Sophie Straight

Staff Reporter

Starting this week, choir teacher Mary Etta Copeland is going to be working with her choir and Madrigal students on their solo and ensemble State auditions for the Kansas Music Educator’s Association.

Each soloist has to have two songs that contrast in mood and tempo memorized in order to participate. Once they arrive, they are assigned to a room where a judge listens and gives a score of “perfection” on each of the songs according to Copeland.

“It’s very stringent. They give you points and each song has it’s own separate gradient scale, then the total of the two is what determines the ratings 1 to 5,” Copeland said.

In music, a score of 1 is considered to be the best and 5 the worst.

Junior Emma Goldsby, who participated in a State solo last year, says a student doesn’t need to feel bad if they don’t receive a one.

“A 3 is good,” Goldsby said. “Don’t worry if you don’t get a 1 because those are super rare, but a 2 is even better.”

This is sophomore Simon Couch’s first year auditioning. His biggest struggle, he claims, is pronunciation.

“It’s definitely new to me having someone in your face telling you to say things right,” Couch said. “I’ve never really done classical singing before, so I’m getting better at that.”

Goldsby says that she enjoys working in groups as well as singing on her own.

“I love working in a group, but it’s also nice to see how you’ve improved, not just in a group setting. I [wasn’t able] to do solos, and now I can so I want to see how I’ve improved,” Goldsby said.

Another first-year participant is freshman Kennedy Forshey. Her older sister Kassidy, who graduated last year, was also involved in solo competitions.

Kennedy is one of the only students in her Concert Choir class singing for judges.

“There weren’t very many people doing solos in my class so I just decided to do it,” Forshey said. “I also just like to sing.”

So far, Copeland has enjoyed working with the songs many of the students have picked out.
“We have such a great library of solos, and I don’t know that I have favorites. I think they all do a wonderful job of picking contrasting songs. A lot of them are some I’ve done with college students, which makes it not boring for me and I like that,” Copeland said. “I like the challenge of doing music that makes us all work a little bit.”

One of the most important things to work on in order to be involved is to be prepared well in advance, according to Goldsby.

“Number one: practice. Number two: go see Mrs. Copeland and see her early. The first year I did it, I saw her the day before solos,” Goldsby said. “Know what your solos are, know when your solos are, and be there ten minutes early. Ten minutes will save your butt.”

The competition will be held at De Soto High School on April 11. Auditions will be ongoing throughout the day.