Since 2006, the Lamorinda Arts Council has been running its version of American Idol. Kindergarten through 12th grade students in Lafayette, Moraga, and Orinda have the opportunity to participate in this singing competition with the possibility of winning up to 500 dollars.
“I decided to sign up for Lamorinda Idol as a chance to try something new,” Chloe Lu said.
This year, many Miramonte students were finalists, including junior Chloe Lu in the solo category. Lu worked over the summer to perfect her performance.
“I would listen to the song over and over again … Once I had it memorized, I would just listen to the backtrack to get a feel of the rhythm and timing of where each verse was. This kinda helps with developing more personalization to the song. I also watched and listened to different covers of the song to get a feel of ways that others approached it, which helped me figure out how to make it more of my own,” Lu said.
Lamorinda Idol runs from May to August, with initial auditions being three days long. These determine the finalists and runners-up who will participate in the finals in August.
Most performers use the time between auditions and finals to get extra practice in. The Lamorinda Arts Council offers performance workshops to improve technique and other opportunities for competitors to perform around the area.
“I worked on [my song] with my vocal coach … and I did [a performance] at the Lafayette Plaza and then at the Orinda Park,” audience award winner and junior Margaret Meckes said.
Rehearsals for finals are held, and two days later finals begin. During finals, each participant receives immediate feedback. The judges are Bay Area performers with lots of experience in the profession.
“There was a part in my song where I just dropped off of it, it was an instrumental and I could’ve been doing something more. I appreciated that,” Meckes said.
Winners are then determined by the judge and the audience’s votes. Each judge is able to vote for one performer, and the finalist with the most votes wins that category. Miramonte’s Meckes won the audience award.
“The audience award is when out of all the categories you got the most votes from the audience. The audience liked you the most out of anyone who performed from age kindergarten to 12th grade” Meckes said.
Sophomores Mia Cortesio and Lila Weis won in the duet category and sang “Imagine” by John Lennon. Both are very passionate about singing and over the summer participated in multiple performances.
“My favorite part [of Lamorinda Idol] was the summer performances because they gave me a chance to really express myself and have a lot of fun with all of the songs. I was able to really enjoy the singing experience and just let go and forget about everything else going on,” Weis said.
Lamorinda Idol is run annually and is an opportunity for young singers to showcase their talent. There are no requirements for entering the competition, as it is open to all Lamorinda students.
“Some advice we would give to future performers is that you should choose to do Lamorinda Idol for the fun of it, and the experience it will give you. We both get nervous before performing, but if you try to just loosen up, and remind yourself that you’re doing this because you’re very passionate about singing and have so much fun doing it, then it will allow you to get the absolute most out of this wonderful experience,” Cortesio said.
