Local student selected for national choir

Every year students from local music programs audition for a chance to go and compete in the Nebraska Music Educator Association's All-State Conference and Clinic-or All-State, as it's commonly known.

If students make it into All-State they are also given the opportunity to apply for the National Association for Music Education's (NAfME) All-National Honor Ensembles. NAfME All-National Honor Ensembles represent the top performing high school musicians in the United States.

More than 600 students applied for All-National this year and only 350 were selected to perform. Out of those 350, only 11 will be coming from Nebraska. And one of those 11 is Sidney's own Abigail Fraas.

Music has been a part of Fraas' life since she was little.

"I started listening to music at a really young age," Fraas said. "My mom used to play me classical [music] ever since I was a baby. But my first chance to sing was through the church choir, so I started singing at a really young age. Then I got into youth choir which started in 4th grade."

Since then, Fraas has been taking private lessons with Jennifer Mead and been singing with Mead for almost eight years now.

It was this relationship with teacher Jennifer Mead that helped Fraas through the All-National audition process.

To apply for All-National, Fraas had to record a video of herself singing an a cappella version of the song "Hallelujah, Amen from Judas Maccabaeus" by George Handel at a tempo of either 110 beats per minute or 112 beats per minute.

Sound like a challenge? It was. Fraas had Mead give her feedback and suggestions while she prepared the song.

But overcoming challenges is nothing new to Fraas. On top of music and fine arts, she used to compete in volleyball, basketball and track during the school year, and she participated in one-acts, a musical, and speech. And she had a job during the school year.

This year, however, Fraas gave up sports in order to focus on her singing and her college applications.

Scholarship applications for music majors are "a long process." Applicants must put together a repertoire, which, as Fraas explained, is a book that contains a collection of songs the applicant can perform when requested. When applying, applicants will have to perform two songs from their repertoire, know what each of those songs means and learn to sight-read music.

Do to the upcoming academic demands, Fraas will be putting her job on hold when school commences in the fall. She will also have to limit the amount of time she can dedicate to the next step in her singing career: Songwriting.

Since the fourth grade Fraas has played the trumpet. When she was younger she took piano lessons. Recently, she began teaching herself to play the guitar and is now studying the craft of songwriting in the hopes of becoming a singer/songwriter.

"I'm a decent learner at music," Fraas said. "I can listen to a song once and I'll have the music memorized, so that's kind of handy."

But as far as songwriting goes, "I need to learn how to write songs," Fraas said with a smile.

Though she may not perform much of her own material, Fraas is already making a name for herself as far as being a singer goes. She has been asked to perform at district music contests and at venues outside of school.

One such venue is the Good Living Tour. Fraas will open for the tour that is scheduled to perform in Hickory Square on August 5.

Sponsored by Hear Nebraska, the Good Living Tour provides free concerts by utilizing Nebraskan musicians in an attempt to connect Nebraska's music and art scenes with rural and urban communities.

For the Good Living Tour Fraas is considering singing something country, but in her own time, she prefers operatic singing. "It's what my voice is built to do. Different voices are built to do different things. I mean, you have Beyonce who can do R&B, or Louie Armstrong who can do that growly jazz, or Ella Fitzgerald. Everyone is built for something different-but I do enjoy classical."

Fraas' relationship with classical music has come full circle since she was a baby listening to it. Now she is considering spreading her passion for music with a possible major in Music Therapy.

Music Therapy uses music to address the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals. After assessing the strengths and needs of a client, qualified music therapists prescribe treatments that can range anywhere from creating music, to singing, to listening, to just dancing along to music.

"It's already helping people with autism and helping people with down-syndrome," Fraas said. "Through music, people with mental disabilities are able to communicate better."

But first thing's first: Fraas's career aspirations will have to be put on hold as she prepares for All-National and then All-State.

All National will be held in Grape Vine, Texas this year from November 10-13. For All National, Fraas will have to learn six new songs, all of which, she said, appear to be in a different language.

On November 16, just three days after Fraas returns from All-National, she will head to Lincoln to perform in All-State, which requires her to learn seven new songs.

All in all, Fraas has a lot of work to do with scholarship auditions beginning as early as October and All-National and All-State requiring her to master 13 new songs by November. But she's ready for the challenge, excited even.

More information on All-State can be found at nmeanebraska.org; for more information on All-National go to nafme.org/programs/all-national-honor-ensembles

For more information and tour dates for the Good Living Tour visit hearnebraska.org/events.