Opus Honor Choir

One of the opportunities for 5th-9th graders in Iowa is the chance to audition for Iowa's Opus Honor Choir. There are actually a few different choirs available--a 5th-6th grade children's choir, 7th-8th grade girls and boys choirs, and a 9th grade mixed choir.

So Emmie, entering the grand world of 5th grade, decided to audition for the first choir. She worked very hard preparing for her audition. She got up early at least three times a week for the first several weeks of school to rehearse with a group of interested 5th graders. And the required audition music was hard, I thought. (I even discussed it with a friend of mine who is involved in the organization and she admitted that the music was intentionally difficult to weed out competition that sometimes reaches 3,200 applicants.) But Emmie worked hard and nervously awaited the day when she had to meet with her music teacher to record her audition a cappella to be sent in to the judges.

Of course, all along I kept reminding Emmie that with the judges only being able to pick 180 singers from all of 5th and 6th graders from schools throughout Iowa, just trying for it was what mattered--all the lessons about the effort being worth the experience, and it not mattering if she made it or not, I was still so proud of her for trying and all that. So imagine our surprise and excitement when she got a call from her music teacher personally to tell her that she had been selected to join the choir, one of three 5th and 6th graders from our entire school district.

Now she will prepare for an all-day clinic at Iowa State on November 19, where she will rehearse with a guest director in preparation for a special concert offered on campus that afternoon. We are so happy for her and proud of her effort as she worked hard to accomplish something important to her.

WOW EMMIE! WAY TO GO!

[If you want to see the official results click here and look under the name Jennifer Ghelf (her music teacher) to see her name.]