Weiser High School choir students qualify to compete at the state level

Weiser High School choir program had six students recently compete in district solo competition, and all six students qualified to compete at the state level.
 Director Mike Turner shared that this is the first time Weiser has had six students compete at the solo competition and all six students who competed, qualified for state.
 The choice to compete at the district level solo competition is completely voluntary and each of these students have put in countless hours completing extra work outside of class. All of them  work with a private teacher, to hone and perfect their solos.
 Emma Tolman earned first place in the district soprano competition. Whitney Turner earned second place in the mezzo soprano division, while freshman Ella Terry took first place in the mezzo soprano division. There was less than a  two point difference on a 300 point scale between Terry and Turner.
 Nichole Light also qualified for state in the mezzo soprano division. Daniel Rodriguez earned first place in the tenor division, while Peter McKenna also earned his position at state with a second place score in that division.  
 This year the competition for both the district solo and the state solo competition are done virtually through recordings. Instead of a live accompanist and performing live in front of the judges, each student has to use a specially designed app to record their entry.
 The app allows each student to record their performance three times. They are required to use a recorded accompaniment, cannot make any post recording adjustments, and cannot record their singing using any other program or any pre recorded vocals. They must submit their recordings by the end of April.  
 Turner shared that the app was uniquely designed for the state competition and although, nothing’s the same as performing live, this app helps keep the competition as fair as possible.
 Turner also said that none of the success of these students would be possible without the support of the Snake River Heritage Museum allowing them to use the auditorium as the ideal venue for recording. Tori Thomas has also been a key to the success of each of the students. Each of the soloists this year are either current students or former voice students of Thomas for her private lessons, and she has worked with each of them as they prepared to record their solo entries.
 “Everything she (Thomas) does for Weiser choir cannot be appreciated enough. She is the driving force behind so many of our student’s talent and love for music,” Turner said.
 Each of the students choose their solo song from a state approved song list for each voice category. At the district level, they competed against singers from other 3A schools. At the state level they will compete against all other singers in their voice category regardless of school size. They hope to receive their state results by the second week of May.