Spending time after school and doing extra work outside for extra help and guidance is a common activity among students at HCP. Among these dedicated students are HCP choir members who competed at the district solo and ensemble contest on Feb. 11.

Advancing to State with a Superior rating: Amber Tran, solo; Kathryn Taylor and Donna Thompson, duet; Ushyra Raymond, Tiffany Huyen Vu, Sandra Vu and Elise White, women’s ensemble.

Receiving an Excellent rating: Ashlyn Greenwood, solo and Erin Rose, solo.

Choir instructor Laura Gilson motivates her students to take time and practice after school as well as at home as much as possible.

“I ask them to sign up with me to rehearse once or twice a week to make sure that they’re progressing and working on memory. I’m encouraging them to practice on their own time and I give them some time in class as well,” Gilson said.

Among these students is senior soloist Tran.

Tran has participated in choir since freshman year. Last year she competed in a duet with Isaiah Gilley, senior. They did not advance to state, but Tran viewed it as a learning experience.

“I know where I stand now as a performer. My first years of choir I was pretty nervous, but now as a soloist I was able to focus on myself. I’m definitely a lot more confident than I was in freshman  year,” she said.

Gilson criticizes and judges her students as if they were in competition.

“I would take [Gilson’s] criticism into thought whenever I practiced,” Tran said.

This is Tran’s first time making it to state as a soloist, but she felt prepared.

“I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I was going to be,” she said.

At the actual competition, Gilson asked for the freshmen to be judged like they were sophomores through seniors.

“They were expected to sound like sophomores, not freshmen,” she said.

Because of this, the freshmen were expected to maintain a more mature sound than they were capable of.

Gilson’s motivation for future competition is to “continue working on creating a really mature, resonant sound. A lot of it has to do with age. You have to work your vocal cords and make sure you’re using all the techniques we talk about in class so you can make that mature sound.”