MLHS teens sing in state, NW choirs

MOSES LAKE - Five high school choral students blended their voices with their fellow musicians from throughout the Pacific Northwest in the All-Northwest Jazz Choir and the All-State Symphonic Choir. The concert was President's Day weekend in Portland.

Madisyn Lybbert, Jefferson Garcia and Holly Tye sang in the jazz choir, and Michael Holt and Michelle Flores were part of the symphonic choir.

It's not a case where students apply and are accepted; students are required to perform a "fairly extensive audition. It's not really that easy to do," said David Holloway, the school's choir director.

The jazz choir was made up of 24 students, not just from Washington but from the whole Northwest, including Alaska, Montana and Wyoming. The symphonic choir was larger and included only Washington students.

The challenges didn't stop once the students were accepted. "It was actually pretty difficult," Garcia said. Participants got the six musical selections early and were expected to memorize them before the concert weekend.

And there's no hiding in a 24-voice choir. "The director can actually point you out if you mess up," Garcia said.

The symphonic choir's music was pretty demanding - and multilingual, Flores said. It was tough enough that even though they knew the music both choirs required hours of rehearsal. "We practiced all the time," Lybbert said. "It was, like, 10-1/2 hours (per day)."

But that was OK because the point was to get to know other musicians. "It was mostly the relationships we built that really made our music," Flores said.

The choirs included kids from big schools and little schools, kids who took private lessons and kids who'd never taken a lesson in their lives. There were kids from schools without a vocal music teacher, "who still made it," Tye said.

"It's cool being around other musicians," Flores said.

"Definitely," Garcia said.