68th Annual

The 68th Annual All-State Music Festival was one of the best in the history of the festival. Alright, I might be a little biased, for I was one of the top baritone saxophones in the state. This experience will never be forgotten in my memory. For better or for worse, it is stuck with me until the day I die. 

My adventure of All-State started with one of the most stressful auditions I have ever had. I usually don’t get nervous for auditions but for some reason, I was this time. I was standing outside my audition room feeling my heartbeat throughout my whole body. For some reason, unknown by me, I could not calm down. The fact that nerves got to me might have contributed to the failure that was my audition. To make it worse, the cellos went over their planned time which made me wait even longer, which, in turn, made my nervousness grow. By the time it was my turn to go into that torture chamber, I had become so nervous that I could hardly stand. It was a bad situation and the storm of nerves was heard through my instrument. It was not one of my best auditions but I survived. When I was finished with my audition, I had about an hour to wait until I received the chair placement; that hour felt like an hour of impending doom. Finally, I look up at the clock, the hour I had despised; it was time for the results. I walk into the room first, the judges look at me and quickly glance away, not good. At that moment I knew I had not made the chair I desired. They handed out little red cards, this card was the color of my blood and as I read the number on the card, the room began to spin. 4. Not good. One chair too low, no, 4 chairs too low. 

I walked out of that room into the smiling faces of my friends. They could tell by the look on my face that I was upset. They tried to comfort me and help me accept my position. Try as they might, I was still disappointed with myself and I wouldn’t accept my fate until later on that night. I started to realize that being the fourth out of sixth bari player in Iowa wasn’t that bad at dinner. There isn’t a better restaurant to bring my hopes up than Hickory Park. Hickory Park is, without a doubt, the best restaurant in Ames. When my food was finally brought out, all my worries and stress went away. I was happy and I accepted my chair placement after two hours.  

Auditions were only the first part of the adventure I took part in, I had two whole days that I was going to play in the best band in Iowa! The start of the second day at Iowa State would bring back the self disappointment, but it would quickly be washed away. When I got to Hilton Collesuem and found my seat, in the very back, we warmed up and I finally met the person who I was stuck with for the next two days, the director. His name is Dr. Andrew Mast. He is an intersting person; he uses many analogies to explain how a part of the music is supposed to sound. My favorite was, “That tympani line should sound like orc drums getting ready for the battle.” It was a great way to describe a sound to copy. Most of the comments he made were confusing to other people; not me though, I take from Lynne Hart and have to be able to decipher strange analogies. One of the wierdest analogies he told us was something about a hamster ball and how the song is supposed to, somehow, make an impression like that. Can you tell it was a fun weekend? I enjoyed being part of Dr. Mast’s band and was glad I had that learning experience. 

Apart from the intersting director, the music was some of the best I have heard produced by high schoolers. Going from the Kennedy Wind Smphony to the All-State Band was mind blowing. The best part about it was that every section knew their music, every single one! There wasn’t a weak link, everyone there wanted to play and were good at it. From the first note, to the last, I was never disappointed or annoyed. Every section sounded amazing. At the concert, I looked up at the audience and saw total engagement. Our set was interesting and we were good enough to pull it off. I loved the experience at the end of the whole stadium standing on their feet and clapping, not out of pity, but because it was just that good. I can only hope that the 68th All-State Band was able to inspire and bring enjoyment. 

The All-State experience was wonderful, I learned about myself, about where I was in the ranking of bari players in the state, about what a band should sound like. I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend. I can’t wait to go back next year!