Written by: Lydia Styf / Staff writer
For years, NPHS has gone to many different competitions and held many performances to show off the abilities of its choir students. Students have many opportunities to not only show off their skills, but to grow them as well.
This year, NPHS has asked its students to try a new way to show off their skills: All-State.
At the beginning of the school year, junior Samantha Eyerman and ninety-six other choir students from across the state of Indiana auditioned for a type of All-State Choir, All-State Show Choir. Eyerman was among the 65 students selected and the only NPHS student.
Each of the participants submitted a 20 second dance segment from the official show and a recording of them singing “The Star Spangled Banner”.
“They put you in a category from highest to lowest scores, and then they pick the top percentage,” Eyerman said.
Eyerman then had to wait until October for the results after submitting her audition in September.
“I was so nervous the entire day,” she said. “ Like, I kept on checking my phone.”
After receiving the email, confirming that she was in the choir, she began rehearsals.
Practices, both with the choir and at home, were a necessity for Eyerman.
“I practiced for an hour every day, and I still didn’t have enough time to practice,” Eyerman said.
These at-home practices led up to a two-day in-person group rehearsal lasting seven hours each.
For Eyerman, these rehearsals were the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends.
“ I have a photo of me dipping this guy because I learned the guy part for some point…and he was like, ‘Wait, what if you dip me for this photo’ and I dipped him,” Eyerman said.
She loved the experience and would gladly do it again.
However, show choir is not the only experience offered by All-State. All-State Honor Choir, unlike All-State Show Choir, is a group of the most talented voices across the state of Indiana to sing concert-style music in January.
Junior Allison Windisch auditioned for the All-State Honor Choir on Sept. 7 after receiving materials in May. Windisch and other potential Honor Choir members from around Hancock county gathered to prepare for the auditions and receive feedback.
“My heart was racing… we got a little practice room and then it was super quick when I actually went into the audition room,” Windisch said.
Of the multiple hundreds of people who auditioned, over 100 made the cut, including Windisch.
“I was freaking out because I had been honestly going insane for the past entire month,” she said.
She, along with the other over 100 students in the Indiana All-State Honor Choir finally received the news that they had been accepted on Oct. 1.
While rehearsals have started, the All-State Honor Choir will not perform until mid-January after much more practice and refinery.
Both singers are confident in the skills of both their choirs and what their own experience can bring back home to New Palestine.
Eyerman was fully willing to go back if she had the chance, and Windisch is excited for the potential of the Honor Choir.
Eyerman said, “Everyone knew their music knew how they wanted to sing it, and we just fully embraced it in rehearsal.”
