Mady Schlaak selected for National Convention FFA choir

NRHEG senior class member Mady Schlaak says performing in front of 70,000 people is not as terrifying as it sounds.

 

Schlaak was one of nearly 80 young singers accepted to the choir formed specially for the 2026 FFA National Convention. The group, she says, consisted of roughly equal numbers of the four choral voices–bass, tenor, alto, and her own level, soprano. She shares that more than 500 FFA members from all over the country submitted auditions. Mady was the only applicant accepted from Minnesota.

 

In addition to four rigorous days with practices that lasted up to 12 hours, the group performed eight times, sometimes presenting one or two of the numbers they had practiced and twice performing their full repertoire, about 35 minutes of music.

 

Mady explains that, after she saw the choir’s performances during the 2025 national FFA convention, she decided it was something she would like to be part of.

 

Upon investigation she learned she needed to submit an audition video in July. The taping was to include her singing a two-octave scale, the song “America the Beautiful,” and a solo performance of her choosing. She laughs as she admits her determination to produce a video without glitches or mistakes led to about 15 different tries before she was satisfied.

 

She learned in August that she had been accepted. Copies of the music arrived early in October, along with a request that she practice and become familiar with the numbers prior to Oct. 17, the day choir members were asked to report–four days prior to the Oct. 21 opening day of the convention.

 

Though Mady had been part of the FFA’s Minnesota state convention choir since ninth grade, she says the national group encouraged her to approach her voice and vocal performance from an angle she’d never before encountered.

 

“It’s really impressive what can be accomplished when you’ve got 78 people who all want to be there, and want to work together to create a high quality performance. We all really listened to the directions, we all used the criticism we received to improve.

 

“From that first practice where we sounded–well, really bad–to the first time we performed, it didn’t seem like we were even the same group of singers. We were confident, we had our music fully memorized, and we were ready to give the best of our abilities. I am in awe listening to the tapes.”

 

Thanks to the many demands the week presented, Mady says “I also had to be really aware of my vocal health.” She points out that day-long practices can be very taxing, and everyone’s voices needed to be in good form for the performances to come. 

 

As the group continued to improve, she says it was thrilling what can be accomplished when a group of skilled singers work to blend their voices, so that the 20 members of each section sounded as if they were one, richly-voiced singer.

 

“Listening to the tapes,” she describes, “I can’t pick out my own voice.”

 

Perhaps equally unusual for a soprano–the voice which typically carries the melody in a choir–Mady describes one number in which her group harmonized for the whole song. “That was a learning experience,” she says. “It showed me a lot about the ways to use my voice.”

 

When the choir gave its full concert, it was in the Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Indianapolis Colts play. Only half to two thirds of the seats were used, so that audience members were facing the stage, but that still left places for all 73,000 FFA members attending the convention to sit. In addition to performing, Mady and another choir member took on the task of introducing one of the songs, allowing them to quickly introduce themselves, then describe the number they were about to present. Nearly all of them were medleys, Mady adds, each one representing the music typical of an era from the 1930s to the end of the 20th century.

 

One medley was titled, “The Best of Dolly Parton.”

 

Between the challenges and accomplishments, Mady says she definitely plans to audition for the national convention choir next year: she will still be eligible even though she will be a college freshman then.

 

“They reserve a few spots for people they call their ‘alumni,’ the people in their second year. I will still have to audition, but I believe I have a good chance of being chosen again,” she explains.