In February, several of Central’s musically talented students submitted video auditions to become members of the East Tennessee School Band and Orchestra Association, ETSBOA for short. The directors were pleased to announce that several of our outstanding players made the cut. If you haven’t read my previous article introducing the ETSBOA organization, you can do so here.
Those who wanted to audition, submitted a video file playing through several major scales and prepared pieces of music; all auditionees must have memorized the scales sent out in an email, and played through their respective prepared pieces of music.
If the judges found your performance skillful enough, you’d be placed in a system ranked by chairs. (In any musical ensemble, chairs from first to last indicate each player’s skill) In each instrument group, the players who made first and second chair also made something called “All-State.” (On the left, Devin Hopson plays his bass clarinet during an after-school rehearsal.)
All-State is a collection of Tennessee’s finest young musicians from all different countries and backgrounds, which makes it even more satisfying to announce that three of our school’s musicians were placed in the final scores: sophomore Jack Myers, sophomore Ian Myers, and senior Devin Hopson.
At the end of my last article, we heard some of Ian Myers’ trombone audition clip; he made 1st Chair in All-East, which places him above everyone else in skill, and also permits him for All-State.
“I’m not gonna say I’m surprised by any stretch, hard work pays off. For what’s next, it’s just rinse and repeat.” (On the right, Ian Myers plays through his concert music during a rehearsal.)
Myers went on to say that he’ll be trying out next year for “hopefully both auditions.”
For Devin Hopson, another talented All-State bass clarinetist, surprise struck when band director Alex Mink sent out the results: “I was really surprised, I honestly hadn’t prepared enough for it; I didn’t really expect to make it.”
Folks, this is yet another lesson that hard work will always pay off; students like these that go above and beyond will reap the bounty of their consummate technique.
Read more from The Bobcat Times:
The Bobcat Times 