The young and talented

Senior, junior, junior, senior. Or maybe it’s senior, senior, sophomore. Or even junior, senior, senior. As lists of musicians accepted into All-State are revealed, a pattern becomes very apparent. There are very few freshmen.

For the freshmen that audition, they face the greatest odds, the hardest challenge. Whether it be their lack of experience, or the intimidating talent of the upperclassmen, they were at a disadvantage in almost every way. Even so, these talented youngsters gave it everything they had.

When it comes to auditioning as a freshman, one of the biggest issues is lack of experience. But, this isn’t quite true. The fact that freshmen aren’t expected to perform as well can actually become a source of motivation.

“I mean as a freshman there is not very much pressure on me to do well in it which I kind of felt was my driving force,” said Ethan Buck ‘21, an alto saxophonist, .

Paras Bassuk ‘21, a percussionist, agrees with this sentiment. Bassuk was able to rationalize this challenge by remembering even though it seems upperclassmen hold the advantage, in reality, the competition is relatively equal.

“You know everyone is going through the same thing and you have to remember that it’s basically a blind audition,” Bassuk said.

For Vivien Ho ‘21, a flautist, her challenges were difficult etudes and stress. With the help of her private teacher, she was able to conquer this obstacles.

“My new teacher helped me out a lot by both helping me with the etudes themselves and how to mentally prepare and not be super nervous.”

For Ho, all the hard work paid off, and she was accepted as a first flautist.

Even though some freshmen such as Bassuk and Buck didn’t make it, they all agree that the preparation process was extremely beneficial in developing their musicianship.

“Musically, I definitely improved a lot, like various techniques that involved a whole another level of playing.” Bassuk said.

Not only has the All-State process made them better musicians, but it has also made them better people. According to Ho, preparing for All-State teaches freshmen skills that are applicable in life and in school.

“This experience has taught me it’s okay sometimes to just take a little break. After taking those couple days of break, I would come back ready to keep practicing. I think this applies to a lot of things and I’ll keep it in mind,” Ho said

Bassuk agrees with this sentiment. For Bassuk, this process has really taught him about good work ethic.

“I think that the preparation process was really beneficial. Just being able to just get focused and practice everyday, and for me, coming in after school every day to work on my stuff was a good life skill,” Bassuk said.

This November, a select group of students will attend the All-State Music Festival, including eight freshmen out of thirty-some: Vivien Ho, Nina Meng, Timothy Cui, Emily Moore, Taejune Yoon, Yulong Shao, Mohan Kumar, and Perry Heredia. For those of who didn’t make it, it’s certain that they will take the lessons they learned and the experience they acquired to become a better musician, a better person, and try again next year.

Get to know some of the freshmen who auditioned!