On Tuesday February 25th, 2025, the DRAW Academy Black Cat Choir made history by being the first ensemble at DRAW Academy to participate in the University Interscholastic League Contest. This contest is essentially the STAAR-equivalent test for choirs, bands, and orchestras across Texas and it is divided into two sections: Concert & Sight-Reading. The concert portion requires us to sing 3 songs and the Sight-Reading portion requires the performers to perform a brand-new song that the students or the director have never seen before. By attending this contest, our school’s choir was given a chance to be rated and given comments on how to improve our sound as an ensemble. The 12 singers that participated were amazed as they stepped into our venue for the contest, St. Peter’s United Methodist Church in Katy, TX. Most of them have never stepped into a church of that size and grandeur. As we were welcomed onto the stage for our warm-up, the students were buzzing with excitement and nerves. As they warmed up their voices, they were getting used to hearing a bigger sound that they never experienced before as we have only performed in our school’s cafeteria. After a successful concert portion of our contest, we were quickly escorted to the other side of the church for the sight-reading portion of the contest. This part of the contest had all of us very nervous because we did not know exactly what to expect. Thankfully, the training we did in class paid off and we were able to sing successfully and not face any disqualifications–something the sight-reading portion of the contest is notorious for. Overall, the student’s were impressed to see that we were not the only choir participating in this contest. They were exposed to a new side of the music world that they did not know existed. They came back to school excited and ready to share their experience with those who missed out. Next year, we are hoping to bring two singing groups to the contest and we are looking forward to showing improvement in our ratings and comments. I have the confidence that next year’s group will present an amazing and fulfilling performance.
UIL Choir Contest
On Tuesday February 25th, 2025, the DRAW Academy Black Cat Choir made history by being the first ensemble at DRAW Academy to participate in the University Interscholastic League Contest. This contest is essentially the STAAR-equivalent test for choirs, bands, and orchestras across Texas and it is divided into two sections: Concert & Sight-Reading. The concert portion requires us to sing 3 songs and the Sight-Reading portion requires the performers to perform a brand-new song that the students or the director have never seen before. By attending this contest, our school’s choir was given a chance to be rated and given comments on how to improve our sound as an ensemble.
The 12 singers that participated were amazed as they stepped into our venue for the contest, St. Peter’s United Methodist Church in Katy, TX. Most of them have never stepped into a church of that size and grandeur. As we were welcomed onto the stage for our warm-up, the students were buzzing with excitement and nerves. As they warmed up their voices, they were getting used to hearing a bigger sound that they never experienced before as we have only performed in our school’s cafeteria. After a successful concert portion of our contest, we were quickly escorted to the other side of the church for the sight-reading portion of the contest. This part of the contest had all of us very nervous because we did not know exactly what to expect. Thankfully, the training we did in class paid off and we were able to sing successfully and not face any disqualifications–something the sight-reading portion of the contest is notorious for.
Overall, the student’s were impressed to see that we were not the only choir participating in this contest. They were exposed to a new side of the music world that they did not know existed. They came back to school excited and ready to share their experience with those who missed out. Next year, we are hoping to bring two singing groups to the contest and we are looking forward to showing improvement in our ratings and comments. I have the confidence that next year’s group will present an amazing and fulfilling performance.