{"id":2712,"date":"2018-03-26T14:30:26","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T14:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=2712"},"modified":"2018-03-26T14:30:26","modified_gmt":"2018-03-26T14:30:26","slug":"tstc-texas-music-cafe-award-recording-contract-to-local-tstc-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=2712","title":{"rendered":"TSTC, Texas Music Caf\u00e9 award recording contract to local TSTC student"},"content":{"rendered":"

(HARLINGEN) – Texas State Technical College student Christopher Briones has become a local celebrity with his first-place win during the Texas Music Caf\u00e9 PBS TV Show and TSTC\u2019s Talent Search, bringing the award home to Harlingen for the third year in row.<\/p>\n

Briones, who started singing five years ago in high school and currently sings at a local church, was awarded a $2,500 recording contract with E-Cleff Productions, Inc. after his award-winning performance during Wednesday night\u2019s finals held at TSTC\u2019s Waco campus.<\/p>\n

It was there where the 19-year-old belted out the notes to \u201cResurrecting,\u201d by Elevated Worship.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy worst fear during this contest was rejection. Rejection because of my choice of songs,\u201d he said. \u201cBut my love for the gospel and worship ended up being received well and led me to a new chapter in my music career.\u201d<\/p>\n

The San Benito native first auditioned for his spot at finals during Harlingen\u2019s Texas Music Caf\u00e9 and Talent Search regional competition event last month, singing \u201cReckless\u201d by Cory Asbury.\"Chris<\/a><\/p>\n

To earn a spot at finals, Briones had to be in the top five among 33 performers from TSTC\u2019s campuses across the state.<\/p>\n

Briones earned more than 300 \u201cLikes\u201d on YouTube and qualified to join Brooke Baily from TSTC Abilene, Caroline Herman from TSTC Marshall, Samuel Self from TSTC Waco and Brandon Felts and John Ward from TSTC Fort Bend County at the competition\u2019s finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never expected to make it this far, much less win first place,\u201d said Briones. \u201cThere was so much talent in one room. I was shocked, surprised and excited when I heard the judges call my name. I couldn\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the coming months, Briones will travel back to Waco for his session in the recording studio with an assigned producer. He will record two original songs, one titled, \u201cThe One,\u201d an ode to God for never leaving his side and a second one that is still a work in progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started working on these songs immediately after arriving from Waco, same night actually,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to share my songs with the world and I hope they can make an impact in someone\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Briones\u2019 tracks will be featured on the Texas Music Caf\u00e9 website, radio program and PBS. He will also have the opportunity to perform as the opening act for a live taping of Texas Music Caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about to take my music career to a new level,\u201d said Briones. \u201cI hope this opens up other performance and recording opportunities. This is a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Student Life Coordinator Belinda Palomino said she is proud of every contestant who participated this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year I am amazed at the amount of talent we have on campus and across the state,\u201d she said. \u201cI would seriously hate to be a judge. It\u2019s a hard decision for them every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the partnership between TSTC, Texas Music Caf\u00e9 and its executive producer Chris Ermoian is invaluable because of the opportunities it presents to students. They have been working together since 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a technical school many think we have no musical talent, but this lets us showcase what we have and get our students\u2019 names out there and expose them to a world they may not get the chance to see in the classroom or outside of these walls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palomino said she is excited to see the partnership continue to flourish and she hopes someday every TSTC campus can host a show and that the number of participants continues to grow.<\/p>\n

As for Briones, he said he is thankful to TSTC and Texas Music Caf\u00e9 for this opportunity, but even more thankful to his family and friends who pushed him to do it in the first place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(HARLINGEN) – Texas State Technical College student Christopher Briones has become a local celebrity with his first-place win during the Texas Music Caf\u00e9 PBS TV Show and TSTC\u2019s Talent Search, bringing the award home to Harlingen for the third year in row. Briones, who started singing five years ago in high school and currently sings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harlingen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2712"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2714,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2712\/revisions\/2714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}