Wrangell singer participates in state-level concert

A Wrangell freshman was invited to join the state-level treble choir this year, at the All-State Music Festival in Anchorage.

Held between November 16 and 18 at the Bartlett and West Anchorage high school campuses, the Alaska School Activities Association event drew around 175 students from around the state to participate in its two choirs.

Robyn Booker has been singing for "as long as I could talk," she reckoned. Participating in the annual Christmas concert through her school years, as a new high schooler it was her first year trying out for All-State.

Hundreds of students send in auditions in order to participate, with judges offering invitations to those that qualify. For hers, Booker recorded a rendition of "America the Beautiful," and also had to submit an exercise in pitches.

"We had to do a chromatic scale, which was really hard," she explained. Having problems with her opening pitch, Booker had to attempt the scale six times before she had a copy she was satisfied with. Recording them as MP3-format files, Wrangell Public Schools' music director Tasha Morse then submitted the tracks for assessment.

Booker heard back from ASAA with an invitation on October 13 – a Friday to boot, held by some to be an unlucky day. "Not for me," she said. "It was a good day."

While Wrangell has had invitations extended to students in past years, Booker's participation in the 2017 All-State concert was the school's first in at least 13 years, by Morse's reckoning.

With a month to prepare, Booker received a list of songs to learn before the event. "When I first got them I was like, 'Oh, dear!'" Students' parts differed depending on their section in the choir, and Booker was at first uncertain with how things would sound.

Heading up to Anchorage with Morse the day before the events' start, once she met up with her choirmates for a first practice, Booker was relieved by how things sounded. There were a lot of students there, she said, but they harmonized well together.

One of two choirs assembled for the concert, which also included bands, the all-female choir Booker took part in had six pieces to sing. Their first also opened the concert, the Latin hymn "Gloria."

"It's upbeat," Booker said approvingly. As the lyrics were in Latin it had been a difficult piece to learn, but "once we got it, it was really, really, really pretty."

Of the pieces she enjoyed the most, the next Booker sang was "Shenandoah," a traditional American folk song. "It brought everything back in from being loud," she said, bringing things to a more somber tone.

The group went out on a bright note with "Sing Creations Music On," Booker said. "Like 'Gloria,' it was very upbeat, and kind of out there."

Morse said the full concert is presently available to watch on demand for GCI subscribers, and after a broadcast the day after Thanksgiving is expected to run again around the holidays later in December.

Booker was pleased with the experience, and hopes to participate again in the years to come.

"Now that I definitely know that I can make it, I'll try harder," she said afterward. She will be shooting for first chair by the time try-outs for the 2018 concert begin.