Cleveland’s band and choir programs are growing in esteem as evident in their state qualifying scores achieved in their 2016 PIL competitions. They will each be able to compete in their respective state competitions, they learned, after having to enter a tape pool.

Cleveland’s A Choir placed second, just one point shy of Grant in their April 14 PIL competition, earning a high enough score to qualify for state. Since they did not place first they were put into a tape pool where they had to wait and see if they’d get a chance to perform.

After last year’s heartbreak when a mistake in the paperwork prevented A Choir from participating in the 2015 state competition, they were hoping to get a chance at state this year.

On April 27 the news came that they would indeed be able to attend the 6A state choir competition on May 7. They are scheduled to perform at George Fox University located in Newberg, at 12:20 p.m.

They performed six songs at the PIL competition at Madison High School. “There’s a couple songs in Mandarin, a spiritual, a baroque piece by Bach, and there is also a very slow legato piece called ‘How Sweet the Moonlight,’” explained Diana Rowey, the Cleveland choir director.

She expressed how excited she was for getting to perform at state and about the progress A Choir is making.

Cleveland’s symphonic band also placed second to Grant by five points at its PIL competition on April 12 at Madison. After entering a tape pool, the band found out April 27 it would also head to state. The competition will be held May 14 at Oregon State University where they’ll perform at 10:15 a.m.

The band performed three songs: an Italian-Europian march titled “Florentiner,” “Ave Maria,” a choral piece, and “Symphonic Dance No. 3” by Clifton Williams.

Both the band and choir state competitions allow them time to warm up before they perform and then go on to sight read.

While each celebrates this amazing opportunity in their high school performance career they continue to improve and prepare for these major competitions.