The St. Louis Metro District 8 Choir auditions took place on Sept. 30 at De Smet Jesuit High School. Metro 8 is part of the Missouri Music Educators Association (MMEA) districts. There are a total of eleven districts for Missouri, ranging from all parts of the state. There are two high school choirs for Metro 8, the SSAA (sopranos and altos) and the SATB (soprano, alto, tenor and bass). MMEA created the SSAA so more students could have an opportunity to be in the choir due to there historically being more students who audition for soprano and alto.
“The top sopranos and altos are placed in SATB choir,” said Howell choir director Pamela Cajka. Soprano is the highest of the four different singing voices, alto is second highest, tenor is second lowest and bass is lowest.
Thirty-nine Francis Howell Choir students auditioned for the High School Metro 8 Honor Choir; judges accepted 28 Howell students, 14 in the SSAA and 14 in the SATB.
“The auditions are definitely nerve wracking going in. Since I made the top choir last year as a freshman I was scared to not make it again. During the audition it is scary but not too bad since its a blind audition,” said sophomore Mia Lister. Lister made the SATB choir. The top juniors and seniors from the SATB were then able to audition for All State Choir. Each district of the MMEA can send 16 students (four on each part) to audition, making the process very competitive.
“The auditions for All State were definitely more serious and there were not as many people there because its more of a selective group. Getting an honorable mention or being in All State enables you to be in another choir group over the summer.”
— Grace Chappell, 12
Twenty-seven Howell students performed in the Metro 8 concert, which was on Saturday, Nov. 4, at the University of Missouri-St. Louis Touhill Performing Arts Center.
“Getting to sing with so many people was my favorite part because our school choirs aren’t as big as Metro 8 with all the schools combined,” Chappell said.
