Ector County ISD had 11 all-state musicians selected this year to participate in the Texas Music Educators Association Convention in February.
Executive Director of Fine Arts Aaron Hawley said there were seven students from the Permian High School choir, two from the Odessa High School Choir and two from the Permian Band.
Hawley said they have had that many all-staters in recent times, but “any program that has seven is really, really exceptional and for the large school choir category for our area, that was the most.”
A more typical number, he said, is somewhere between two and five. The convention in San Antonio is Feb. 8-12 and the concert is Feb. 11.
OHS Head Choir Director Ginger Storey said her students, Caitlin Fitzgerald and Justus Davis, are both three-year all-staters, which she said is a pretty phenomenal thing to have happen.
“That doesn’t happen very often, so we’re really excited about that for them,” Storey said.
She added that they have both worked very hard.
“They both work a lot on their own, as well as with us and their voice teachers. And also they … are very gifted and very smart. They do a lot of musical things and they always work to make sure that they are ready for the auditions,” Storey said.
Permian Director of Choirs Laurie Wash said hard work and diligence made the difference for her students. They started practicing in the summer.
Storey said there are only about 600 students out of over 14,000 that make it into the state choir.
“It just takes hard work and diligence and the all-staters that I have had in the past that’s what it is always,” Wash said.
“They have to want it,” Storey said.
Eighteen-year-old senior Mason Simmons made all-state for the first time this year. He is a member of Kantorei at PHS.
“It’s pretty like rewarding … since I’ve done this process since my freshman year and finally being able to go through all the way and being able to achieve my goal, it’s very rewarding,” Simmons said.
He added that being able to achieve the recognition with several of his friends feels great. At the same time, the selection is sad in a way because he won’t get the chance to audition with his friends anymore.
Simmons plans to attend Baylor University to study finance.
Senior Kendra Burton, 18, has been in Kantorei since her sophomore year. This is also her first time making all-state.
“It’s just a reward in itself, just working hard for four years in this competition, it’s been a dream of mine forever and so to finally see my hard work pay off is really awesome and cool,” Burton said.
Making all-state her senior year, she said, is actually a positive.
“Almost because it’s my senior year it means so much more to me just to be finally receiving this award and ending my high school career and with a bang,” Burton said.
She has not decided where she will attend college. Her top three are Baylor, Texas Christian University and Texas Tech University.
“I have been in the process of auditioning for the schools of music, so I will hear about that in March,” Burton said.
Caitlin Fitzgerald, an 18-year-old OHS senior, has been in the Chorale for three years. This is her third year making all-state.
“It’s bittersweet because I’m very happy to have made it, but I’m sad. It’s my last opportunity to experience it,” Fitzgerald said.
She said it feels different than the previous two years.
“I feel like I can just really enjoy this year. I don’t have to like worry about next year or anything like that. I can just really like take my time and enjoy this,” Fitzgerald said.
The practice time you put in really makes a difference.
“All you can do is go in there and focus on yourself and that’s all you can do,” Fitzgerald said.
She added that she’s thinking about going to Texas Tech and she wants to major in psychology in college.
Jaizaya Parrish, a PHS senior, is in her first year at Permian. The furthest she had gotten previously was area competition. She was surprised to get the all-state recognition and was “pretty excited” when she found out.
What made the difference this year was her work ethic, she said.
“Last year was my first year, so I really didn’t know how hard I needed to practice. … This year I made sure I was on top of it like really know the music and I feel like that really helped me out this year,” Parrish said.
Her goal was to make all-state this year.
“That was my motivation. I feel like this is my last year; I had to make it. I didn’t do choir for all these years to not make it,” Parrish said.
She added that she’s really excited to go to the convention. Parrish doesn’t know what college she will attend, but wants to become a music therapist.
Shaun Price, a 16-year-old junior French horn player in the Permian band, has made all state twice before.
“I’m just excited to go back to TMEA,” he said.
Asked what he enjoys about it he said the freedom.
“You get to just do whatever you want, whenever you want. And also the groups, the ensembles; some of the best musicians in Texas. It’s pretty crazy,” Price said.
Price comes from a line of all-state musicians in his family. He said there was pressure his freshman year to make it, but after that it’s been pressure he’s put on himself.
The advice he would give to other musicians who want to make all-state is not to put pressure on themselves.
“Just don’t compare yourself to other people. Just work on trying to be better than you were the day before,” Price said.
Hawley said the students have gone through a series of auditions.
“It’s very rigorous. These students represent the top 2% of the state of Texas and this is an individual competition. These students have worked on their own to achieve this with their teachers and their private lesson teachers, if they have them. It’s very difficult; multiple rounds of competitions and the final round is everybody west of Abilene. It represents a large portion of Texas,” Hawley said.
He added that it’s a great honor to have this many students selected.
“It … shows the strength of the programs. Each year is different; it’s different students and so we’re just very proud of our ECISD students and all the extra time and effort that they put in and we’re appreciative of the teachers for all of the work and motivating the students to achieve this,” Hawley said.
