Two students from the two largest high schools in Odessa have achieved the milestone of being named All-State musicians four years running.
Shaun Price, a 17-year-old senior at Permian High School, plays the French horn, and Justus Davis, an 18-year-old senior at OHS, is a Tenor 1 in choir. Both are heading to the Texas Music Educators Association convention Feb. 7-10 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio.
The honor follows a rigorous series of regional and area auditions that begins with more than 70,000 high school students and ends with only about 2% of those students being selected as All-State, a news release said.
Along with Price and Davis, other students making all state are Elijah Keast, senior, Permian High School Choir, Bass 1, 2-year TMEA All-State; Caidence Searcy, junior, Permian High School Choir, Alto 1, 2-year TMEA All-State; Jenesis Paget, junior, Permian High School Choir, Alto 2, 2-year TMEA All-State; and Aiden Armendariz, junior, Permian High School Orchestra, String Bass.
Price, whose mother, Amy, also made all-state four years running, said the honor was “cool, to say the least.” He added that it has been a goal since middle school.
“It’s been kind of a goal since … not even freshman year. This was always something that I wanted to do. And I don’t want to say that there was any pressure or anything, but my mom also made it four years,” Price said.
He added that he always thought he could do it because his mom did and that helped him break “the impossible barrier.”
Price said his mom always pushed him, but it was never an imperative.
He began playing French horn in sixth grade.
Originally, Price said, he was going to play the clarinet like his mom. But his director Tyler Owen tried him out on everything looking for the best fit.
He picked clarinet as his first choice, but changed his mind a couple of days later.
“I didn’t even know what a French horn was. But he was … like let’s try you on horn. I think that would work. So I did that and I could already play things that, I guess, sixth graders aren’t supposed to be able to. … I could change notes and stuff,” Price said.
Even though he’s been playing for a long time, it’s still enjoyable.
“There’s so many opportunities to play, not just here but at TMEA for instance, and I play with the West Texas Symphony every now and then. It’s always something new. I can’t really see it getting old,” Price said.
He hasn’t picked a college yet, but plans to major in performance.
“I got accepted at UT Austin and I auditioned at Indiana University, the Jacobs School of Music, this last weekend, and then I’ve got an audition for Eastman, that’s in Rochester, N.Y. … at the end of this month and we’ll just see where I land,” Price said.
As to how much of his achievement is practice, talent or family, Price said he didn’t want to sound too sure of himself, but it does come easy to him.
“Since eighth grade, I have gone to lunch maybe 20 times, because I’m always in here practicing, so while everyone else is out eating, and then of course, after school, I’m still practicing. It doesn’t feel like a lot to me because I’ve been doing it so much. It’s kind of the norm, but looking back on it definitely it’s a lot of work,” he added.
The TMEA convention isn’t just for all-state kids. It’s for directors and invited performers, Price said.
“It’s just a huge convention. People give performances at any given time like if you go into the hall there’s someone playing something. For all-staters, we have our own ensembles that we rehearse with throughout the whole convention. We do rehearsals every day for like 9, 10 hours. At the end of the convention, we give a concert,” Price said.
Since sixth grade Price has taken private lessons with Sonja Millichamp.
“The program here, I don’t think I would be where I am at the moment if we didn’t have such a good music program here. It’s been a lot of fun, not just with concert season, but marching and everything. We get opportunities that a lot of people don’t get. I’m thankful and grateful for the people here,” he said.
PHS Director of Bands Jeff Whitaker said achieving all-state four years running is one of the most rare accomplishments any student could ever achieve.
“In my 23 years of teaching, I think this is the second time I’ve ever known someone to do that. This is something that can be a lifetime achievement award for a high school student is basically what it is. There are a lot of people that would love to just be able to do it once that are great musicians,” Whitaker said.
“We have great musicians that never achieved the status of all-state musician because it is such a competitive thing. Being in West Texas, they limit the number of students we have … They actually limit us because of where we live, because of our population. It makes it even tougher over here, so with those two things … it’s just unbelievable, and it’s a rare occasion and should be celebrated,” he added.
Price’s sister attends Nimitz Middle School and plays the clarinet, but he said she’s not going to pursue music. She’s looking at nursing.
His mom became a gifted and talented teacher for ECISD.
Davis said making all-state for the fourth year is a “rare and amazing accomplishment and I’m very proud of myself.”
This time, Davis said he wasn’t as nervous. He was just ready to go.
He’s been singing for as long as he can remember. Davis said to be able to reach this point is practice and talent.
Davis has two brothers and two sisters who are not musically inclined.
For himself, Davis said, “I just remember like being little and liking to sing.”
He listens to a variety of music.
As for whether he’ll pursue music as a career, Davis said he hasn’t decided. He’s also undecided about where he’s going to college.
He is looking forward to the TMEA convention.
“I’m very excited,” Davis said.
“I really like the concert when everyone comes together and sings,” he added.
Davis said there is a lot of practicing.
“I call it choir times 10,” he added.
Director of Choirs Ginger Storey said choir in college is intense.
“A lot of times, especially if you’re in with music majors, it can be very competitive and you should be able to achieve higher levels of musicality,” Storey said.
The music tends to be the same or a little harder than what they do in class, but it’s about the same as the state level.
“You have to learn so much more of it for a concert. Here we’re learning maybe three songs per choir, whereas in college, you’re probably learning more like nine or 10 for a concert. You’re expected to be able to read it and … move along with it. It’s just a different level of expectation,” Storey said.
Davis said he has loved the program at OHS.
“I feel like we have a really strong program here,” Davis said.
“If you really love music, you’ll really enjoy it and love it,” he added.
Storey said they are thrilled that Davis has achieved this milestone.
“Not very many people get that and we’re excited for him to have that opportunity. We’re proud to have him as a part of our choir program,” she added.
There have been former students and people in college Storey knows who have achieved this, but it’s uncommon. You can make it one year but not another. You could be sick on your audition day.
Davis said practicing is the secret to being consistent.
“Honestly, you have to practice like every single day almost,” he said.
He doesn’t have private lessons.
“I’ll tell you something about him,” Storey said. “He practices in a lot of his spare time. He’ll come in and practice. He’ll be over here during lunch practicing his music. … We try to help all of our students that come in and ask for help, but he seeks the help, which is nice.”
Storey said they guide and help Davis and they are basically his voice teachers.
“But what’s great is he works on it so much on his own that I’m able to work on details with him. I don’t have to teach him stuff. I work things like breathe here. Don’t breathe here. This is how you say this if it’s in a foreign language, you know, put more emphasis here and less emphasis here. But it’s the details that he gets from us because he already does so much of it naturally. He’s a very talented person, and yes, he works hard, but his talent is also what has gotten him this far as well. He’s got the raw talent in a way that I don’t see very often in a student and then he works hard,” Storey added.
