Singing with Difficult Accompaniments in All-State Auditions

While I generally take off most of Thanksgiving week from singing lessons, I ALWAYS try to see my Pre-Area students (the audition before State).  This is the audition that really separates the men from the boys (or women from the girls!).  I cannot tell you how competitive it is; in most voice parts, a few mere points separate the top five from the rest of the singers. 

Every year, my voice students always impress me by how much they have grown in voice lessons due to the All-State process.  The music is so difficult that it is a sink-or-swim situation; if the music doesn't kill you, it truly makes you stronger!  And the biggest improvement I see is to navigate and sing with difficult accompaniments.

In most songs, a typical accompaniment (karaoke track) tends to play your melody or at least provide very clear chords for entrances and downbeats (beginnings of the measure).  In All-State music, that helpful guidance goes out the window.  The two choral arrangements we are working on - a Brahms chorale and a modern French Haitian song called Gagot - are incredibly difficult to follow.  Even though I consider myself an accomplished musician, I have to review the scores to make sure I can teach the chorales correctly. And the counting (which sounds simple) is incredibly complex, with tempo and meter changes galore!

My voice students - after a few weeks of listening - are nailing these chorales.  And that is a testament to why we have an All-State process.  It isn't just about rewarding great singers, though certainly that is an important aim.  The most important product of the All-State process is the improvement for all the singers who truly devote themselves in their voice lessons to learn the music and become a better singer in the process.  Whether a voice students makes All-Region or All-State choir, the audition experience transforms these singers into accomplished musicians who can read any choral score once they leave high school.