The sweet sounds of choir music echoing through the empty hallways at Shoemaker High School is the ongoing work to compete among the best scholastic voices in Texas.
About 100 Killeen ISD high school choir students are working this week to learn the audition music for the Texas Music Educators Association All-State Choir process.
The annual KISD High School Region Prep Choir Camp allows district choir students to receive four days of concentrated instruction over the six pieces they need to master to have a chance to make the cut in this year’s top ensembles.
Choir camp photos are posted here: www.killeenisd.org/photos
Many students attend choir camps throughout the state and beyond, but this week’s clinic is free of charge for local students and gives them access to multiple directors deeply familiar with the audition process.
“Our kids can have the same quality experience with quality teachers (as other students) to get a leg up on their peers,” said Killeen High School choir director Janice Needham.
They begin at region competition in September for a chance to advance to pre-area and then to area, where the top 5 percent continue to All-State and get to perform at the annual TMEA convention in February.
“You have to learn the music, you have to hear it – it’s complex. At the upper levels you have to sightread, too,” Needham said.
The students who begin learning the audition music in the summer are far more successful at moving into the higher levels. “We provide them an opportunity to be competitive,” she said.
Last year, six KISD students earned All-State Choir status, while two more made the All-State Band and one made All-State Orchestra. Two years ago, 11 district students made All-State Choir.
Chaparral High School junior Mylianah Pitts plans to audition for the All-Region choir and hopefully advance beyond. She is attending the KISD camp for the first time.
“It’s about getting better,” said Pitts, who knew the camp would challenge her to improve.
“We have to practice more and more to learn the music to try out for region. I want to get into a higher level of choir. It’s tough, but we have really good directors. I’m nervous, but I know they will prepare me for it.”
As always, it’s been a busy summer for KISD Fine Arts with a full slate of enrichment camps for every age group.
In addition to the four-day all-region choir camp, the high school bands have returned this week for the annual marching camps in preparation for competition and for football season halftime shows.
The first day of school in KISD is August 17. Football season begins August 27.