Thursday, January 13, 2011

Spirit Has Five in All-State!

This past Saturday 2000 students from across the state of Georgia auditioned at Houston County High School to be invited to participate in the GMEA All-State Band. In order to audition on Saturday the students had to pass a first round audition. South Paulding High School had 24 students qualify for the auditions! Although this process is humbling to most when the lists finally come out, it is an honorable endeavor and worthwhile process. All-State is about the journey that the students take and the achievements made along the way. Any time a student sets a goal and follows through with the commitment of practicing for extra opportunities our band program gets better. All groups are made up of the individuals that contribute to it. We rely on individual improvement and achievement to continue to grow. All of the students who auditioned for District Honor Band and All-State have taken it upon themselves to make our band better by taking on extra practicing responsibilities and putting their best foot forward. I am proud of each and everyone of them. Please take time to thank them for their hard work and extra practice.

The process is very humbling because we started with 65 students who auditioned for the first round, 31 students make District Honor Band, then had 24 advance to the second round (some students would have advanced but decided to only audition for the district level), and out of those 24 we have 5 students who have been invited to participate in the All-State Band. The odds alone are intimidating not to mention students have to perform solos individually for 2 judges. This is why all students who auditioned are to be congratulated. Our students who are invited to All-State are: Katie Webb, flute; Blake Soverns, flute; Allison Webb, f horn; Jonas Lutz, f horn (1st alternate); and Andrew Engshun, trombone. Again, if you have a chance please take the time to congratulate our students and share with them how proud we are of their achievements.