By Robert Marcentel, GLES Music Teacher

The Grand Lake 4th and 5th Grade Choristers won their first Sweepstakes honor on Monday, Mar. 23, at the District 5 Choral Festival Assessment at McNeese State University.

The annual assessment is held statewide in all districts of Louisiana each Spring. Students prepare three choral pieces and perform these pieces for three judges chosen from around the state. The students are then graded on a 1-5 scale, with 1 being considered “Superior” and 5 being considered “Poor”. After their performance, the students then move to the sight-reading phase of the assessment, in which they have eight minutes to look over and prepare a piece they’ve never seen before and then perform it for a judge. The students are then graded on the same scale as their stage performance. If they win a “Superior” rating on stage as well as their sight-reading test, they are awarded the status of “Sweepstakes” and receive a trophy for their efforts.

A “Sweepstakes” win qualifies the students to then compete on the state level. The Grand Lake Elementary chorus was one of 33 choirs from 23 different schools from throughout the 6-parish area to compete and one of only 14 choruses to win a “Sweepstakes” title. The annual choral festival assessment in Louisiana, now commonly known as the LMEA (Louisiana Music Educators Association) Large Ensemble Assessment, has been a recurring event for 90 years. The first State Choir Festival was held on Mar. 11-12, 1936, in Natchitoches. The Grand Lake Elementary chorus had previously won “Superior” ratings for their performances in 2018 and 2019, and were awarded plaques those years because the rules at that time allowed them to be excused from the sight-reading portion of the test.

This year marked their return to the competition for the first time since Covid.