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Bragging Season Begins

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Late winter begins bragging season, and it lasts through Interlochen.  It's the season of festivals and concerts for us, so let's begin!

Johannah headed to her first choral PMEA (Pennsylvania Music Educators Association) Districts festival.  She attended the PMEA orchestra festival last year and didn't have a very good time, so we were hoping this would be better.  Uh, yeah, it definitely was.

Following in her brothers' footsteps, she earned first chair for Alto 2.  Okay, her brothers obviously didn't sing alto, but Ethan took home first chair for Tenor 1 a couple of times, and Mark made it to States all three years he was eligible.  Needless to say, there was a lot of pressure on her to do well.

She also continued the tradition of standing on the top row.  We could always find Mark and Ethan in choir concerts because they were placed on the back row because of their height.  It was no different with Johannah--her blonde-haired head can be seen directly to the left of the right microphone stand...on the back row, of course!
She's been practicing the music for a couple of months now, and she felt well-prepared.  She had a great audition on the first night, and could do nothing but wait for the results the next day.

Poor Hannie--Alto 2's were announced last.  There were 33 girls competing for 10 spots.  The director started at 15th place, and announced the names backwards to first.  By the time the 3rd and 2nd spots were announced, Hannie assumed that she hadn't placed at all and began to cry.  When they announced her name as FIRST PLACE, the tears continued but for a very different reason.  In fact, I could hardly understand her when she called to tell me the results.  Tears of joy would be an understatement.

Check out this host high school--John commented that it could rival some states' capitol buildings!
Unfortunately, our local State College high school reflects our choir robes--
terribly out of date and in need of replacement!

I commend Hannie for handling the pressure.  She felt it from all sides.  She felt that she needed to prove herself to her choir director (who didn't choose her to compete last year), she felt that she needed to prove herself to her other choir members (four of whom took first chairs, out of a possible eight spots, and 18 schools competing), she needed to prove herself to herself as a real musician, and most importantly, she wanted to prove to me that she can be a serious musician in college.  I just wanted her to place (and move on to the Regional level), but she knew that none of us would really be happy unless she was the top dog.  Or in Mark terms, the top DAWG!

Well, she did it.  No ifs, ands, or buts.  And we are all so proud of her.


Never fear--she wore heels for the concert.  The Converse were for comfort during the ride home :-)

As she got out of the car this morning for seminary, she made the comment that she gets her Regional music today.  Oh boy--let's do it again!

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