Music theory, balance, and tone of voice. These are just a few of the singing techniques Verity Grupe, junior, had refined when she was accepted into the Missouri All-State Choir on Nov. 1.

The Missouri All-State Choir is a prestigious choir comprised of juniors and seniors throughout Missouri who show superior musicianship and vocal talent. In each of the 11 districts, 16 singers are accepted into the choir.

“There are only four soprano’s from the whole St. Louis suburban area that are selected to go, and Verity was one of those,” Jason Winter, Choir teacher at MHS said. “Actually Verity is the first All-Stater we’ve had in choir in nine years. We’ve had an alternate, but she’s the first one that actually will be going to the All-State performance at the Music Educator’s Conference in January.”

Grupe prepared for the audition in a variety of ways. In addition to singing her “whole life,” around October, Grupe started receiving one-on-one vocal coaching from Faust Music School, which Grupe said she is very thankful for.

Starting in June, Grupe began opera as a way to improve her singing. She participated in the Spring Training Vocal Camp with Opera Theater St. Louis at Webster, which she said helped her learn a lot of music within a short amount of time and also definitely improved her singing.

“With opera, I feel like you can apply it to any genre of music, and you have to learn how to project a lot,” Grupe said. “So even though I’ve always been really loud, it still helps me to be loud in a healthy way.

When auditions rolled around,  Grupe and the other auditionees were subject to a blind audition  to determine their fate.

“I tried out for All-Suburban, so my sight-reading skills were recorded, and then on the second day of All-Suburban, I auditioned for State,” Grupe said. “They took the scores from my earlier audition for all suburban and took the scores from my all State audition and put them together.”

Despite the competitiveness of the auditions, Grupe said it wasn’t too much to handle.

“It was just one song and it was a pretty short song, and even in the  audition, they cut me off early because they don’t need that much song,” Grupe said. “ I just kind of learned it,”

On the second day of All-Suburban choir, Grupe found out she had made it. Grupe said she was really excited when she received the news.

“I’ve only practiced with the St. Louis district so far, but they’re already a really cool bunch of people,” Grupe said. “It’s a little bit intimidating, but I love it anyways.”

Winter, who also teaches Grupe during chamber choir, said he felt like Grupe earned her right to be in the choir.

“She practices and works really hard preparing her singing and preparing music,” Winter said. “She works really hard in her sight-reading skills, and because that- all the prep work and practice time- she’s developed over time into a very talented singer.”

Fellow MHS choir member Poorva Sheth, freshman, also had a positive response to the news.

“She’ll do a great job because she’s a great person and has a great personality,” Sheth said.

The choir lasts until January, and each district will practice by themselves in addition to four practices in Tantara, where every district meets together. So far, Grupe said she really enjoys it.

“It’s an opportunity to sing music, high-level music, that is actually really challenging me with a bunch of people that I’ve never met, so it’s really cool to meet all these people that are just like me that love singing,” Grupe said. “It’s also opened my eyes to how supportive my school is because marquette has been really, really supportive so far to helping me get there. I really like it.”