On Saturday, October 23rd Liv Caskey and Avery Slaubaugh were accepted into the 75th Annual Iowa All-State Choir. The pair auditioned from a selection of eight music arrangements that they’ve …
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On Saturday, October 23rd Liv Caskey and Avery Slaubaugh were accepted into the 75th Annual Iowa All-State Choir. The pair auditioned from a selection of eight music arrangements that they’ve practiced since August this year. Students are unaware of the short selections from the songs they audition with until early Saturday morning.
The audition songs were Song of Triumph by Grotenhuis, Liebst du um Schonheit by Schumann, Music of Stillness by Hagenberg (an Iowa composer), Kyrie Eleison by Haydn, Rejoice! By Ames, and Thixo Onothando by Barrett. Accompanied by those songs are two patriotic pieces; America the Beautiful arranged by Ward and Battle Hymn of the Republic by Wilhousky.
“My favorite song would probably be Song of Triumph- it was my favorite to practice these past few months,” comments Slaubaugh.
Students are given the song material a few months prior to auditions, which gives them ample time to prepare. Various schools offer practice and feedback from other choir professors or teachers.
“The one thing I wish I could change, is going back to August and not procrastinate for so long,” senior Liv Caskey remarks.
Although the pair felt they should’ve begun practicing sooner, their Choir Director, Collette McClellen feels that the two have put in a large amount of effort regardless of when they started practicing the music.
“I truly admire their ability to stick to their goal and not just practice inside of school- but take time out of their daily lives to further their performance,” McClellen expresses.
The Iowa All-State Choir is one of the most difficult choirs to make it into. Those who audition go through a gruesome selection process. If you audition early in the morning, it could be hours until you find out if you’ve even made call-backs. For Slaubaugh, she made it to call-backs a few hours after her first audition. Then she had to essentially audition again, but with new selections for the music.
“When Avery got a call-back and I didn’t, I had lost a lot of hope. There was a chance that I went straight to the accepted list, but that felt somewhat impossible to me,” Caskey explained.
At the end of the day, Caskey and Slaubaugh received the news that they had both been accepted to the All-State Choir, “I was crying. It was a really emotionally draining experience- and Mrs. McClellen she came up and kissed me on the cheek she was so happy,” Caskey recalls.
The pair thanks Mrs. McClellen and their family the most, they’ve encouraged both of them to continue working hard and being their number one supporters.
Avery Slaubaugh and Liv Caskey will perform two new songs alongside the other eight at the 75th Annual Iowa All-State Choir in Hilton Coliseum in Ames on Saturday, November 20th.
