By Jade Allen, staff writer

The 2017 PMEA (Pennsylvania Music Educators Association) District Chorus was held at Bradford High School on Jan. 11-13. This year’s participants were senior Emily Burger on Soprano 1, senior Emily Ford on Alto 2, senior Ben Haylett on Bass 1, and senior Jesse Stewart on Tenor 2. They were accompanied by Mrs. Susan James to the festival.

The music selections for this years District Chorus concert were: “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “Psalm 23,” “Agneau de Dieu,” “Sure On This Shining Night,” “Swing Down, Chariot,” “Ain’-a That Good News,” “Musicks Empire,” “Jesus sprach zu dem Blinden,” and “Walk Together, Children.”

On the first day of the festival, the participants go through an a blind audition process to determine who will move onto Region Chorus. During these auditions, they warm up and sing selected portions of the songs that the judges have chosen for each part.

Participants are not notified of what part of the songs they will be auditioning on until they are in the holding rooms prior to the audition. This is because the director wants the participants to practice all music equally since they are not aware of which piece they will audition on. Senior Emily Ford said, “As a senior, I witnessed an experience in PMEA that will be remembered forever because for the first time in history my section had to re-audition.”

The top 10 chairs of each section move onto Region Chorus. Jesse Stewart received sixth chair, Ben Haylett received eighth chair, Emily Burger received tenth chair, and Emily Ford received twelfth chair. Stewart, Haylett, and Burger will move onto Region Chorus at Freeport High School on Feb. 23-25.