The Advanced Chorus won the highest rating of superior and the Women’s Ensemble was rated excellent at the NC Large Ensemble Music Performance Adjudication.

For sophomore Eavan O’Keefe in the Advanced Chorus, the process seemed long and frustrating.

“We did the same songs many times, and we just rehearsed a lot and stopped so many times. At times it was aggravating,” O’Keefe said.

Alyssa Henderson a sophomore member of the Women’s Ensemble said preparing was hard.

“The most difficult part was having to practice really fast. We have this one song that’s really quick, which was hard to prepare for and annunciate. I think it was fun,” Henderson said.

Even practicing a lot still unnerved sophomore Tyler West.

“I felt pretty stressed. We were one of the first groups to perform that morning, so we had to get up super early and get prepared as fast as we could,” West said.

Junior Gabby Wray felt positively about the Women’s Ensemble’s overall performance.

“We did very well on performing. I was kind of scared that people would forget what they were doing, but we all did pretty good,” Wray said.

O’keefe mentioned the amount of time and effort that was put into making the song the best that they could.

“We did the same songs over and over again until they sounded perfect,” O’keefe said. “Then we just warmed up and rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed, and we stopped many, many times.”

Nerves floated away as West approached the stage.

“I feel like as soon as you get on the stage you feel fine. It was one of the best experiences I’ve had singing all year,” West said.

Chorus teacher Julie Dale felt both groups deserved praise.

“I think that both group did very well. I was very proud of them,” Dale said. “They also got to watch other groups perform and were very respectful. It showed professionalism and represented Wake Forest extremely well.”