On Tuesday, April 11, choir students who had been accepted into Lads and Lassies auditioned for the small ensemble known as Park Version. Directed by Natalie Walker, this group of 19  students, sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses, are known for their all acapella performances at choir concerts and community events.

Park Version is hard to get into. The only requirement to audition is to be in Lads and Lassies, which will have 75 students in the 2018-2019 school year. Many of the students who do the rigorous audition process do not succeeded because Park Version is a small group with spots already given to returning members.

“The audition process consists of around a two minute audition,” junior member of Park Version Apsaline Douglas said. “You do one minute of each piece – you do a classical style piece and you do a Broadway/pop style piece.”

The preparation for both songs are done outside of class and on the students’ own time. Most students use the classical piece they learned for Solo and Ensemble, a competition held in February. Every auditioning student then performs both pieces for Natalie Walker, head choir director, and Neal Patel, the assistant director. Once the audition is done, the waiting begins for the results, which are usually released at the beginning of May or end of April.

Park Version is not just about singing, but performing as well. It is important for the group to look animated and exude character while they are singing. Part of the audition focuses on this by splitting the students trying out into mixed groups to sing and dance together.

The goal of the auditions is to bring new voices in after the seniors leave, as the group currently only has juniors and seniors in it. However, those who are returning to Park Version also have an audition process. The returning members have to re-audition so they can see how the voices balance together.

Although most years, the list comes out in early May, the 2018-2019 members were announced April 20. Good luck to the 2018-2019 group.