The chamber chorus and mixed chorus is scheduled to sing in the annual Music Performance Assessment on March 10 at Bayside High School.

Chorus members will sing a few selected pieces with the two choirs combined.

“Our first piece is called “Requiem.”  It was written because of the Japan tsunami,” junior mixed-chorus member Adrianna Green said.  “It’s a slow, repetitive song, but it’s beautiful. Our second piece is ‘She Moved Through the Fair.’ It’s an Irish folk song about a man who lost his love before their wedding day. It’s cheerful and misty and really reflects the lyrics.”

The mass choir will be judged on both its stage performance and sight-reading skills.

“The ratings are superior, excellent, good, fair and poor,” Green said. “Three judges will be evaluating the performance and will rate us. They evaluate us on things like pitch accuracy, balance, dynamics and diction.”

The sight-reading evaluation requires analytical skills.

“Our sight-reading skills are our ability to try to read the scales and rhythms. The judge will rate us based on things like note accuracy and musicality,” junior chorus participant Briana Barreiros said. “It’s something [teacher Amy] Davis has prepared us very well for.  We practice examples nearly daily in class.  We’ve always gotten straight superiors in the sight- reading room.”

MPAs also provide an opportunity to learn from others.

“After the performances, we get to sit in the audience and watch other schools perform,” Green said.  “It’s a way to gather skills from other people and begin to include those skills with ourselves.”

By Emily McClendon