SHERIDAN — Anna Holiman, 17, doesn’t remember a time when she wasn’t singing.
“My mom said the first time I ever performed in front of anybody, I was 3,” she said. “But I don’t remember ever not singing. Chorally, I have been singing since seventh grade.”
Holiman recently won first place in the Arkansas Chamber Singers Vocal Scholarship competition Jan. 26 in Little Rock.
Holiman performed two pieces for the audition, including, Gabriel Faure’s “Pie Jesu” and “He Shall Feed His Flock,” from George Frideric Handel’s Messiah.
“‘Pie Jesu’ is a song that I have loved since my sophomore year, when we sang an arrangement of it for a choir performance,” Holiman said. “I used it for another audition around December as well.
“I just love it.”
She said her audition was really scary, but she tried to be audacious and sing “as best I could and the way I practiced it.
“When I was finished, I felt really proud of myself,” she said.
Jeff Parker with the board of directors for the Arkansas Chamber Singers and chair of the Education Committee, said each year on the last Sunday in January, the chorus holds auditions at St. James United Methodist Church in Little Rock.
Bennie Carol Wade filled in as Holiman’s accompanist for the audition, but Jo Murry has been Holiman’s voice teacher for the past five years.
“The process is pretty rigorous,” Parker said. “Each student has to write an essay explaining why they want to receive this award, get three letters of recommendations, send in transcripts and prepare two memorized art songs or arias.”
The two winners will be honored at the Arkansas Chamber Singers performance of the Haydn Creation Mass, to take place at 7:30 p.m. March 14 at St. James United Methodist Church.
“The main thing I talked about in my essay was how I decided to be a music educator after a Christmas concert,” Holiman said. “I fell in love with the way we could interact with the music and how we learned it together.
“I wanted to share it with other people. That was the main topic of my essay.”
Holiman will receive a $1,000 scholarship, and plans to attend Ouachita Baptist University. The second place winner, Briya Alford, a senior from Conway High School, will receive a $500 scholarship. Alford plans to attend the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
“I really love Ouachita, and I have wanted to go there since I was pretty young,” Holiman said. “I heard their choir perform a couple of years ago, and I loved the way they sounded.
“I always wanted to study music, but I also wanted to study Christian studies, so I couldn’t decide if I wanted to go to a university or seminary, but there I can do both.”
Holiman grew up in a musical family. Her dad, Jason, is the worship leader at Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church in Prattsville. Her brother John has been in band the past couple years, but Holiman said all of her family members “have their own individual musical gifts.”
“My dad is a really high tenor,” she said. “I think that’s where I get the soprano gene from.”
Her mom, Angie Holiman, is the secretary’s aide at Sheridan Intermediate School. Anna also has a younger sister, Callie; an older brother, Donnie; and an older sister, Natalie.
“We do a lot of music stuff together when we get the chance,” Anna Holiman said.
In her recommendation letter for Anna to the Arkansas Chamber Singers Board of Directors, Marcia Brown, Sheridan School District music specialist, said “Anna is one of the best candidates the Sheridan School District has to offer.”
“She has been a member of the All-Region Choir every year since she was first able to audition in the seventh grade, has been in the top 10 the past two years in region and was also selected to be in the All-State Mixed Choir last year as a junior,” Brown’s letter states. “She has performed with the Arkansas Choral Society and was the first-place winner as a vocal soloist at the Arkansas State Fair, representing Grant County.”
Brown said she has had the privilege of hearing Holiman perform multiple times and is always “impressed with her vocal abilities, her stage presence and her strong work ethic.”
“Anna takes private voice lessons outside of school in order to continually improve her technique …,” Brown said. “She is a deserving candidate and will represent ACS well as she continues her education.”
Holiman is a member of the National Honor Society and is president of the Students for Christ club at Sheridan. She helped organize last year’s See You at the Pole event, where she sang lead on one of the songs. She is also directing the worship team for a community revival called Get Real Revival, which is student-led.
Holiman is currently acting as the stage manager for the upcoming play The King and I.
“When we get to the point of rehearsing the whole thing as one piece, I’m going to be directing the whole thing,” she said. “The drama teacher and choir teacher are the directors, but I’m kind of in a directing position.
“I will also conduct the chorus girls in it offstage.”
Holiman plays piano and guitar and is learning how to play the violin. She said she will have to study piano at OBU as part of her curriculum.
“I love the expression in it and my ability to show my point of view through music,” Holiman said. “I have always been someone who is meek and afraid to speak. …
“… I am such a shy speaker, but I can kind of get my point across through music.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.