Thirty choir students advance to region auditions

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John Flatt

Choir director Brandon Farren works with the bass section on all-region music.

The 30 choir students who made the all-district choir will advance to all-region auditions Oct. 29.

District choir auditions are the first part of the all-state choir process, with regional choir auditions after all-district. Twenty-eight Canyon students made the choir with an additional two placing as alternates.  Junior Claire Horn made it to area choir last year and placed first chair at this year’s district audition. Horn says the hardest part about the process is the long days spent auditioning.

Learning the music is making me better as a musician and is taking me down new paths.

— Claire Horn, 11

“Scores don’t matter. Making the choir doesn’t matter. It’s the musical journey that matters,” Horn said. “Learning the music is making me better as a musician and is taking me down new paths.”

More than 500 students attended the audition.  All-district choir has no performance or concert, and its purpose is to begin the steps of narrowing down the competition for future auditions during the all-state process, which consists of district, region, pre-area and area. Junior Mitchell Hernandez made the All-State Choir his freshman year.

“You have to work hard at what you love to do and you have to work harder than all the other people in your section that you’re competing against,” Hernandez said. “Don’t act like you’re going to make it because there’s no guarantee you will.”

Students are required to learn new music for each set of auditions. In the audition room, students sing parts of the music they have learned. At every audition after district, students also read a piece of music they have never seen before, following a 30 second review of the piece.

“It’s not about being a great singer,” choir director Brandon Farren said. “It’s about being a great musician and putting yourself above the others.”

Results from all-district choir auditions:

Soprano 1

Audrey Hughes-5th chair

Krissy Niles-8th chair

Braelly Jones-11th chair

E’lyse Niles-12th chair

Erin Sheffield-13th chair

Tori Ross-14th chair

Soprano 2

Katelyn Spivey-11th chair

Madeleine Farren-12th chair

Emily Tull-19th chair

Alto 1

Meghan Brooks-13th chair

Callie Boren-15th chair

Emma Sheets-16th chair

Katelyn Donais-17th chair

Mia Bonds-19th chair

Alto 2

Claire Horn-1st chair

Rebecca Granda-6th chair

Kaleigh Rodarte-Suto-14th chair

Rilae Crow-17th chair

Tenor 1

Kaleb Donais-4th chair

Nolan Quintanilla-12th chair

Tenor 2

Mitchell Hernandez-1st chair

Christian Theiss-4th chair

Bass 1

Nathan Solomon-5th chair

Mark Porter-7th chair

Brylee Walker-8th chair

Tobin Brooks-10th chair

Ryan Boren-14th chair

Bass 2

Conner Nall-3rd chair

Josiah Dye-4th chair

Isaac Kizziar-14th chair