While so many competitions — athletic and artistic — are being canceled due to ongoing concerns about the novel coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, one competition will still be going on; the CS Competition.
The CS Competition used to be the New York Opera youth competition and Wendy Williams, director of Sound Foundations Voice Studio, said it’s grown into a huge national competition for operatic, classical and musical theater singing. There are divisions for high school, college and emerging professional, and students from all over the country send video submissions to see if they can make the semifinals.
Usually the finals are a national even as part of a five-day convention – this year’s was to be in Washington, D.C. – but everything has been moved online. There will be master classes online with everything from Broadway actors to top colleges and conservatories where the students get to sing for them in live Zoom conferences.
Williams said students are chosen by ajudication, and if they were chosen they were the top third of the initial submissions.
Eight local students from Sound Foundations Voice Studio in Batavia have moved on to the semifinals and will be aiming to move on to the finals this weekend. They include Murphy McDermott, a junior at Mount Saint Mary; Erin Hess, a sophomore at Alexander; Liam Crawford, a senior at Alexander; and Norah Crawford, a sophomore at Alexander. All will be performing classical songs. Leah Kania, a sophomore at Albion, Kaylee Dehlinger, a senior at Attica, Jocelyn Coburn, a home-schooled junior in Batavia, and Tiffany Keicher, a 22-year-old emerging professional from Rochester, are all performing musical theater numbers.
“There is a lot of musical talent coming out of here,” Williams said.
Preparing for the competition in the middle of a pandemic has been a challenge for the performers.
“The virtual voice lessons, that’s been a challenge,” Leah said. “I know I’m missing out on some stuff because it would be a live round in Washington, D.C., so it’s kind of difficult to feel when you’re at home watching the video instead of being in person talking to the people who are listening to you sing.”
Jocelyn said practice is difficult when you can’t be face to face with a vocal coach, and as a visual learner, not being in the same room as someone becomes hard.
“But it’s worth it in the end I think,” she said.
Erin, who has competed in the CS Competition before, said preparing for it has been pretty much the same, though this year they had to record a video of themsleves performing their pieces in ball gowns, which she said was “actually nice to have a reason to dress up during the pandemic.”
“Then, obviously, performance is way different. Instead of performing live, I have to film a video, and it just isn’t the same,” she said. “During a live performance, I get a huge adrenaline rush, and I always feel I do better in the moment instead of on a video.”
Liam and Norah have found the competition this year a lot less stressful. Before the pandemic hit, they would do plays at the theater, voice lessons, homework and occasionally sports, all of which needed to be fit into a day. So there was a lot of times they weren’t getting home until 10 p.m. However, now doing voice lessons during the day between assignments is a lot less stressful and easier on the schedule.
“It was definitely very exciting to get into it. I usually don’t do as many competitions as my brother does, so it was nice to do something big and important,” Norah said.
“And to be able to do it together, too; it was kind of a fun experience for me to not go to something by myself to compete, but to do it — well not literally as a team, we’re competing against each other — but kind of feeling that team mentality,” Liam said. “No matter which of us goes on in our own respective division, I’m going to be happy for both of us.”
“I have had a lot more time to prepare, but I was less sure of what I was preparing for, as I haven’t done this competition virtually before,” Erin said.
Murphy said while preparation is relatively similar, not being able to see Williams in person causes issues since she can’t play the music for her since there is a lag when it comes to online lessons.
Voice is a very physical activity. While practicing in front of a camera, Williams can’t always check what the singers are doing with their rib cages, how they are adjusting the back of their necks, where the tension is in their jaws.
“Singing should be considered a sport because you need so much breath support and you need to think about a million different things, like how your mouth is positioned and how you’re breathing and how your vowels are coming out,” Leah said.
Jocelyn said Williams had a lot of hands-on techniques like pushing on her back when she needed extra breast support – something Jocelyn can’t do to herself.
“Another thing is they don’t have live accompaniment,” Williams said. “As a singer we’re reliant on pianists, and they’ve turned to an app that’s called appcompanist that’s fantastic ... but we have to take the time in lesson to say this is how you learn this. This is how you have to set your tempo. This is how you have to listen for your own feedback. It’s not as responsive as a pianist.”
The students have had a connection to song for many years.
Erin said she’s been singing since she can remember, but it was her friends and voice teacher who really encouraged her to pursue it.
“I really enjoy being able to perfect my own instrument and being able to express myself through the songs is amazing,” she said.
Leah said she’s always loved performing and singing in general, and not only that but she’s a competitive dancer.
“Ever since I was little, I’d go on my front porch and sing my heart out for all the neighbors. I feel a connection to it,” she said. “I think it gives me a challenge, and I always want to be challenged.”
Murphy said she’s always loved music. She started singing when she was 7 and met Williams through theater where she introduced her to classical music.
“Soon, I started pursuing classical music with her when I was 11 and never turned back,” she said. “I really loved the melodies and trills of classical music. It’s hard to explain.”
Being homeschooled, Jocelyn said to get her socialized her mother put her in a lot of stuff. One of the groups was Batavia Players, an acting troupe, and Jocelyn fell in love with theater.
“I think what I enjoy most about theater is how well it portrays the real world. It’s just stepping into someone else’s body and telling their story is magical to me,” she said.
Norah started going to the community theater, and said a lot of the people she looked up to took lessons from Williams. She got into it first and Liam got into it afterward, starting chorus freshman year of high school and started doing voice lessons with Williams the next year.
“I guess I find it very satisfying; I feel very independent and proud of myself after I finish doing something in front of a big crowd or a bunch of scary judges,” Norah said.
“I’ve always just really enjoyed a slow steady grind of getting better at something, and I’ve always enjoyed competitions,” Liam said. “So I guess it just fell right into my wheelhouse. ... I won’t lie, I’m 17 years old. Being the center of attention is really fun, and singing is a really great way to get that done.”
The eight students are competing for $15,000 in cash awards. There are also scholarships totalling $3.2 million offered through the competition.
Finalists will be announced in June.
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