From Barry Manilow to Lil' Mo, performers at BYU Idol belted out an array of songs, winning the audience and the judges over with flowers, dancing and of course fantastic voices.
The event, which took place last Thursday night, Feb. 23, 2006, in the Varsity Theater, was the second chapter of competition for this semester's BYU Idol. The first leg of the competition, held at the end of January, was the beginning of what may be a continuing BYU tradition. Once every month, participants come together to sing in front of an audience and are evaluated by judges, just like American Idol stars.
After everyone performed, the audience votes for their favorites through applause, and depending on the decibel levels of the applause, finalists are selected to participate in this April's finale.
This time around contestants, like Dan Monson, brought some Idol experience to the competition.
Monson, a print journalism major from Portland, Ore., said in addition to trying out for American Idol, he's performed at weddings and piano bars in Salt Lake City.
"I got into singing because I used sing when I played the piano," he said. "To me, singing and piano go hand-in-hand."
Monson sang "I've Got You Under My Skin" by Frank Sinatra, and was far from being the only student who stuck with the oldies. Two of the nights' winners, Ben Rasmussen and Adam Ruri, also crooned some classics from music legends Nat King Cole and Louie Armstrong.
Rasmussen and Ruri also utilized props in their performances. Rasmussen made use of a mannequin head, in addition to dancing with a member of the audience, while Ruri handed one judge a rose at the beginning of his performance.
Other students, however, chose to stick with more modern numbers and left the props out of the performance to let the music do the talking.
Amy Hoggan, for example, sang "When I Fall in Love" by Celine Dion. Hoggan, a humanities major from Arvada, Colo., said she's been singing since she was two years old.
"I've always wanted to do American Idol," Hoggan said. "This seemed a bit safer, since it's on a smaller scale."
In the January event, four finalists were selected from the 12 performers, due to a tie for third-place.
Thursday night's performance featured 11 students performing, and selected three finalists. The finalists for this round were Ruri, Rasmussen, and Tiffany Peterson, who made the cut with "Let Me Let Go" by Faith Hill.
Even those who didn't make it onto the next round said they enjoyed the experience anyway.
"This is a great opportunity to perform," said David Fritch, a computer science major from Maple Valley, Wash.
All the participants in the competition received a T-shirt and a Jamba Juice gift card courtesy of the Student Activity Board, which organized the event.
Though the rest of the semester is filled for performers, students with questions regarding BYU Idol can contact the Student Activity Board by phone at 801-422-7183 or by e-mail at studentactivitiesboard@byu.edu.
(For comments, e-mail Jenessa Farnsworth at jenessa.Farnsworth@gmail.com)
