Rikki Emigh performs with All-State choir

Pateros High School junior Rikki Emigh likes to sing; "I've had a music thing for quite some time," she said, and along with that she wanted to challenge herself. So when the chance came Rikki and fellow Pateros student Megan McChristian auditioned for the all-state choir.

The idea of auditioning was attractive, Rikki said. She wanted to prove something to herself, to see if she had what it took to make all-state. "These are the best singers in the state, mind you," Rikki said. Music teacher Jonathon McBride made an audition tape and sent it off. "Two months to wait," Rikki said, and it wasn't much fun. "I don't like suspense. And yet horror movies are my favorite." In November the news came back that Rikki had been accepted. The All-State concert, featuring separate performances from the band and choir, was held Monday, Feb. 16, in Spokane.

The notice that she had been accepted was followed by the music the choir would be performing; the concert theme was the Pacific Rim and the choir director was a native of Hawaii. "Most of it (the music) was Hawaiian," Rikki said, seven songs total, with some Chinese music and some in the Western tradition. There were songs of Samoan origin, one for the guys to sing and one for the girls. "The guys had to sing falsetto almost the whole song," which is kind of tough for voices that aren't used to it. "Apparently it was really painful." High register actually is common among Samoan music, apparently. "Some of the soprano notes were so high probably even dogs couldn't hear them." The melodies weren't all that difficult or different, Rikki said, but both Chinese and Hawaiian have some tricky pronunciation.

Rikki said she practiced when she could - which wasn't all that much, to be honest - but most of the work of making the choir came when practice began the Friday before the concert. The choir put in long days. The day before the concert "we had rehearsals for nine hours." At one point the choir director called a halt and sent the whole crew out for a nap. "The floor has never felt so comfortable," Rikki said.

The choir set a high standard. For most of the musicians, "music had been their whole lives." Even when they weren't in rehearsal the people in the choir were singing, humming, making music of some kind. "It was like a walking sound track."

Rikki said normally she's not nervous, but it was a huge choir, much bigger than she was used to and the audience was just as big. "I almost passed out. Twice." She was a little "shaky. I still wasn't sure on some of the songs." But when the musicians hit the stage it was a terrific concert. The choir performed prior to the band, but all the performers were required to stick around until the end of the concert. "The band was a lot longer than the choir was," Rikki said. "Kind of like the Lord of the Rings." (Rikki and a couple of her friends passed the time by making up a movie script to fit the music, she said.)

It was a great experience. "It honestly was - awesome;" she couldn't come up with another word to describe it, she said. "It was a lot of fun. I didn't want to come home, personally." She learned a lot about herself, as a musician and a person, she said. "I really put myself out there more than I do here."

All-state band participants can't audition every year, but Rikki is eligible to audition for choir as a senior and she's "totally going for it." It was a very valuable experience and she's ready to try again, she said.