Making the Band

February 23, 2010  
Filed under Feature

Kansas Music Educators Association State Festival Bands perform each year at the annual In-Service Workshop at the Century II Convention Center in Wichita. Students began with a tryout process at the district level. (KMEA deals with six different districts) Students that perform at the district level are then eligible to audition at the state level. Therefore, the students who perform at the state level are truly the best of the best.

This year one of our own, Katie Doolittle junior, has achieved the goal of making state band. There were 9 out of 94 flute players who made it, and she had the seventh seat.

“I had to be in Salina on the 6 of January at 5:15 in the morning, “Doolittle said. “ When I got there I was given a number that determined when I was going to audition, my number just happened to be 972, lucky me! The auditions started at 10 a.m., and I did not get to try-out until 2:05 in the afternoon. While I was waiting, my mind was going crazy with thoughts and anticipation. The auditions were called “Blind auditions,” which means that the judges could not see you, but only hear you.  The reasoning behind this was so there were not to be any discrimination, and so that you were only judged on pure talent.”

Doolittle tried out and she felt confident. Now she was just waiting on the results. Doolittle did not find out the results until that following Wednesday. An entire week she had to wait! Just imagine the anxiety she was going through. The waiting was worth it though, because she achieved her goal of making state band. 

“I have had my audition music since this summer, so I had been practicing for a good while. I put a lot of hard work and time into this and I feel so amazing about making it and it was totally worth it,” she said.

Making state band is a hard task to achieve but one of our own did it! She should be congratulated with open arms, and our school should feel proud to have her represent us.

 —–
Tayler Guge

Tags:

 Email This Post        Print This Post