The week before his audition, he got sick. He has suffered from terrible acid reflux since he was a newborn baby. We had gotten it under control though, and he rarely suffers an episode. Until five days before his audition, of course. He was so hoarse from the acid in his throat that he could barely speak. My boy was a mess. We managed to get his reflux under control with some heavy duty prescription meds, but the hoarseness persisted up until the morning of the audition. He woke up and he was actually all right, for the first time in over a week. Thank goodness.
The Coach had a game that morning, so I had to take the baby with me to the audition. That meant I had to wait in the car. There were a thousand kids milling in and out of the audition. He had a three minute time slot, but waited over an hour to sing. And I waited in the car for what felt like eternity.
I was really nervous. His choir director had high hopes for him. No pressure. Ha. As always, he wasn't nervous at all. I don't know how he does that. But he just shrugs his shoulders and goes in there with no butterflies at all. Good for him.
He eventually came out, and his face was lit up like the sun. He was very happy with his audition, and he felt that the feedback he got from the judges was very positive. And when I say feedback, I mean facial expressions. They didn't say anything, but according to Justice, they had "nice looks" on their faces throughout his audition. Hahaha! Nice looks. Ok, I'll take his word for it.
The eight hours after his audition were torture. His choir director told all of the students from his school that results should be out by 5 PM and that she would personally contact all of the kids if they made it. 7 PM rolled around and he was crestfallen.
He finally got word shortly after 7 PM that he made it. He cried so hard, and at first I thought he didn't make it! But he was crying because not only did he make it, but he made FIRST CHAIR of the Tenors! And if you don't know much about music (like me!), the first chair is the highest score from the particular group of singers or instrument.
And apparently, that's a really big deal. Especially as a seventh grader in his first year of All-West competition. I don't know much about music, but his choir director keeps me in the know, thankfully. And there was some jockeying around between the kids at rehearsals…
Nerd Bully: "Oh so YOU are the kid that made first chair… (ugly sideways glance). Let's hear what you've got."
Yeah, really. That stuff happens. Ha. Several of the tenors (the 9th graders, especially) hunted him down to "scope him out". It didn't phase Justice though, not in the slightest. He doesn't get scared easily, he has experience dealing with a kid at church that picks on him constantly and he is no longer phased by it. After the first hour or so they were all just a bunch of regular old dumb boys. Horse play, fooling around, joking. It was fine, and fun.
Pics at first rehearsal.
Feverishly taking notes on his sheet music. It was a lot of information to learn in such a short period of time.
This was a grueling trip. The kids rehearsed until 9 PM the first night, for seven hours the second day, and for three hours the morning of the concert. There were tears, there were episodes of anger, and these kids were frazzled by nighttime. But what a wonderful group of kids. Our kids traveled with and stayed at the same hotel as the kids from Covington High School (they were in the senior honor choir) Those kids were amazing. They were so well behaved, and we had so much fun. It gave Justice a chance to get to know the high school choir director, too. He's sort of cute, he won her over in about two minutes flat. It didn't take long.
His choir director kept apologizing to me for having to sit there through all those rehearsals. Is she kidding? That was my favorite part! I have always loved choir music, and when the music comes from the voices of little kids, I'm in heaven. I absolutely loved every second of it!
I took these videos from the last rehearsal, the morning of the concert. The first video is of his solo rehearsal. Everyone auditioned individually for only a few solo spots, and he was selected for one of them! How exciting, right? I thought so! That's him with the higher pitched voice, not the lower one.
This is just a brief video so you can hear how they sounded in rehearsal as a group. They were amazing. I especially love the soprano's. The high pitched and powerful voices are my favorite. In April, Justice was a soprano. He has learned to sing in a lower range though so now he can also sing tenor. His voice is changing, for sure.
These kids were amazing. I was really impressed.
You cannot videotape inside the actual concert performance. Because of course, they want you to order a DVD of the performance. And I did, and it's wonderful.
I did sneak some pictures though during the concert.
Right before the solo piece.
I did sneak some pictures though during the concert.
Right before the solo piece.
Just in case you can't pick his peanut head out of the crowd, he's the first boy on the left in the second row from the bottom.
The whole group from Covington. Covington High School, Crestview Middle School, and Covington Integrated Arts Academy.
Crestview Middle School students.
Justice and his buddy Rafe. What a sweet kid. I just loved him to pieces.
What a wonderful experience. He had such a great time. He met a lot of new people, made new friends, learned so much about music, and networked with the high school choir members and their director. Great trip, great kids!
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