Seven choir members from Clear Creek’s Chamber and Symphonic choirs competed at the annual TEMA All-State Choir auditions on Saturday, January 10. All seven students placed, and six advanced into either Mixed, Women’s, or Men’s All-State Choir, which is the highest honor a student can receive in high school choir. These students will perform with their choir on February 14 in San Antonio.

Cecilie Wahl received first chair Alto in Mixed Choir, Rachel Watts received fourth chair Soprano in Mixed Choir, and David Millard received fourth chair Tenor in Mixed Choir. Charlie Reader earned sixth chair Bass in Men’s Choir, with Aura Alden earning sixth chair Soprano in Women’s Choir and Barrett Langford receiving eighth Chair Alto in Women’s Choir. Megan Eldridge received second alternate Soprano.

Getting to the point of auditioning for an All-State choir involved four rounds of auditions: district, region, pre-area and area. At district, over 100 students in each women’s voice part and 80-100 students in each men’s voice part auditioned. 45 singers then advanced to region, where the top 15 of each voice part earned a place in Mixed Choir and got to move on to pre-area. At pre-area, the top eight for men and ten for women from four regions, which collectively comprise 1/7 of Texas, are selected for All-State. Then, the singers audition again to determine what choir they are in placed in All-State, whether it is Mixed or Women’s/Men’s.

Out of band, choir, and orchestra, 60,000 students audition from around Texas and 1,500 are selected for All-State bands, choirs or orchestras.

Along with performing their prepared audition pieces, the singers also had to sight-read for 20 percent of their score.

Chairs one through four, the top chairs, are selected for Mixed Choir. Chairs five through eight of men make Men’s Choir, and chairs five through ten in the women’s voice parts make Women’s Choir.

All of the students were very proud and happy of their accomplishment of making All-State.

“For me, making All-State meant all my hard work was paying off,” Cecilie Wahl, first chair Alto in Mixed Choir, said.

Aura Alden, sixth chair Soprano in Women’s Choir, talked about the effect the audition process had on her as a musician.

“It’s nice to meet people and see how music influences their lives,” Alden said. “The audition process really furthered me as a musician and helped me grow.”

Rachel Watts, fourth chair Soprano in Mixed Choir, agreed.

“It’s amazing to have the possibility to meet and be with people that have the same passion as you,” she said of the experience.

Charlie Reader, sixth chair Bass in Men’s Choir, said he is looking forward to having a similar experience from last year.

“Making All-State is pretty important to me because music is a big deal in my life, and knowing I can have the same experience from last year is exciting,” Reader said.

Megan Eldridge, who received second alternate Soprano, will perform if any of the women in the chairs above her cannot make it or if they are ineligible, and if the first alternate cannot make it.

The singers agreed that balancing rehearsals and grades could be a challenge, and mentioned they had been working on their audition music since July.