USAO Hosts OMEA All-State Choir Auditions Oct. 31

The University of Science and Arts will once again host the Oklahoma Music Educator’s Association (OMEA) All-State Choir regional auditions Oct. 31.

The university will welcome nearly 1,000 students, 7-12 grade, from across the southwest region of Oklahoma for the auditions. Schools in the Anadarko, Altus, Blanchard, Chickasha, Comanche, Duncan, Lawton, Moore, Mustang, Norman and Yukon areas are scheduled to participate in the statewide competition. Additional auditions will be held in other regions throughout the state.

The OMEA All-State Choir auditions are open to high school sophomores through seniors. The OCDA Junior High School Choir is open to students in grades 7-9. Students who participate in the auditions will be adjudicated by three judges in a blind audition, with a screened partition between the singer and the judges. The judges will rank each performer in specific areas of singing ability such as pitch, rhythm and timbre, said Dr. Jan Hanson, professor of music and on-site coordinator for the auditions.

Students selected for the All-State Choir will rehearse and perform at the OMEA annual convention in Tulsa in January 2010. The conductor for this year’s OMEA All-State Choir is Granville Oldham, director of the Cedar Bridge Academy in Bermuda. The OCDA Junior High All-State Choir will be under the direction of Steven M. Demorest. The Junior High Choir will perform in Oklahoma City in January 2010.

“The USAO music department welcomes the audition participants to the university campus,” Hanson said. “We’re very pleased and honored to play host to the many students and instructors who will participate in the All-State Choir auditions.”

USAO music majors will serve as student hosts, guides, tabulators and room monitors throughout the day.