Participation in the highly competitive Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) Pre-Area audition represents a significant achievement for Frenship High School Choir students. After moving past the regional level, these talented individuals continued to refine four collegiate-level music pieces and enhance their sight-singing skills in preparation for the audition night.

The main differences between the region round and the pre-area round are that the level of difficulty increases on both music and sight-singing, and the music portion and sight-singing portion are separated into two different rounds at pre-area instead of being combined all in one audition round. 

Students audition individually in front of a blind panel of five judges for each round. They do not know which segment of the concert music they will be tested on until they arrive at the contest. Each musical excerpt is judged and ranked, with the music portion accounting for 80% of the overall score.

The sight-singing round involves sight-singing an excerpt of music they have never seen before. After entering the room, students have 30 seconds to study the piece before singing it. The students use a system called “solfege” to help them sing pitch intervals. Each excerpt, worth a total of 60 points, contributes 20 percent to their overall score. Correctly sung pitches and rhythms earn 2 points each.

At this level of auditions only the top five chairs advance to the area contest. There were 74 students from the region auditioning for this round. Frenship took 25 students to compete, which was the most out of any school in the region. At the end of the contest, the Frenship High School Choir had 15 students and 6 alternates advance to the Area round.   

“They carried themselves with dignity and integrity the entire time,” said Amy Moss, the Director of Choral Activities at Frenship High School. “We are so proud of our students!" 

The Frenship choir members did an outstanding job, making it through a very challenging audition process. They faced technical issues that delayed the start of the event, with several students completing their sight-singing round after 11 p.m.

Moss stated that she is thankful that Frenship is a district that is very supportive of the Fine Arts 

“Music can change lives,” said Moss. “We love that our students have so many opportunities to take part in all types of genres and styles in Frenship ISD.”