseph Haydn’s The Creation, and There Will Come Soft Rains, by Sara Teasdale. The audition cuts featured the most difficult parts from each song and required hours of practice. Awake the Harp was a classical song of worship and tested the ranges of those auditioning. There Will Come Soft Rains told a story about war and famine and required a more emotional form of singing. Kate Grimley ‘22 had auditioned for All State in the past. This year she auditioned as an Alto and was selected for Region Treble Choir. She had attended Region Treble before and had loved the experience. “I mean, I’ve done it before, but it’s a really great experience., Kate said, when asked about her auditioning experience.

Evann Bilnoski ‘24, auditioned for the first time this year. Though Evann is in eighth grade, she sings with the high school choir, as there is no seventh and eighth grade choir this year. She chose to audition for All State instead of Honor Choir, the middle school competitive choir. She will be attending Region Treble Choir in January as a Soprano 2.

This year, the students at STE and throughout the state that participated in the auditions performed exceptionally well and many earned a spot in the choir. Congratulations to the 2020 TPSMEA Region and Region Treble Choir members!