There are many ways to gain points towards lettering here at LHS, especially within the music and fine arts department. One of those ways is to audition for the All-District orchestras, bands and choirs. Aside from the lettering benefits, students auditioning will also benefit from the audition experience.
To make it into All-District a student has to prepare the audition material given to them by their teachers and then proceed to audition. Students from many schools in the district are also auditioning. The judges pick a handful of students from each school and instrument/vocal style to be a part of the All-District choir, band or orchestra. After All-District, certain students also have the opportunity to audition for All-State.
The orchestra will have their All District auditions on Saturday, November 7. The different instruments have been preparing scales and excerpts from composers such as Brahms, Smetana, Mendelssohn and Beethoven.
“The audition is blind, but not all auditions are blind. It’s two judges in a classroom and it’s people from your district, obviously, auditioning for one orchestra,” sophomore Zoe Moody said.
The orchestra will have a mock audition prior to the real audition on Saturday, October 31 from the University of Missouri Kansas City at Grant Hall. The mock audition will consist of a practice audition with practice judges and a 30 minute lesson.
The band’s All District audition date is also Saturday, November 7. Each student has an audition packet that contains all of the audition material from excerpts, to scales. A reminder to students that All District auditions, no matter what instrument a student plays, are not just for students with private teachers. Students don’t need to have a private teacher to audition.
“I don’t really care if I make it or not because I’m doing it to improve, not so much as getting the attention of being in All Districts,” Junior Josh Hannsz said. “That’s what I’m excited about, just improving and getting to say that I’ve done it.”
Choir’s round of All District auditions was back on Saturday, October 3, at Oak Park High School. Eight students made the mixed choir, five made the women’s choir and five made the men’s choir. The performances of the All District choirs will be held on January 17, 2016.
“The hardest part would probably be getting your nerves under control, staying calm, not freaking out, just doing your best,” senior Ethan Julien said.
The choir students have been working on the preparation of their audition for over a month. They’ve worked with their private teachers and with Dr. Rika Heruth, the choir teacher.
“One of the big things that we worked on was performance anxiety and how to control their nerves before they went into the audition room,” Heruth said. “Most of our kids have phenomenal voices, they’re really prepared on their solo and they are amazing sight-readers, which is another part of the audition. Sometimes their nerves get the best of them, so we did spend some time working on that and just trying to keep a cool head so you can do your best.”
Any of the juniors and seniors that made the All-District mixed choir are also eligible to audition for the Missouri All State choir. Those auditions will be on Saturday, October 31. There will be six students from any section, so six basses, six tenors, six altos and six sopranos.