The auditorium is filled with silence and nervous energy. The students shuffle onto the stage and wait for the beginning melody of their song to boom out of the piano. The music starts and suddenly the room fills with the beautiful sound of the piano and choir; thus, the competition begins. 

With the Wilsonville choir team having a competition nearing around the corner, Wyatt Budeau, an active member of the choir team, is highly anticipating the event. “This is not my first competition,” voiced Budeau, “I’ve been doing them for a while and as a whole this will be my second year participating in these choir competitions and I’ll be preparing for it by consistently practicing my music whenever I have the time.” 

Being one of the more experienced choir members, Wyatt carries with him the strength of what it takes to be ready and qualified for the competition, which he hopes he can share with his classmates to work harder. 

There are two main events that contribute to a group’s score and placement at a choir festival (competition). The first is the musical performance the choir presents to the judges, and the second is sight reading. 

The judges score the musical performance based on the sound of the choir, the music, and the overall performance. The judges are looking for a unified sound that changes based on the piece of music that is being performed.

On being asked how he is feeling like going into the competition, Budeau comments, “I’m pretty nervous going into it because I know as a whole not everyone puts in as much work as they need to and for a lot of people this will be their first competition but I think once it’s all over the experience will be great for all of them!” 

In addition to the judging, the judges are looking to see how much the choir’s energy matches the music they are performing. If the song is joyful they should see that on the faces of the people who are singing, and if the next song is longing then that should be displayed by the choir as well. 

Nevertheless, being in a choir competition can mean just trying something new for some people, or for others, it’s showing off your innate skill. Wyatt adds, “I hope these competitions make everyone want to work harder in the pursuit of music and bring us closer together as a choir.”