Performance ready, choir hits stage for Pre UIL concert Thursday
Tenor choir students (pictured left to right Abhineeth Pasam, Srikrishna Rajahopal, Aakash Bhagavathi, Issac Garcia, and Vaibhav Gupta) performing at last year’s concert. Choir will go to compete in the Pre UIL competition Thursday at 7 p.m.
March 9, 2023
In order to prepare for choir’s University Interscholastic League contest, choir is attending a pre-UIL session Thursday.
“UIL Concert and sight reading is a statewide evaluation of music programs to determine the level of skill and achievement in the group,” choir teacher Toni Ugolini said. “It is an opportunity to receive feedback from expert judges and get a good idea of where we are as an ensemble.”
The pre-UIL session is an opportunity for choir students to prepare for UIL.
“It’s like a mock UIL so it’s the same format,” sophomore Kaitlin George said. “So, when we go to UIL we know what to expect, we know where we’re going and how we start off.”
However, since UIL is a contest, along with performing three pieces, choir attends a sight reading.
“Pre-UIL is very similar to a normal concert in how we perform three basic pieces that we worked on,” George said. “But, it’s a bit different because it is almost like a mock UIL so after signing our group pieces we have sight reading where we get a new piece and learn it and perform it. Pre-UIL will hopefully give us an idea of what to expect.”
The selection of pieces choir is performing is a reason for excitement for sophomore Sia Parpelli.
“I’m really excited for pre-UIL because all of our pieces are strong and they could use some work obviously but there’s a lot of variety of pieces,” Parpelli said. “We have a German piece, we have a Bulgarian piece, and we have a piece just in English but it also has its own attributes that makes it special.”
Ugolini hopes the pre-UIL session allows an opportunity for both ensemble and personal growth.
“One of my favorite parts of UIL is that it is professionally recorded at a much higher quality than for a normal concert,” Ugolini said. “Hearing ourselves back at that level on our best work gives us a chance to celebrate the things we are doing really well and also hear opportunities for improvement.”
