On Wednesday, September 18 choir students traveled to North Western Oklahoma State University in Alva to audition for the Western Oklahoma Choral Directors, also known as, WOCDA.
7th-12th grade students from schools across NW Oklahoma competed to be in the prestigious choir. 310 junior high (7th-9th) and 350 high school (10th-12th) students auditioned resulting in 176 students securing a place in the junior high choir and 195 students securing a place in the high school choir.
High school students audition by learning 4 pieces assigned by the Oklahoma Music Educators Association and junior high students learn 3 pieces assigned by the Oklahoma Choral Directors Association. Students sing cuts from 2 of the 3 songs for junior high and 3 of the 4 cuts for high school. They do not know which songs and where the cuts will be until the day before the audition. Students earn points for Vocal Quality – 25pts, Pitches – 20pts, Rhythm – 20pts, Intonation – 15pts, Diction – 10pts, Dynamics – 10pts and Phrasing – 5pts.
Once students earned a place in the choir they had to attend the festival on October 21 to be an official Honor Choir member. They rehearse all pieces during the day with esteemed Oklahoma clinicians in preparation for All-State auditions which will be held on November 2 at UCO for high school and November 19 at Rose State College for junior high. This year the junior high clinician was Myles Simpson who teaches choir at Alcott Middle School in Norman and Tracey Gregg-Boothby from Rose State College worked with high school students.
The WOCDA Honor Choir Festival ended with a concert at ElkCity’s Pioneer Arts Center and Kelli O’Hara Theater.
The high school choir performed:
Wichita Ghost Song, a new piece honoring Native American tribes and their languages,
Venite, Gaudete! – Adrian Peacock,
Hold Fast to Dreams – Joel Thompson,
Tshela Moya/Ke nna yo Morena – Arr. Michael Barrett and
The Music of Stillness – Elaine Hagenberg.
The junior high choir performed:
Heartbeat – Kyle Pederson,
High Flight – Laura Farnell,
Christus Factus Est – Antonio Juanas ed. Raul Dominguez, and
Why Not? – Nathan Howe
Bianca Garcia, Haven Branson, Gisselle Ponce, and Kynslee Nance earned medals for obtaining a spot in the Honor Choir 3 years in a row (pictured below).
Bianca Garcia, TJ Washington, Ethan McLean, Thaddaeus Stephenson, Gisselle Ponce, Haven Branson, Kynslee Nance, and Shilo Willingham are all KHS students who participated in the WOCDA Regional Honor Choir (pictured below). KJH students participants consisted of Jackson Garrett, Brailyn Schroeder and Evelyn Martin.
Information and photos provided by Choir Director Diann Magnus.
