The concert hall of Trinity High School echoes with the sound of heels making contact with the stage floor as Legacy’s varsity Treble Choir enters the auditorium. This ensemble is about to perform for three judges that will give them ratings that they’ve been working all year to achieve. In the middle of the group, sophomore Azalia Vasquez, starts to feel the anxiousness that always comes before getting on stage.
During the week of April 12, Legacy’s choir program brought four different choirs to the Region 5 UIL concert and sight reading competition. One of the first day of competition, Chamber choir which consists of varsity musicians of both genders and Men’s Ensemble which is made up of male varsity singers, received nothing but superior ratings from all six judges. On the second day, Varsity Women which has female varsity singers, followed suit and earned only superior ratings as well . On the very last day, Non-Varsity Treble averaged out to superior ratings and all choirs came back to Mansfield with a sweepstakes trophy.
“I’m so proud of us,” Vasquez said. “There’s often a misunderstanding that non varsity choirs are not as good as the others, but that’s clearly not the case. The fact that not one of our choirs received anything under superior ratings reflects on how amazing our director is. I wouldn’t have it any other way. ”
All four choirs have been practicing their performances since August to get ready for this competition. Every day each choir practiced sight reading to prepare for the strict process that can be expected applied at UIL. The choirs also worked on many different songs throughout the year and picked their best three to perform at the Region 5 UIL competition. For the few months leading up to the competition, each choir had after school rehearsals. Choir Director, Josh Powell, feels very proud of all the work that each choir member has put in this year.
“The kids that are in choir are good kids,” Mr. Powell said. “I was not nervous going into this season, because I knew that we were ready.”
The choir program will now be preparing for all of it’s spring events like it’s spring show, which will be held on April 27 in the Legacy Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m. Each choir will be stepping out of their comfort zone and learning to sing and dance to songs from various Broadway shows like “Wicked”, “Newsies”, “Hairspray” and “Into the Woods”. The choir program’s Silver Elite Show Choir will also be performing that night. Vasquez is very thankful to be a part of the choir program.
“Choir is my life,” Vasquez said. “It’s a sense family at school, protection and love. It’s full of people I know [that] I can trust and I don’t think there’s anything better than that.”
