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Last weekend 12 band members competed for a spot in the All-State band at the Area C band audition. Ten of these students competed at the 4A level, and two competed at the 5A level. Seniors Ashley Salazar (French horn) and Carly Prince (flute) made the 5A All-State band. Students earned the chance to audition at Area after they ranked high enough in the All-Region audition. Only a select few of each instrumentation advanced to the All-Area audition.
“I am very pleased by our showing at Region and Area,” band director Ken Ringel said. “19 students made the Region band and 12 of them made Area.” In the Area C audition students from Regions 3, 4, 21 and 24 perform for a panel of 5 judges. Each judge gives the performers a ranking based on how well they played in comparison to the other musicians. After the highest and lowest rankings that a student receives are dropped, the ranks of each student are added together. The student with the lowest total score ranks first in the room.”The Area audition took about 2 hours for me,” Ashley said. “I had to compete with 24 horn players from all over the area and they only took 6 to the All-State band.”
More Royal Pride band members than ever earned the chance to compete at the Area competition. The 10 students that auditioned for the 4A All-State band were sophomores Ben Johnson and Austin Prince, juniors Mark Bakke, Rachel Bennett, Kayla Crowley, Ryan Gonzalez and Sam Johnson, and seniors Jacob Essy, Maggie Korte and Nick Mills. Story continues below advertisement
“Overall, we had a great showing at the audition,” Mr. Ringel said. “We had several students that were very close to making All-State. 5 students only missed it by one spot.” The top 5 of 22 flutes in the 5A flute room received a spot in the All-State band. Carly ranked 2nd.”I didn’t think I was going to make it,” Carly said. “So I was really excited when I saw the results.”
Ashley ranked 1st at the Area audition. This is Ashley’s 3rd consecutive year making an All-State band, and her 2nd year making the 5A All-State band. “My goal wasn’t just to make it, my goal was to make 1st, and I accomplished that for the third year in a row,” Ashley said. “I was extremely thrilled to see that I got first again and it’s definitely an amazing feeling.” Both Ashley and Carly chose to audition at the 5A level rather than 4A. “I auditioned 5A because there’s more numbers than 4A,” Carly said. “My lesson teacher and both the band directors thought I would have a better chance at making it.” Carly and Ashley will attend the All-State convention Feb. 8 through 11 in San Antonio. The students will audition to see what ensemble they will play in and what chair and part they will get Wednesday.
“I’m looking forward to the convention,” Carly said. “I really want to make an orchestra because when I played in the Region orchestra it was a lot of fun.”
The 5A All-State band will start rehearsing Feb. 9 and will perform Feb. 11. “Even though the rehearsals are really long, it’s worth it,” Ashley said. “It’s amazing how the All-State band can play such incredibly hard music after 3 days of rehearsals, and I look forward to rehearsing with the greatest musicians in the state.” |
Band All-Area results announced
January 13, 2012
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