As blissful melodies fill the air and the scornful eyes of judges scan the room, students prepare for their performances, one of which would stun anyone who heard it.
On Friday, Nov. 13, 2025, the Texas High choir participated in the area competition against 25 other schools. After a fierce battle, three Texas High students emerged from the rubble and advanced to the All-Region competition.
“To qualify for regionals, you have to have not only the dedication, but also the aspect of wanting to put in the work, you have to have coral, which is very tall bowels and vocals, and you have to know your music,” junior Wisdom Robinson said. “I was under pressure [to] learn my music in 45 minutes, but I feel like I did great enough to move on to the next round.”
Advancement in choir is determined through a multi-stage selection process that begins at the district competition.
“[At district], they give you songs to learn, and the top four for each voice part: treble, bass, tenor, etc., move on to the next round,” sophomore Jontevia Marshall said. “If you pass this round, you go to All-State choir, which is a bunch of kids from the state in one big choir concert.”
Despite some who believe that singing is simply raw talent, it takes countless hours of behind-the-scenes practice to be successful in choir.
“It takes a lot of time and effort with sight reading. Before I came here, I wasn’t good at sight-reading. [We have] to work on our dynamics and the different song languages, so it’s a lot of after-school work,” Marshall said. “[We] kind of just have to put the time and effort into doing it [ourselves] because [we] don’t get that much help.”
For many, performing in front of others is highly vulnerable and does not come intuitively, but with some encouragement, young people can branch out and explore their singing talent.
“I’ve been singing for about six years now. It got more serious in my sixth-grade year. My choir director in Georgia Middle School, Mr. Williams, really pushed me out of my shell,” Marshall said. “I used to be very shy, so it didn’t come naturally to me at all.”
In addition to choir, Robinson spends his time involved in another unique pastime, one that differs from his musical pursuits.
“I want to pursue music and go to the school of Chicago for songwriting, but I also want to dive deep into the career of pro wrestling. I want to dibble and dabble in everything,” Robinson said. “Music and pro wrestling go hand in hand for me, just because for pro wrestling, you have to have a theme song and a character.”
