Marble Falls High School choir student gets closer to the state level
Moncivais now has to prepare for the area round Jan. 10 in Waco.
Along the way, Moncivais has to juggle the rest of her academic and extracurricular commitments, which include rehearsing for the National Honor Choir, the high school choir’s Christmas concert, the choir’s compact disk and a singing engagement with the Chorale Dec. 9 by invitation at the White House.
“It’s getting pretty busy,” she said.
The all-state choir selection process began earlier this year with the pre-area round. With Monday’s achievement at Round Rock McNeil High School, Moncivais is one step away from making the TMEA Texas High School All-State Choir.
With about 20,000 students participating in high school choir in Texas, only 300 are selected for the all-state mixed choir; 300 for the all-state men’s choir; and 300 for the all-state women’s choir.
“It’s quite an achievement to be chosen for the all-state choir,” choir director Bryce Gage said.
Moncivais earned the third chair in her classification audition. Only the top five from each vocal range were invited to the area round. For the Marble Falls senior, it meant moving up in her chair as well. In order to get to this round, she had to be in the top 10 at pre-area.
She was ninth chair there.
“So I made a pretty good jump from ninth to third chair,” Moncivais said.
The tryout included singing selections from two songs in Latin. Students knew the full pieces before the tryout, since they are part of the performing selections that will be used when the all-state choir performs in March. But during this round, the students had to read by sight.
“In sight reading, (the judges) give you a piece you’ve never seen before. You get about 30 seconds to go over it and then you sing it the best you can,” she said.
The actual tryout is conducted in a room where Moncivais was alone except for the accompanist in front of a curtain or wall.
“I was rather shaky about the sight reading,” she said. “For the other two pieces, I had seen them quite a bit so I was pretty sure I’d do all right on them — even though I didn’t know what exact parts I’d be singing until I got (to the auditions).”
Though she’s been a part of the high school choir since she was a freshman, this is the farthest she’s advanced in the all-state choir auditions. If Moncivais makes it through the area round in January, then she’ll be a member of the elite singing group.
The all-state choirs will perform at the TMEA Feb. 11-14 in San Antonio.
“If you make the all-state choir, you’re not only one of the best choir members in the state but also in the country,” Gage said.
Three other MFHS choir members were named as alternates for the area round. Those students are Hannah Faye Foster, Chelsea Moores and Duncan Hicks.
Moncivais has already been selected for the American Choir Directors Association’s National High School Honor Choir. She and fellow students Foster and Clynt Powell, who also earned spots on the national honor choir, must learn several pieces of music for their performance during the ACDA convention in Oklahoma City, Okla., March 4-7.
Foster and Moncivais were selected for the High School Honor Choir I while Powell was chosen for the Junior High Honor Choir. The ACDA breaks the junior high level down to seventh-ninth grades.
When she found out she had made the next round of the all-state selection process, Moncivais shed a few tears.
“To tell the truth, I kind of cried because there is so much going on right now. I prayed before and after thanking God for this opportunity,” she said. “It’s pretty crazy around here right now with the trip to the White House and the Christmas concert coming up. But it’s pretty awesome.”
daniel@thepicayune.com