With UIL contest for band and orchestra completed, the choir members are starting their UIL season at their first contests with the Women’s Ensemble signing on Monday and the Varsity Mixed Ensemble on Tuesday.

“UIL is like our big Super Bowl,” choir director Bruce Stevenson said. “The competition usually goes for an hour. We have an 20 minutes to warm up and then we perform three songs. Then we do cite reading two times with a two minute correction period in between.”

With the pressure of UIL competition, Women’s Ensemble member Katarina Eriksson has concerns about competing this week.

“We have two sections for UIL,” freshman Katrina Eriksson said via text message. “One is the songs and the other is sight reading. I think that we are good on the music and pretty ready to perform, but I don’t think we are ready yet.”

Choir has been practicing their set since the end of winter break. Women’s Ensemble will be performing “Awake My Heart to Sing,” “Shenandoah,” and “Bel Piacere,” while the Varsity Mixed Ensemble is singing “Strike the Cymbal,” “With a Voice of Singing,” and “If Ye Love Me.”

Stevenson likes the way things were going heading into the competitions.

“Some of the things we have been working on have been getting better,” Stevenson said. “At this point we are perfecting the performance and working on little tweaks to make our performance run smoother.We had a very good rehearsal recently so I am feeling confident right now that we will have a good performance.”