On February 13th, members of State High’s orchestra, band, and choir competed in a district competition that leads to regionals and for some, All-States.

Preparing for this competition, students are given excerpts of music to prepare for the auditions, which are used to determine the chair they sit in during the concert. Before arriving at the competition the musicians are given what basic part they are going to play or sing. For example, someone may play Trumpet 1 or Soprano 2. To advance to regionals, the musicians are auditioning for the first two chairs of their instruments. The intensity of this competition is translated to the audition rooms. The auditions will be very extreme due to the way the auditions are carried out. The auditions are blind, meaning that the musician is auditioning behind a curtain where the judges can only hear the person auditioning.  

“You are literally auditioning for two people you have never met in your life behind a white cloth so that they can’t see you, pulled in one by one to your individual audition room and audition for the judges,” sophomore Tanner Deyo said.  

These competitions are two days long, with a concert on the third day. These extensive auditions take place on the first day, with the results coming out at the beginning of the second day. The stress of getting into regionals becomes more apparent due to the wait for results. One musician, Nika Kello, was not worried about the results.  

“I feel honored to have the opportunity, but even if I did not get into regionals, I know I will have more opportunities to move on to regionals in the future.” She said

The amount of students that are able to attend this competition are based on the amount of students the school has in their music program. Luckily for State High, there were about 26 musicians in attendance, while other schools have only had two musicians. This amount of students in each category of competitions, band, orchestra, and choir, allow for State High to have the most amount of people going into regionals. With many of State High’s musicians advancing, the excitement is circulating.

“State High as a whole did amazing! Of these 26 I think 23 qualified to go regionals,” Deyo said.

The musicians left with great anticipation for the upcoming competition in regionals. With, State High hopeful for All-States in a few months.