Choir UIL Sweepstakes

This past week all of the choirs traveled to perform at the annual UIL competition in hopes of getting sweepstakes. And at this year's UIL all five choirs that went came back with superior ratings which is the first time in six years.

“I look at the choir as a whole, and I look for music that can accommodate that and I look for a set that has diversity and range from different composers,” choir director Evan Key said. 

Mr. Key teaches the varsity mixed choir. He said he really wanted to expose the choir to different music they’ve never done before.

“You want to make sure that you have something upbeat as well as something heartfelt and moving and of course an A cappella,” choir director Emily Eisterhold said. 

Ms. Eis teaches the advanced treble choir and ninthgrade treble choir. Her goal for her choirs was to make sure her students feel comfortable with themselves no matter what a judge says.

“I wanted to know that each of my students walked away knowing that they did their best and were proud of themselves,” choir director April Divin said.

Ms. Divin teaches the tenor bass choir and ninth grade advanced treble choir. She picked the songs for her choir because she felt like it would be an achievable challenge for her students.

“I was a little nervous about our sight reading but it was strong enough to win the sweepstakes and it was really special knowing we did really advanced and sophisticated music,” Key said.

Last year UIL competitions still were in COVID protocols and this was the first year back in 6A conference, so the choirs had to do more difficult music and sight reading.

“The most difficult part preparing is trying to get people to love sight reading, and making sure everyone has that inner motivation,” Eis said.

Ms. Eis said that she felt super proud and elated about sweepstakes and it was an award for all the students who worked for it. 

“My goal is to achieve musical excellence, and walking away from the performances and sight reading I felt very strong,” Divin said.

Ms. Divin is extremely proud of her choirs because she knows their starting point way back in august and they’ve accomplished so much since then. 

“High school kids are just taller intermediate kids with a pinch more of maturity, but it’s nice because kids are more comfortable being themselves at this level,” Divin said.

Written by: Yesenia Bejarano, junior