All-State Band

All-State+Band

Margaret Hoff, Staff Writer

Nebraska’s All-State Band is a gathering of all of the very best high school players from across the state. This program is very hard to get into and one of the highest honors. This year, two of our Alliance High’s students made the cut. From November 16-18, Jewelia Taylor and Rachel Baker experienced a whole new environment.

All State is open to high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors, but how does one get into such a challenging program? The answer is hours of practice. Jewelia had to memorize a three octave chromatic scale, another scale, which is picked from seven, etude one and two, as well as play an excerpt from the music played at All-State. She practiced every day after school for an hour and a half to two hours, and as the deadline neared, she practiced twice a day.

Rachel’s practice hours added up to around 180 hours in the end. All summer, she practiced about an hour and a half a day. Rachel recommends that if you are planning on trying out, your summer days need to be planned around practicing. Both of these girls put forth a tremendous amount of effort, and their acceptance to the program was well deserved.

For Jewelia, this was a completely new experience. She had never been to a concert honor band before. Being a sophomore means this was her first year trying out and being accepted. Seeing as this is a very big accomplishment, I asked her how it felt, and she replied with “it feels pretty good.”  Rachel, being a junior, has been to one other honor band.

Both girls shared their doubts in the process. Jewelia explained that she even thought of quitting. “There were a lot of times when I just thought, wow, I should just stop doing this, because it’s not gonna be worth it in the end, but it was.”

Rachel was actually very positive about this situation. She stayed an optimist, saying, “Whether you get in or not, if you practice you’re gonna get better. And that’s totally worth it. That’s what I told myself on days where I didn’t want to practice, or my practice session didn’t go very well. I just told myself: you’re gonna get better either way, so that’s what matters.”

The hard work didn’t stop once they were accepted into the program. Once the girls got to Lincoln, they took the equivalent of the typical band “playing tests.” There were soundproof rooms designated for each section, where each individual would take these tests. These tests would designate their “chair placement.” Rachel explained the process as a stressful environment originally, but was very relieved in the end. When they got to the designated area, they each waited for their turn. Once inside the room, the administrator would have them play their pieces of music, and would then dismiss them. Luckily, they were given the testing music beforehand so they were able to practice.

After this, they began rehearsals. Both described the overall environment as pretty neutral, and friendly. There were no seniority issues, seeing as everyone knew they deserved to be there. I asked both of them if it was what they expected. Jewelia said it was pretty much everything she expected it to be. She said it was nice to work with people who wanted to work just as hard as her, and are there to be there.

Rachel’s answer, on the other hand, was interesting. “The caliber of music we were performing at was expected, but the struggles that we had during rehearsals were like the same struggles that we have during concert band here. They still struggle with matching articulation, and they still have tempo issues, and I don’t know why I didn’t think that would happen but I just didn’t expect that, because these are supposed to be the best of the best. Like, I thought we’d have our own problems and they’d have totally different problems. But it’s all the same.”

After three rehearsals on Friday and two on Saturday, they performed their concert. Overall, they both described the music as much more challenging than normal, but still in comparison to Wind Ensemble.

They both highly recommend that anyone who wants to try out should. It is a wonderful opportunity, and opens so many doors for those who want to open them. It is a very diverse place as well.

Rachel talked about how she was surprised there were both bassoons and oboes in the band (two things our band doesn’t have); however, the girl next to her was excited about seeing tubas. This is a good example of the fact that you don’t have to come from a big school, with a large band, to be good.

This experience is a wonderful example of what can come from hard work, focus, and dedication. Both these girls should be an inspiration to anyone who wants to try out for honor bands.