PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles High School freshman Beth Ann Brackett was named one of the best high school singers in the nation last week and will travel to Washington, D.C., this summer to perform at the Kennedy Arts Center.
Port Angeles High School choir Director Jolene Gailey received a letter last week saying that Beth Ann, a 15-year-old soprano, had been accepted to the 2012 National Association for Music Education’s All-National Honor Mixed Choir.
She is an outstanding singer and very professional and mature in her approach to music, Gailey said.
“Beth Ann is always on her game,” Gailey said.
“I’m very, very happy and excited,” Beth Ann said Monday.
In June, she will work with the 150-member national choir for three days, get tips on performance from top music directors and sing in a concert June 21 at the performing arts center.
Beth Ann sings in the upper and lower soprano register, Gailey said, and had to choose a register to apply for.
She chose the lower register, called “Soprano 2” for ensemble singers and “mezzo soprano” for soloists.
The process included a blind audition for both state and national honor choirs, Gailey said.
Beth Ann and other Port Angeles singers recorded their audition pieces, then sent them to the Washington Music Educators Association for selection for the state honor choirs.
Four Port Angeles students, including Beth Ann, were selected for two WMEA state honor choirs.
They took part in a February conference and performance.
The same recording was used for Beth Ann’s application to the national choir.
The March 8 letter said Beth Ann’s selection “reflects your dedication to your craft and commitment to musical excellence”
“I am beyond ecstatic,” Gailey said in an exultant email she sent to the school’s faculty and staff.
In turn, Beth Ann immediately called her parents, Randy and Laura Brackett, who were just as happy.
“I’m thrilled she is being given this chance to explore her love and passion,” Randy Brackett said.
Beth Ann Brackett has been singing almost from the time she could talk and has an extensive interest in music, her parents said.
Both parent either plays an instrument or sings, and she joined in from a young age, they said.
Beth Ann began piano lessons at age 6, as soon as the piano teacher would take her, and has earned vocal solos since third grade.
Beth Ann also is enrolled in academic honors courses.
Though only a freshman, Beth Ann said she already has some idea of what she wants to do in college.
“I will at least join a campus choir and major or minor in music,” she said.
Music therapy is one possibility for her focus, she said.
Helping people with speech or physical therapy through music is a natural, since she has a brother with Down syndrome, her parents said.
Other students from Washington state selected for the national choir: were Emma Goodwin, Alto 2, Stadium School, Tacoma; Gwendolyn Hamilton, Alto 2, Northwest Christian High School, Lacey; Alison Erickson, Alto 2, Glacier Peak High School, Snohomish; Sophia Lewis, Alto 1, Bellarmine Preparatory School, Tacoma; and Theo Olso, Tenor 1, North Central High School, Spokane.
Students must pay for airfare and $790 for lodgings, meals and other expenses.
They also must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Randy Brackett plans to travel with his daughter, and Gailey said she hopes to be able to attend as well.
PAHS Choir Boosters have offered to pay for Beth Ann’s airfare, but the small Port Angeles contingent needs to raise funds for the rest of the trip.
Tax-deductible donations to help fund the trip can be made to the Choir Boosters.
To donate, phone Gailey at 360-565-1535.
________
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsula
dailynews.com.
