My Sunday Feeling

It has been my privilege for years to audition kids for the choir at Arkansas Governor's School. For those of you that don't know, Governor's School is a total immersion experience for high school juniors that qualify through the various so-called "talented and gifted" programs in the high schools. Kids spend 6 weeks in the summer at Hendrix listening to lecturers and getting in-depth training in their various interests.

This being Arkansas, every now and again they bring in a speaker that pisses off the yahoos that would like to shut the program down as corrupting of our youth. But you don't hear that so much anymore. I get the impression that Governor's School isn't the big deal it once was for so many kids. Then again, I just do the singers. Nobody has ever gotten riled up over "Gloria" by Francis Poulenc. Except the kids that had to learn it.

I got my start with Governor's School almost 20 years ago completely by default. Back in those days the "talented and gifted program" at the State Department of Education was run by a college classmate of mine. One of the judges couldn't make it and so Cheryl had to open the can and get out another tenor. And there I was. At least I was actually singing back in those days. Now I would rather waste time playing golf. Why they keep asking me back is beyond me. I guess not everybody will do anything for a hundred bucks.

These auditions used to be a lot more fun back in the day when they came to do them in person. The halls at Parkview were filled with kids. The string players would be tuning up all over. The artists would be lugging their pieces. Anxious parents smoked outside or sat in the parent's room reading the paper and talking on cellphones. The pianists, all girls, would be dressed up in their recital best, eyeing each other like the hired killers they were.

No more. The weather in Arkansas is too volatile in the Spring to bring folks in from everywhere to Little Rock. One year we had a tornado pass overhead, causing us to herd everybody under tables and desks until we got the "all clear." One year we had an ice storm. So for about the last 5 years or so, the kids send in their auditions on tape.

It was more fun to have the kids there live. The question and answer period after each audition were alternatively inspiring or hilarious. Further, the kids actually had to prepare and had to look somebody in the eye. Singing in front of a bunch of strangers is not an easy thing to do. It is even more nerve wracking when you are singing in order to get something you want very badly.

It is a lot easier to just turn on the camera in your bedroom and sing something from "Beauty and the Beast" then it is to actually get serious and prepare some real music. But it is what it is.

My friend Venus Hamilton and I got the altos and basses. They don't make me do the sopranos anymore due to my long standing and oft-stated dislike of them. They are all a bunch of divas, even at that age, and most of them aren't really sopranos. They are the Terrell Owenses of the music world: Awfully flashy but hardly worth the trouble to put up with. Besides, most altos at that age are really sopranos who can actually read music. The music teachers stick them there because alto is hard to read.

Yesterday's auditions were the usual mixed bag. Two or three kids were outstanding. A bass from Little Rock Central had an honest-to-God 2 octave range. His "Deep River" would put Paul Robeson to shame. But he was the exception. Most of the offerings were pretty mediocre at best. In the first, place it is evident that kids nowadays are not really exposed to classical literature. I remember years ago 2-count 'em- 2 black kids from Dollarway came in singing lieder. That will never happen again. This year a girl announced she was going to do a piece by Schubert herself then proceeded to do it a capella. Why on Earth would you do something like that?

It is also obvious that some of these kids are getting bad advice from the adults. One bass attempted to sing "Caro Mio Bien" from the "Italian Art Songs" songbook that singers have learned to sing with for years. Only something was wrong as he really struggled to get through it.

" Is he trying to sing out of the High Voices book?" Venus asked.

I nodded and began easily singing the piece over the top of the quaking voice on the tape.

" I mean, was just the only book the teacher had?" she asked. " Why would you try to get a bass to sing out of the wrong book?"

Dunno. But it was obvious to us that these kids were being allowed to put out all kinds of crazy stuff with only minimal adult supervision. For example, they are supposed to vocalize a scale so we can get an idea of their range. 2/3 of them didn't do it. One of the rare people who did sang what purported to be a scale without going off a pitch thereby reposing faith in our willingness to take her word for its accuracy. The same kid that did "Caro" out of the wrong book also did " I am Sixteen going on Seventeen" which caused me to write what I believe to be the first "WTF?" down on a Governor's School auditions score sheet.

But there was the boy from Central with the amazing range. A female classmate of his sang Purcell and Mozart like a bird. A girl from Bryant did Cole Porter which ain't the easiest thing in the world. A skinny boy from the Delta had this incredible low range that came from nowhere out of his tiny body.

All in all, it was a fun morning. It is always good to see my friends among the judges and to catch up on old news. And it is always interesting to see what is going on out there in the world of teenagers.

Maybe they will wise up and ask somebody more qualified than me to come judge next year's auditions. If not, I will be happy to come and do my civic duty once again.

Just as long as I don't have to fool with those damn sopranos.