Caitlin Voss stands proudly with her niece, Jadyn Voss — the only singer from Santa Barbara County who has been accepted into the High School Coastal Honor Choir and 100-member California All-State Honor Choir. This photo shows Jadyn at the Performing Arts Center at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where late last month, Jadyn performed with the High School Coastal Honor Choir.
In Santa Barbara County, there’s no high school singer like Jadyn Voss.
Just ask the judges.
Jadyn, a junior at Righetti High School in Santa Maria, is the only high school vocalist in the county to be accepted into the High School Coastal Honor Choir and the 100-member California All-State Honor Choir.
“When I found out, I almost immediately started crying because I was so happy,” Jadyn, 16, told the News-Press. “It’s a really big accomplishment.”
Jadyn performed with the High School Coastal Honor Choir in late November at the Performing Arts Center at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Cheering her on were her parents, Mariah Voss and Erik Voss, as well as her grandparents and her aunt.
Jadyn, who’s a second soprano in the Varsity Choir at Righetti, said her parents were very proud of her and noted her mother also was in choir when she was in high school.
Jadyn recalled the honor choir concert had an interesting mix of songs and that the music featured elements of surprise, including getting very soft or very loud.
And Jadyn will join other vocalists at the California All-State Honor Choir’s performance at the California Music Educators Conference Feb. 16-18 in Fresno.
She got into the all-state choir during an audition in mid-August in Atascadero. That’s where she impressed the judges with her performance of a Bach song — despite the fact she was under the weather.
“One of the judges told me, ‘Even while sick, you sounded very, very good,’ ” Jadyn said. “I took that as a nice compliment.”
Jadyn, who has previous experience playing the piano, praised her choir teacher, Matthew Ringer, for teaching her how to sing in Latin and for working with her on singing a chromatic scale. (That’s the scale that involves all notes in an octave, including the sharps and flats.)
Mr. Ringer told the News-Press he’s impressed with Jadyn’s hard work and determination.
Jadyn, who has been singing in school choirs since seventh grade, said she loves performing. “It’s such a magical experience to be able to sing with other people and to hear everybody in almost perfect harmony.
“I’ve gotten a mix of different compliments and people saying I sound really good,” Jadyn said. “Some of my classmates and parents, when they watched me performing with the honor choir, said they could pick out my voice.”
While Jaydn doesn’t plan a career in music and is interested instead in forensics for her vocation, she wants to keep music as her pastime.
She said she loves being surrounded by harmonies on stage and can’t get enough of the choral experience.
email: dmason@newspress.com
