WISD Public Information

WJH Varsity Treble Choir “Superior” at UIL

April 3 Waller Junior High’s Varsity Treble Choir competed at the Region 27 UIL Concert and Sight Reading Contest at Foundry United Methodist Church in Houston. These statewide music contests encourage high performance standards as well as foster an appreciation of music within the society. The students are expected to understand and abide by all UIL rules and regulations and maintain a sense of educational purpose and decorum.
     The UIL Concert and Sight Reading Contest is two-fold; the first portion of the competition is the concert portion. Choirs present three memorized songs for three judges. Two of the three songs must be selected from a prescribed music list, and one of the three songs must be performed “a cappella”, meaning, without piano accompaniment. The judges then rate the choirs overall performance on a number scale, “1” being superior and the highest possible score and “5” being poor and the lowest.
     The WJH Varsity Treble Choir presented “Lascia Ch’io Pianga” (Italian) written by G.F. Handel, “Non Nobis, Domine” (Latin) by William Byrd, and “Sing A Jubilant Song” by Dave and Jean Perry. The choir was accompanied on the piano by Ms. Paula Chatman. They were Awarded two Division “1” ratings and one Division “2” rating therefore earning an overall superior rating. These are the best UIL scores a WJH choir has ever earned! Some of the judges’ comments included: “Lovely tone, ladies. Excellent word stress and sensitivity to the text”, “Lovely diction” and “Thank you, ladies—you are working hard and doing some very lovely things.”
     The second portion of the contest is Sight Reading. Here, the choir is given a newly composed piece of music that they have never seen before and given six minutes to study the piece. During these six minutes the choir and director can only chant or clap rhythms and texts—no singing, humming or piano playing is allowed. When time is called, the choir sings the selection without piano accompaniment, using Kodaly syllables (do, re, mi, etc.), or hand signs. Then they are given an additional two minutes to study—again, no singing, humming or piano assistance is allowed. At the end of the second study period, the choir sings the piece again, unaccompanied. Three judges rate both readings on the same number scale as the concert portion.
     The sight reading piece the WJH choir was given was a challenge, but they never gave up or became discouraged. The girls corrected many mistakes during the second reading of the piece, and the judges complimented their improvements. In this portion of the contest, we earned two Division “2” ratings and one Division “3” rating for an overall rating of “Excellent”.
     “I am so proud of the young ladies that made up the WJH Varsity Treble Choir; they have grown as musicians and singers so much since the beginning of the school year,” Director Megan Arnold said.
     The WJH Varsity Treble Choir is made up of Elizabeth Baldwin, Perla Castillo, Brittney Cottrell, Courtney Davis, Haley Doucet, Brogan Ellisor, Kaylea Fajkus, Taylor Hodges, Marilyn Hughes, Shiane Lockard, Brandi Poyer, Hallie Sessum, Taylor Smith, Krystal Snoe, Heather Snow, Jessica Snow, Emily Stafford, Nichole Stubblefield, Laura Tapia, Samantha Warren, Jessica Watts, Kayla White, Michaela Woodhouse, and Brooke Wooten.