My students are doing well for themselves in college. I've been hearing from some of them lately. College Choir auditions are the first week of classes or the week before classes begin. Some have already made the group in a previous year, but there are lots of places still open.

While it is fun to be in any college ensemble, major institutions always have a choir that is “the” representative of the college’s prestige. They are usually made up of upperclass music majors and grad students.

Anne is at UT and broke through this year into their top choir as a sophomore. She is confident and her success did not surprise her, but she had to jump over a lot of voices to get into the choir.

Lauren is at LSU and has moved into the renowned Acappella choir for this her junior year. I’m very proud of her. Many LSU voice majors never make this choir.

One of my freshman boys, Brandon, has been selected for the Chorale at Georgia Southern. He is not a music major. Very impressive because that choir carries a hefty scholarship for those who land a spot. He is the third current member of the Chorale that is one of my alums.

But what has taken my breath away is that two of my freshmen girls have landed in the top choirs at their schools--big schools. Morgan is singing at Clemson. Twice as many enroll as are needed for this choir and then they sing for a place during the first week of class. After a week, half of them are asked to drop. Morgan, a non-music major, remained in the most competitive voice classification, soprano 1.

Ellen, without ever attending a day of class at LSU has been selected for Acappella Choir (along with Lauren, above). LSU’s Acappella Choir is one of the top 10 college choirs in America. We had practiced for her audition and I thought that she would turn heads. I’ve sat in those college auditions and you know about what you are going to get. The professors are trying to make some notes on a pad that will help them differentiate one singer from another some hours later when they are trying to sort everything out. Ellen was so sharp on her aria, the vocal technique so solid, the clarity and ring in the voice so beautiful. I felt that she’d begin to sing and everyone would look up and say to themselves, “who in the world is that?” She called me from a practice room before the audition, worried by the beautiful voices she heard warming up around her in other rooms. We went over what she should do to warm up. She had done that. I told her “Hey, you are not supposed to make this choir. Just go and have fun. You are ready.” When it was over she called to say she did well. Apparently so.