Boswell junior and Varsity Choir member Ali Abendschan has been on a grind in choir lately.
Abendschan, who sings first soprano, has had a busy schedule both in class and out of school filled with auditions, events, and concerts.
“For me, it’s you get in there. You got to make sure you’re prepared,” Abendschan said. “You have a pencil so you can write notes. You warm up, and you try to sing the best you can.”
Besides her class time, Abendschan also dedicates time to her passion outside of her class time.
“I have one voice lesson a week which is 25 minutes,” she said. “I would say outside of school I try to spend at least 15-30 minutes a day.”
Choir also holds a special place in Abendschan’s heart based on the family vibes that choir gives her.
“We’re all such a tight group, and we can relate to each other,” Abendschan said.
Recently, Abendschan had the opportunity to audition for the All-State Choir.
“For the first round, you have three different songs. Three days before the competition, you figure out what parts of each song you sing,” she said. “On competition day, you go in super early, you check in, and you aren’t allowed to sing at all waiting to audition.”
Abendschan happens to sing in the biggest group of competitors out of all the sections, making the process challenging.
“There’s a ton usually for my part. Soprano ones, that’s probably like the biggest group of girls and probably at least 100 girls,” Abendschan said.
Competitors are given a random number for their audition time, and only the first 42 chairs move on. This led to an unusual incident for Abendschan.
“I got 43rd chair, so at first, I did not make it,” Abendschan said. “But unexpectedly, (choir directors) Mr. Winkley and K.P. pulled me in and they’re like, ‘Somebody backed out of the competition.’ So, I got to go, and I was extremely blessed that I got to go.”
Abendschan would then move on to the next round of auditions, which meant she had three more songs to audition with. Since she didn’t know what part to sing until the day of the competition, she now had to sightread.
“I went into the second round thinking, well, I’m 43rd chair, so I wasn’t expecting to get a high chair or anything like that,” Abendschan said, “but I ended up getting the 22nd chair, which was 21 chairs better than I got the first round.”
Abendschan went on to perform in the District Treble Choir and enjoyed the experience.
“You get in there, and it’s super cool because it’s an environment where everybody has the same level of love for choir that you do,” Abendschan said. “The director, they get you super into it. We did these little dances, and it just gives you so much energy even though you’ve been singing all day and you’re kind of drained. You go through the day, you have the pieces you’ve done in the auditions, and then they also give you one separate piece that’s challenging, but not so challenging that we can’t learn it in a day.”
Abendschan also has been preparing for the choir’s Christmas concert and UIL Solo and Ensemble competition.
“It won’t be until around probably March,” Abendschan said about the solo competition. “You go in and sing one song all by yourself. The judges judge you based on score, and one is the highest you can get, and the lowest you can get is a five. If you have a level one song, and you get a one on it, then you get to go to state. Last year I fortunately got a one on my level one song, and I got to go to state.”
While Abendschan has accomplished many things, she thinks that her biggest accomplishment so far is the 21-chair climb that she pulled.