Just over 30 high school students are preparing for auditions with the ultimate goal of making all-state choir during University of Texas Permian Basin’s Large School Choir Camp.
The camp runs through Friday at the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center.
Frank Eychaner, associate professor in the music department at UTPB, said participants were from Odessa, Permian, Legacy and Midland high schools.
Cameron Lopez, 16, will be a junior at OHS; Connor DeArmond, 16, is going into 11th grade at Permian; Zero Ducrepin, 17, is going into his senior year at Midland High School; and Sydney James, 16, is going into 11th grade at PHS.
They have all been enjoying the camp, which started Wednesday.
“I think it’s amazing,” Lopez said Thursday. “Everybody’s making friends over here. We are learning each other; how you learn the voice parts … how the teachers are helping us with our music. It’s been really amazing for the past one day.”
Lopez attended the camp last year, but it was very different because of COVID.
“… Last year, we had to wear masks. We had to check our temperatures 24/7 and then we had to stay away from each other … but this year it’s like coming together again,” she added.
Lopez said the camp will help with auditions.
“I believe this will help me, and help us, know where our music is ahead of time so we can practice,” Lopez added.
DeArmond said the camp has been great so far. This is his first year.
“It’s great to be with other people that are passionate about the same thing. It’s also great to meet new people that have the same interest as myself …,” he added.
DeArmond agreed that knowing the music beforehand and singing it really helps, but also knowing how to feel it.
The thought crossed his mind that he should have attended the camp previously.
“It’s a great experience to meet new people (who) like I said have the same interest in myself …,” DeArmond said.
Ducrepin said he had not been to the large school choir camp before either. He said the fact that he is enjoying choir more than band recently prompted him to attend.
He is also in band and plays the trumpet, something he has done since seventh grade. Last year was his first in choir and this will be his second.
Ducrepin said he is still learning about choir.
“I thought of it (the camp) as being a greater opportunity than band because with band there’s lots of tests and challenges. But with choir, it seems like it’s more demanding and more put to the side, even though it should be one of the top-tier things that all kids should try out …,” Ducrepin said.
He said the camp will help him with band and choir as it will help him learn how to control his breathing lot more.
James attended the choir camp last year.
“It’s a lot more like a family. We’re not so separated. We get to be closer to each other and actually bond and get to know the music together. I feel like having people to learn music with you helps you really focus; having like a support system,” James said.
She added that she thinks the camp will help her with upcoming auditions and that it helped her last year.
“It helped me learn my breathing and different ways to actually work in music,” James said.
Eychaner said the camp has still not recovered to pre-COVID levels.
“Before COVID happened, we would routinely run between 70 and 90 in our large-school camp. Last year, we were about 45. This year we were at 33. It’s not recovered. We are not back to where we need to be,” Eychaner said.
But having the camp is still worth it.
“… The students are prepared through this process to audition to be a member of the region choir and then have the option to go on to audition for the pre-area, then area, then all-state. Historically, our region has been 80% of the kids in the choir have been people that came to this camp. So it really does work and it helps our students to be successful. The same thing is true for students that advance. The ones who have put in more time on the music by coming to these camps and working with these great faculty are much more likely to be successful going on to all-state,” he said.
Eychaner noted that the music is very difficult.
“We have three-day camps for the large school camp and then a two-day camp for the small school camp because there’s simply less music. The small schools the camp will be Monday and Tuesday of next week,” he added.
“… Most of our folks, historically, have come from Monahans and Andrews. A large group has come down from Brownwood the last few years, and then a smattering of kids from Seminole, from Stanton (and) from some of our other smaller schools out there. We had a few from Kermit, Fort Stockton,” Eychaner said.
He said they are working on a way to have students from farther off stay locally for the camp.
“… We’ve had some students come up from El Paso in the past. We’ve arranged for them to stay at a local hotel, which works out really well,” Eychaner said.
The camp staff is made up of music and choir teachers from area schools, such as Midland High and Permian.
“We’re really proud of those folks. They do really great work and consistently help their kids achieve sweepstakes at UIL contest in the spring; really exceptional educators,” Eychaner said.
“We also have eight of our own UTPB students that are preparing to be music teachers that are serving as section leaders. They’re modeling group vocal production, rehearsal etiquette, and also serving as team leaders for the activities that we do when we’re not singing throughout the day,” he added.
There are several ways to keep from losing your voice when you sing all day.
“The first thing is you use really great technique. When you came into our warm-up this morning, I was reminding and reaffirming and modeling and helping the students achieve a vital connected sound. Imagine that your voice is like your car. If it’s not lubricated and everything is out of alignment, it’s going to wear out pretty fast. But if you keep it lubricated, if you give it good gasoline and you treat it well, it’s going to serve you a long time. Voice is the same way,” he said.
“The other thing that we do is we break up our activities. Generally, we have over the course of the day four hour-long, or hour and 15 minute-ish rehearsals. Then we break that up with other activities — games, get-to-know-yous; training on strategies to be successful in the audition process. We simply give the students some vocal breaks throughout the day so that we don’t wear them out,” he added.
