's choirs faced some challenges but performed well at the Michigan School Vocal Music Association's District 4 choir festival at South Lyon East High School last week.
The MSVMA festival is a judged performance of graded vocal performances and a critique by a judge followed by a rated sight reading. Dozens of schools from the area participated over the two days. Royal Oak's A Cappella and Women's Ensemble performed Thursday and the Concert Choir took its turn Friday.
A Cappella scored an A rating, according to Deborah Buffa, the school's choir director. "They had extremely difficult sight reading. ... This was probably the second most difficult activity at the advanced level that I have seen in my 30 years of teaching," Buffa said. "They sang beautifully, in eight-part harmony."
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The Women's Ensemble also achieved an A rating at the Intermediate Level. "They sight read and sang extremely well. ... They only had 1 point off from perfect in the sight reading activity."
Concert Choir, a group of about 60 singers from all grades, had an overall B+ rating. "They sight read at the Primary Level. Many of these students are high school freshman and this is a huge jump of expected ability from the middle school Primary Level," Buffa said. "... They all sang very well, in four-part harmony."
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