With All-State auditions in less than a month away, the students and music teachers are preparing as much as they can, to compete at their best abilities.
The music the students will be performing is released in July, “we get to work as soon as possible,” said choir teacher James Thompson.
All-State auditions take place on October 25th. With six different locations to perform in the state, students from City High will be auditioning in Fairfield, Iowa. The All-State festival begins on November 20th to the 22nd, and the concert starts that 22nd as well, taking place in Ames, Iowa.
“All-State is the highest honor that a high school musician can achieve,” said Thompson. All-State is a music festival that takes place every year, with students performing from choir, band, and orchestra. For auditioning there are a total of twenty eight choir members, and two to three band and orchestra members, with two alternates if needed.
“I’ve been doing All-State since freshman year,” said Ella Ostedgaard ‘16 who plays alto saxophone. “It’s just kind of expected that once you do it once you do it again,” said Ostedgaard. she has been performing in band since fifth grade. Ostedgaard not only plays in band but she also competes in show choir as well.
The City High music staff are preparing to make it one of the best years for the students performing at All-State. With choir having the most students out of band and orchestra to actually go audition in Fairfield, Thompson is squeezing in as many practices for each of his students as he can because this year they must perform two more pieces total.
“We rehearse every day, before school, after school, in school, during lunch,” said Thompson. But some students are going beyond that. Eddy Galstad ‘16 choir student, and a two year All-Stater practices not only in school but outside of school in her own time. “I have a private teacher who I meet with one to three times a week, sometimes I even travel out of state to work on my voice,” said Galstad
These students have a lot of stress on their hands right now with All-State right around the corner, but family plays a big role for them. “They encourage me to get in of course, but they are not very musical so they leave it up to me and my teacher,” said Ostedgaard. While Galstad’s mother was a concert pianist, “they are really supportive and they’ll support me no matter what, but they are really on top of it and want be practicing all the time,” said Galstad.
Ostedgaard will be performing solo at auditions while Galstad will be performing with her quartet group. “A lot of nerves and just a super long day of waiting around and seeing if you got picked,” said Ostedgaard. “It’s a long day but once you find out if you’re picked, you feel so happy and honored,” said Galstad.
Students of City High preparing for All-State, are ready for the challenges ahead of them. “What I always want is that they give their maximum effort,” said Thompson. “At the end of the day if you’re confident that you have done that then thats all I can ask of you and whatever happens at that point is whatever happens.”