After retreats, practice, and full rehearsals, the WHS Choir attended League last week. The Symphonic choir performed 5 songs, all diverse, ranging from Latin to Spanish to Russian, which resulted in another successful competition for the group. 

On Monday last week, the choir went to League, which is similar to State. While some may be under the impression that the group’s recent performance was state itself, this was more of a pretest for State. The caveat is that state qualifiers were Symphonics’ performance at George Fox, and this was an interim performance for practice. 

At this “pre-test” of sorts. Symphonic did two things: they performed all 5 of their practiced pieces, and they sight read. Sight-reading puts the choir on the spot, as they are given a piece to read and perform– without practice. 

While this may seem extremely difficult (because it is!) Bianca Garretson feels they “did a lot better than [she] thought they would.” This is partly because, in choir class, everyone practices sight reading throughout the year and partly because “maybe everyone was worried [they] were going to be bad, so [they] tried really hard.” 

Since the start of the school year, this second-period choir class has been working on all the skills needed to sound and look great for competitions. From all-black attire to silly-sounding vocal warm-ups, Symphonic has put in their all. 

At the end of the day, all that anxiety and hard work throughout the year paid off because, for a second time, the choir qualified for state. Choir teacher Karen Bohart seemed very proud of her choir class, as she talked about their 3 scores of 92 and how they placed second to Canby High School. 

This is very exciting because the class has made regionals, state qualifiers, and leagues, meaning the WHS Choir has been on a roll and will move on to the state competition.