Emerson Choir students attended the All-State District Auditions at Heritage High School on Sept. 10, leaving with 18 advancing students. 

After months of practice and preparation, 18 members of Emerson choir advanced from the District round of All-State, making history within the four years that this school has been open. The choir director, Christopher Orr, makes a point of pushing All-State on his students, making it mandatory for his varsity choir. He makes this point known, as he is proud of the long term benefits that he and All-State has made on his students. Although he understands the varying interest in the competition, he has a firm belief that each and every one of his students will walk away benefited in their own, personal way.

“I’ve never had a student come out and say ‘Ugh, that was a waste of time.’ They’ve always marveled at the experience that they got to do,” said Orr.

 All-State is a statewide solo choir competition in which students compete to advance in each of the four rounds until they make it to the top 2% of the state. The competition consists of four rounds, each of which the student is given three pieces of music, and, depending on the round, the student must sight read a new piece of music that they have never seen before. Emerson choir in particular has been learning the music since the summer, and has spent at least half of each class working on All-State music. 

 “It is a rigorous process,” said Orr. “It’s hard to do.”

 Students involved in the competition agree with this statement, as it pushes and challenges the students’ stamina just as much as their quality of voice. 

“Sometimes you don’t have the voice, but you do have the work ethic and go all the way [to State],” Choir President Kemuel Santiago, 12, said.

Additionally, although the 18 advancing choir students across grades 10 through 12 are thankful for the upcoming opportunity at the next round, Pre-Area, they all agree that the learning experience is more important and worthwhile than the advancing itself. They make it a point to make their end goal not to be merits, but rather enjoying the time they spent with their classmates and how far they’ve grown as individual singers.

“Winning is not the end goal,” choir member Maya Richa, 11, said. “That’s not the only thing you can accomplish. There’s so much more to All-State”

The advancing 18 are incredibly proud of themselves, as well as all of their hard work, and they can’t wait to compete at the next round.