This Doesn’t Happen Every Day

Matthew has some serious trumpet-related goals set for his senior year. One of them was being able to play in Abravanel Hall. In order to do that this year, he needed to audition for and be accepted into the All-State Wind Symphony. His big focus has been the All-State Jazz Band which performs a bit later this spring, but he decided to give the wind symphony a go as well. He was pleased when the list was released, and he was on it. The funny thing is that he only started practicing the audition a few days before it was due, and he still made it into the top-level high school band as seventh seat trumpet. That may seem like a pretty poor seat but considering that these kids are the best of all the high school band students in the state, it is actually pretty impressive. And honestly, Matthew knows that he gave the audition very little practice time and was not at all offended by the results. 😂

The concert was last night. Kevin, Malia and I drove downtown and met Daniel and Tawni, who drove down from Logan for dinner before the concert. It gave us a chance to chat with Tawni a bit more, to ask her some questions and get to know her a bit. Matthew joined us as well, at least for a bit in between his rehearsal and his call time. Nathan is on a skiing trip with friends this weekend, so he was the only no show. The concert itself was great. There were three different bands performing-the band comprised of middle school students, a lower-level high school band, and the top high school band. All the bands did a great job, but as expected with the way the auditions and such go, the upper-level band that Matthew played in was the best. They performed extremely well, and we really enjoyed the performance. 

This evening gave Matthew a check next to one of the items on his bucket list. This school year has been hard for him for a variety of reasons, so to see him glowing with this evening’s performance high was wonderful. And it’s not every day that you get to play in Abravanel Hall!

A Band Like No Other

Unlike the all state choir where each high school gets to select a certain number of singers (twenty when I was in high school) to participate, the all state band has an audition process. You can’t really fit a five-hundred-member band on the stage at Symphony Hall so there really is a need to cull the number of students who want to participate. Daniel auditioned with his clarinet this year and was accepted. He was thrilled and I was proud. Some high schools had only one student make it in. Our high school had eight students make it. Our band director is fantastic and the success of the kids in the program is just one way we are seeing his effect. He has created an environment where not only do the kids excel, but they feel valued and included. The environment is supportive and inclusive. While he pushes the kids to be their best, he focuses on improvement rather an outcome so as long as the kids give it all they’ve got, they come away feeling like each event was a success. Honestly, I feel very blessed that Daniel has been part of such a fantastic program. His high school experience has been very positive and a large part of that is the support group made up of the band director and all the kids in the band.

The concert was this evening and I have to admit that having a kid play in symphony hall was kind of exciting. Daniel was excited as well. As he begins the last half of his senior year, he is definitely having some amazing experiences and great successes. I think he will come away feeling his senior year was all he could have hoped for.