WEATHERFORD —
When she was a little girl, Cassandra Kirby used to climb up next to her grandmother’s big fireplace and sing songs during the holiday get-togethers.
While she has a reserved and polite personality, recalling these memories makes a big smile break out onto Kirby’s face.
Get her talking about songs and suddenly she’s effusive and happy.
She officially entered choir classes in fifth grade and has taken piano lessons since she was young.
Music took root early in her life — and she doesn’t expect to let it go.
She’s so dedicated to singing that last June she started working on music for competitions that started at the beginning of this school year in September.
“I’ve been working so hard,” she said, recounting a story about how she practices singing at least two hours a day — after school and her choir class — and it will sometimes wake up her mother.
Her devotion paid off — on Feb. 11, Kirby, 17, will perform with the Texas All-State Choir in San Antonio. She leaves on Wednesday for three days of practice.
A member of the Weatherford High School A Cappella Choir, Kirby said she really got serious about choir in middle school. It was then that she made the All-Region team. She made the region team again last year, as a sophomore.
This year, she worked her way to the prized All-State Women’s Choir. Being a member of one of the All-State choirs — men’s, women’s and mixed groups — is a coveted honor that stems from a long process. More than 60,000 students start out performing in bands, orchestras and choirs at district level competitions, advancing to regional, area competitions and, finally, state. Only 1,500 make it to state, according to information provided by the Texas Music Educators Association.
Some of the music she had to sing to get to this point included the Star Spangled Banner, a Netherland folk song and a soul song. She attended a choir camp at Baylor during the summer of 2011 to help train her for the competition.
“It’s hard,” Kirby said of the rigorous compeition process. “I probably wouldn’t be able to learn it all by myself.”
For example, one of the songs was 56 pages, she said, noting that the songs they sing are often complex and include other languages. German and French songs are the hardest, she said. But, Latin and Italian are easier because their vowel sounds are more consistent with those in English, she said.
The choir students will perform in the three groups at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center as part of the 2012 Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention in front of friends and family.
With all of the song selections she has to choose from, Kirby said she likes Renaissance music the best.
“Some of the songs have a very haunting feel to them,” she said.
Kirby, who lives in Weatherford, is the daughter of Julia and Wayne Kirby and has a little sister, Julianne. She is a student of Carol Pyle and sings at school under the direction of Alison Haygood.
Local News
Related Photos
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Cassandra Kirby, center, practices during a recent A Capella Choir class at Weatherford High School. MARGARITA VENEGAS/DEMOCRAT PHOTO
February 5, 2012
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