The Southeastern Senior District Ensemble accepted Walpole High School sophomore, Margaret “Maggie” Wall, who will be a part of the district’s mixed choir. The ensemble is open for all high school students to audition for, but since Wall scored high enough in her audition, she also earned a spot to audition for the Massachusetts All-State Chorus on Jan. 19.
“I was thrilled to be accepted into districts,” Wall said. “I felt so grateful for all who helped me along the way, and being accepted made me feel more self-confident.”
Aside from Wall, freshman Renee Abbott, junior Aaron Suttle and senior Matt Robin were also recommended to audition for the All-State Ensembles.
Wall will perform in the Southeastern District Musical Festival along with Robin, who was also accepted into the mixed choir.
The festival is two days long, and they must learn the music sent to them beforehand to perform. This year, the songs were “Veni Sanctus Spritus,” “Shout Glory,” “I Carry Your Heart With Me,” “Rosas Pandan” and “Mata Del Anima Sola.” The first day is spent rehearsing with the other 215 students in the choir, and the second day is the performance.
Preparation played a key role in Wall’s successful audition. Wall constantly sang along to the music track or sang the piece acapella-style, played the piano to better internalize the notes and rhythm and practiced with other students auditioning and the Walpole High School Choral Director, Ashley Prickel.
“[Wall] is inquisitive and takes full advantage of the musical opportunities here at WHS,” Prickel said. “I was thrilled when [Wall] was accepted into the Southeastern Senior District Ensemble.”
Music has always been a part of Wall’s life. Throughout elementary and middle school, she took piano and guitar lessons and later learned how to play the alto saxophone. In regards to singing, Wall loves a variety of music types. This year, Walpole’s repertoire included a wide variety of these music types: from powerful love songs to Mozart to spontaneous gospel and even to songs in foreign languages.
“Music has been at the core of my life for as long as I can remember,” Wall said. “All of my siblings are musically-inclined and I like to think I took after them in many ways.”
Wall’s musical interests also drove her to join the Walpole High Drama Club during her freshman year and she has been in the productions of “The Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood,” “The Addams Family,” “Mission Improvable” and “A Christmas Carol.” She is currently in the ensemble and the understudy for the character Catherine for this year’s musical, Pippin.
“There’s nothing more special than to be able to evoke raw emotion from an audience, like when they cry after a song, or to hear a young kid say how they’d like to get involved with theater after a performance,” Wall said.
Wall’s dedication to the arts since a young age has brought her to where she is today and has developed from just playing instruments to singing and becoming part of Walpole High School’s musicals.
“Singing is something I have always enjoyed, and I got more serious about it when I was old enough to audition for festival ensembles like Districts,” Wall said. “I know even as an adult, music will continue to be an important outlet in my life.”
