First Freshman Accepted in All-State Choir from Central

Emily Engel, Staff Writer

All-State chorus is an annual state wide musical ensemble that brings together the best young musicians in the state to perform. This year, for the first time, a freshman was selected to be in the ensemble. This freshman was Central’s own Claire Bouma.
“To get in you need to have experience singing, singing auditions and singing for other people,” said Bouma, “singing for people takes a lot more practice than people think.”
Any student in Nebraska who is taking choir can audition for All-State, but getting in requires lots of work and practice. Students must learn the audition songs and be able to perform some of them in a random order for their audition.
“You have to learn five to seven songs well enough to perform for your audition. You have to sing three pieces that are randomly selected, so you don’t know what you’ll be singing until the day of the audition. You only get one take for your audition so it’s important to practice how you’ll perform.” Bouma said.
Hundreds of students audition but the spots are limited. Practicing was a key factor to standing out in auditions. Students who wanted to audition needed to buy the audition tracks to practice and show up to OPS group practices.
“I worked at least once a week during the summer to practice all of the songs, I went to all of the OPS sponsored group practices,” said Bouma, “It’s a lot of singing on your own and getting help from your teachers and vocal coaches.”
Outside of All-State, music remains a big part of Bouma’s life. She’s in Central’s musical, ‘Grease’, and both her parents are music teachers at Central.
“Music is basically my life, it’s so important to me. I’ve grown up surrounded by music, it’s always helped me through tough times and I just love singing, I love playing the piano, I love performing, I love all of that stuff.” Said Bouma.
Part of her musical success Bouma credits to her parents being Central’s choir teachers. Her parents got her interested in music at a young age, they got her voice lessons, and encouraged her to pursue music.
“My parents always make sure that I’m practicing and singing enough,” said Bouma, “They have always been very supportive and helpful. They have really helped me grow as a musician and become the singer I am today.”