Valley student musicians to participate in All State Festivals

Apr. 6—Students from six Valley high schools will participate in the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association All-State Festival later this month.

Earning a place at the all-state festival is the highest association honor a high school musician can achieve.

Every year, thousands of students across Pennsylvania audition in their geographic area individually for a panel of judges. The highest ranking students are selected to compete against others at a regional level where only the top musicians are chosen to perform in one of six Pennsylvania All-State music ensembles, according to an association press release.

This year, students from Lewisburg, Selinsgrove, Danville, Meadowbrook Christian, Warrior Run and Mount Carmel high schools will be attending the festival.

Jonathan Walz, vocal director at Lewisburg Area High School, said he was proud of his students who will be attending the festival.

"I applaud the success of these students as well as all those who earned a place in an All-State Ensemble," Walz said. "This is a great honor and unique experience. Well done! You make your school and community proud."

Rachel Ulsh, choral director at Selinsgrove Area High School, said her students put in countless hours of rehearsal time to make it to the all-state level.

"These students are the top percentage of their respective instrument/voice part in our region ensemble. They earned that title with endless rehearsal time during their own time and at school. These students have the intrinsic motivation and drive of high achievement," Ulsh said. "We are fortunate enough to have students in multiple all-state ensembles this year and we are very proud of them! I hope they are able to make new friends and bring back leadership as well as an even bigger love of music to Selinsgrove!"

Similarly, Selinsgrove Area Band Director Nick Eischeid remarked on the qualities necessary for students to be chosen for the high-esteemed festival.

"Achieving selection to an all-state ensemble requires monumental dedication, hard work, and an extremely high level of skill. For the instrumentalists, you are competing against many students at each festival, often for a single, state-qualifying position," he said.

Laura Garside, band director at Danville Area High School, said she was proud of Danville senior Gage Hayes, who will be a member of the All-State Concert Band.

"I am so proud of Gage and all of the hard work that he has put in this year. After some disappointment last year, he really buckled down this year and put in hours and hours of practice to make it to the state level," she said. "This year has been a real life example of where hard work and dedication can take you and he has done an amazing job representing our school and music department."

Selinsgrove Senior McKenna Ulery said she has been rehearsing PMEA audition pieces for months.

"I begin preparing for the festivals starting with pre-auditions. As soon as the audition piece comes out I begin tearing it down and making sure I can play it to the best of my abilities by November," Ulery said. "Throughout the year, I prepare for each festival by spending around an hour each day practicing the music itself and usually another hour on fundamentals."

Selinsgrove sophomore Elise Zimmerman said she really buckled down to learn the music for the upcoming festival.

"To prepare for this festival, I have listened to and studied the provided audio tracks, annotated my music, sang through the music with a metronome, worked on the repertoire in voice lessons with my instructor, Mrs. Muller, as well as in school with my choir director, Mrs. Ulsh, and attended a Zoom meeting with the festival conductor where we were given notes about each of the pieces," Zimmerman said.

Liam Shabahang, Lewisburg senior, said he has been practicing the festival music with his voice teacher and studying the director's notes.

Several students heading to the All-State Festival said they enjoy the musical experience, but look forward to meeting other young musicians from across Pennsylvania even more.

"I am extremely excited to meet other people," said Selinsgrove senior Austin Imhoof. "Besides the music, that's always the best part of PMEA festivals."

For Lewisburg senior Jaelyn Taylor, having time to meet new people and hang out with friends she's already made from other schools is especially exciting, she said.

Selinsgrove senior Brendan Long made similar comments.

"The best part of any PMEA festival is meeting new people. Making connections through shared musical experiences is certainly what makes PMEA special," Long said. " That being said, I am most looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones at states. The music is very cool, but the human connections are much better."

Hayes said he looks forward to hearing professional bands at the convention center as well as the music the all-state groups will put together themselves, he said.

"As much as I love concert band, I love jazz music even more and I'm excited to hear some great music played by groups such as The Jazz Ambassadors. As a saxophonist, of course I love jazz!" Hayes said. "I'm also very excited to hear the kinds of music we can make together as a group. It's interesting hearing the difference in sound as you go up the ladder from districts to regions and now states for me so I'm very excited to play some great music with some very skilled musicians."

Having participated in three All-State festivals and even national musical events, Lewisburg senior Katie Kelley said attending her last state event is bittersweet.

"This will be my last PMEA festival ever, which is bittersweet," she said. "I'm grateful that I get to conclude my journey by performing such wonderful music at such a wonderful event!"

Lewisburg musicians headed to the All-State Festival include Kelly, a soprano, Taylor, an alto, and Shabahang, a bass, in the chorus. Adam Davis will be on percussion in the concert band and Trace Cassidy on trombone in the wind ensemble.

From Selinsgrove, Zimmerman, a soprano, and Imhoof, a bass, will be among the chorus. Long will play trombone in the concert band and Ulery will play the French horn in the wind ensemble.

Hayes, from Danville, will play tenor saxophone in the concert band.

Jayar Rhodes, from Meadowbrook Christian School, will sing tenor in the chorus.

Christopher Jones, a bass from Warrior Run, will also be among the chorus.

Mount Carmel's Rebecka Morales will play French horn in the concert band.

All of the All-State concerts will be held at the Warner Theatre in Erie.

The All-State Contemporary A Cappella and Jazz Ensembles will perform at 7:30 p.m. April 19, the All-State Orchestra and Band will perform at 11 a.m. April 20 and the All-State Wind Ensemble and Chorus will perform at 4 p.m. April 20, according to the association website.