All West Tennessee Chorus

This year my older son is in the 7th grade. He opted for choir this year. He has a beautiful voice and was singing before he could talk. It is great to see him "use" his talent. This year was his first opportunity to audition for the All West Tennesse Jr Chorus. It is comprised of singers from schools in western TN in 7-9 grades. There is a Sr chorus for those in 10-12 grades.

The chorus is comprised of 200 kids, 25 of each voice part, SSAATBB. The children have spent the last weeks learning the music and preparing for the audition. It is such an achievement. There were 125 kids auditioning for the Alto II part that my son was auditioning for. They only selected 25.

I made him wear nice pants and a blue oxford. As we drove up to the school, we saw kids in Crocs and jeans. My son was not too happy with what his mom made him wear. I thought he looked fabulous. As a judge, I would give the benefit to the child who was dressed appropriately. You had to be there a minimum of an hour in advance. So, we sat in the cafeteria and waited. I had my needlepoint, but my son just sat and got nervous. He looked pretty nervous to me.
They finally called his time slot and it was all in his hands. I was only able to snap a shot as he walked down the hallway.

He said he wasn't nervous by the time he got down there.

As a nervous mom, I just sat in the cafeteria waiting and talking to a woman who used to teach the boys Spanish. Her son was auditioning too. My son came into the cafeteria relieved and smiling. He said that one judge said that his audition was very good. I am the cautious one. I was wondering if the man said that to everyone to acknowledge they were done with the audition. We went home to wait.

All the results were posted on the internet earlier this evening. I am thrilled to announce that our son was chosen for the All West TN Jr Chorus! He was ranked 17 - about the middle of group of those that were chosen. He was excited and relieved. This is such a great opportunity and another avenue for him to pursue. He will have to work to memorize all the music. In two weeks, all the kids come together for 1.5 days of hard-core learning from talented directors. Then, on the Saturday afternoon, there is a performance. I heard from others it is amazing. Music especially chorale music has a profound effect on me. I just hope I am not the mom that is a blubbering idiot out in the audience.