Senior Elliott Benson auditioned for all-state choir earlier in the year, and headed to his first concert on Thursday, February 8th. He was already involved in the choir last year, and continues to establish his choral legacy at LHS.
Benson started singing in elementary school, but didn’t start a more serious singing career until middle school, when he started taking lessons. Being in the all-state choir has always been a goal for him; as a sophomore, he was already aspiring to be in the choir junior year.
“Two years ago, when I was a sophomore, I asked if I could join all-state but it’s only for juniors and seniors, so my junior year, I went and saw Mrs. Taylor and we worked on the audition,” said Benson.
Benson describes why all-state choir has been a new and valuable experience for him.
“It’s really fun especially if you really enjoy making really grand kinds of music. It’s not like jazz, with like five people. It’s 150 per choir with three choirs. I’m currently in the tenor-bass choir. Last year I was in the mixed choir, with soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. The experience is really fun because you get to sit in a hotel with a bunch of other people that are also really good at music,” said Benson.
Benson accredits his acceptance to the choir to his knowledge of music that he has developed through the years.
“I think a lot of what brought me to this point is learning music. In general, to get to the point where you’re at all-state choir, you have to work on all the fundamentals of music, like your scales and your sight reading and that kind of stuff. Also, always having a couple of songs that you can pull out for a repertoire to learn for state auditions and stuff,” said Benson.
Getting on all-state choir junior year was an enormous accomplishment for Benson, and continuing his involvement this year has been a confidence-booster.
“Last year it meant a lot to me, especially because it was my first year. I was really excited I got all the things I wanted. This year, it means that I’m still really good at this and it’s a big confidence booster to make all-state,” said Benson.
Cover photo courtesy of @littletonchoirs on Instagram
