Last month, seven members of the Tyrone Choral Department attended District Chorus in Bedford, Pennsylvania. Two Tyrone students placed high enough to advance to the Regional Competition this weekend at Curwensville High School.

Junior Molly Harris earned first chair at districts and will compete this weekend for a spot at States.

“I was very shocked and honored when they announced that I got first chair at districts. I’m so excited for Regionals,” said Harris.

Districts is a nerve-wracking process. First, the students had to audition with a challenging piece and judged on pitch, vocal tone, rhythm, intonation, technique, and musicianship.  Then they performed at an evening concert with students from all participating schools.

Also placing high enough at Districts to advance to Regionals is sophomore Ethan White.

“I am really proud of all seven students who attended the District Chorus festival.  They all worked very hard to be selected.  I am also really proud of Ethan and Molly who will be moving on to Regional Chorus where they will not only be participating in the choir, but they will also be auditioning to move on to State Chorus,” said music teacher Laura Harris.

Prior to Districts, the students auditioned at Pre-Auditions, which earned them their spot at Districts.

For the first time in Tyrone history, all of the students who auditioned at Pre-Auditions qualified for District Chorus. Junior Molly Harris, Sophomore Ethan White, Senior Azia Barnett, Senior Lily Williams, Sophomore Hannah Gampe, Junior Tyler Eaken, and Senior Hunter Jackson spent hours practicing and perfecting the audition piece in order to give the best performance possible.

Though not all of the students made it to Regionals, they were able learn quite a lot and gain the experience of competing at Districts.

“I learned a lot from the directors and met a lot of awesome people,” said Lily Williams. “My best advice to anyone who is thinking of going–go in 10th grade! The earlier you go, the better it will be for you later. You’ll know what to expect and what you need to do to be better.”