Students compete at Valley Voice

Students showed off their singing and performing talents at the second annual Valley Voice competition on Friday, Jan. 20.

It’s easy to see why UVU is known for excellence in performing arts. The duet group “White Chocolate” won first place for their performance. Their incredible skill at harmonizing was an immediate audience favorite, and it was no surprise when they won.

Karli Bird, Miss UVU 2016, said, “It’s so mesmerizing to watch you two perform. It’s so amazing to see the chemistry between two performers and everyone could feel that in your performance.”

Freshman Spencer Anderson, who is currently studying psychology, was runner-up with his performance of Piano Man. His performance was another audience favorite as Spencer played the harmonica and guitar simultaneously and hit the impressively high chord during the chorus of the song. It isn’t that hard to play the harmonica and the guitar together, according to Anderson.

“If you can breathe in and out, you can play the harmonica. I got to the point of playing the guitar where it felt natural and then I began singing later on,” said Anderson.

It was the inspiration of seeing another group playing “Piano Man” that made Spencer want to perform the song on stage as well. Even though there was no award for best original song, Erik McGregor, a junior studying construction management, would have won that award with his unique rustic style. McGregor performed his song titled “Move Along,” which told the story of moving on after a relationship ended and how he grew from it. It’s a song that many would agree could be a popular hit on Spotify, and hopefully one we will see on there soon. He said that performing on the Valley Voice was one of his biggest performances.

“You get nervous, and you don’t know what to expect,” said McGregor. “Once you start you feel really good about it, especially as the crowd fuels your performance.”