Tens of hundreds of chorus students prepared for the Districts auditions that occurred on Nov. 11th. The auditions were held at McLean High School where students were judged on their ability to sight read and use dynamics.

Each chorus student in the Districts attended such auditions in order to see how they place alongside the other singers. If they receive a top scoring or rating such as first or second chair, then they make it into States.

Besides the memorized music, they need to work on their performance overall and the dynamics that they use, such as keeping their voice consistent throughout the audition and not change their tempo and/or volume towards the beginning, middle or end of the song.

They were given a small piece of the music that they used to practice their specific singing tone and volume. On top of this, they needed to sight read or read for the first time when in front of the judges.

The scoring is a bit different compared to sports competitions. It is a blind audition, where the judges don’t see the person auditioning. The judges solely judge based on what they hear, which makes their scoring even more unbiased.

There are two judges that give the singer a score out of 100. If the choral student scores very well, then they will be placed in a higher chair for their singing section.

Junior Alene Boghosian said, “It’s pretty cool auditioning in Districts and succeeding because you get to find out other singers that have the same or more motivation to do better.”

Performing in front of these judges requires that every singer give it their all by singing with their hearts as well as their souls.

Both Le and Bohosian were not nervous about the competition, but this was mainly because they had practiced before during their chorus class, as well as their past experience in their District auditions in the previous years. One would need to ensure that they showed their individuality through their singing and made themselves stand out from the crowd of choral students that were hoping to make it to the “next round,” while also remaining accurate.

“Districts is something that means a lot to me because I’ve actually participated in Districts for the past 3 years and have always had such amazing time every year,” said Le.