All State Auditions Mystify Me Again

Over the weekend, Kennedy High School choir students left for Oelwein on a yellow school bus to audition for the Iowa All-State Festival after months and months of hard work and preparation. The day had finally come! We spent most of it sitting in a high school gymnasium for hours and hours on the hard benches of bleachers. From experience I knew what to expect and I brought a good book to read, but I quickly grew bored with it and wished I had brought my backpack with all my homework to do, even if  I had already brought one heavy bag and did not need an 85-pound pack full of books to shlep around and injure my back, no doubt right before my audition would come up.

The clock ticked. Our group of four finally stood before the judges and sang excerpts from this year's All State music. A stupid, lame version of "Skip to My Lou" and the annual "O Beautiful, for Spacious Skies" broke free of our tense vocal cords. How were we doing? To me, we sounded pretty good. My voice was tired from getting up at 4 a.m., meeting for breakfast at Perkins at 5 a.m., and singing more than I probably should have all week long. But I made it in last year, and this year should be even easier.

Tick, tick, tick.

Different people were recalled. That is the worst feeling, as I found out freshman year. If you were tired or tense before, you'll be ten times worse when you go back to those judges, who are not sure about you, or they wouldn't have asked to hear you again, all alone this time. Sight-read and sing, SOLO, for people who just were not convinced the first time around that you should be in.

I did not get recalled. That could mean two things: I was out. I was in. No second chances now.

Tick, tick....

Two members of our quartet found their names on the list on the cafeteria wall. They made it!

Tick, tick...

My name did not show up.

Five other girls from Kennedy who made it last year also did not make it this year, either. Mr. Armstrong told us we all sounded great, and there was no explaining or understanding why this year we were not chosen.

Well, the time we spent preparing was not a total waste. The process is an experience in and of itself. Meeting every week for two months with three other people, singing together, working on timing and blending our voices, is never a total waste of time.

I really didn't want to miss another day or more of school anyway, after two weddings in one month -- five days to Connecticut and back on Labor Day weekend; four days for the Nebraska wedding, the first weekend of October -- and  five sick days in between weddings.

And really: Skip to My Lou?

Maybe next year the music will be worth singing, and I will get in once more. If not, I don't really care.

Tomorrow night I have to go to Iowa City to audition for a different honor choir. Like the annual All State concert every November, this concert is every February, near Valentine's Day, and it is conducted by ISU's Dr. James Rodde. Last year I sang at both All State in November and Honor Choir in February. This year I hope I will at least get to do the concert in February.

I auditioned for last year's concert on very short notice during the school day at Xavier. The piano accompanist said I would be up soon, and what song was I singing? I had no idea! Thinking fast, I named a Mozart song I had been listening to on You-Tube. The pianist said "Phew! That one is easy to play and I already know it." We walked in to the audition. Together for the first time, she played, I sang.--and the funny thing is, I made it in, with no preparation or practice or time to worry about how I would do.

This year I am at Kennedy, not Xavier, and Dr. Rodde does not come to Kennedy for us to audition. Only one or two Kennedy students a year even try out for it. I am not sure why that is, but my mom got an appointment for tomorrow night's audition at City High. My piano accompanist will be Younjung, a music major from Kore and a friend of my brother Miles. I have never met her before. The audition is at 9:15 p.m. That is very late in the day for a singer, but one good thing is that I won't have to get up at 4 a.m., ride a bus, sit in a gym all day and wait, wait, wait for my turn to audition and wait, wait, wait all day for the results.

I might wait up to a week for the results! The teacher will announce Dr. Rodde's decisions.

I am not nervous.

Really! I'm not the least bit nervous!!!

Wish me luck.