By: Cassidy
Tolley
All-State is an organization for the coming
together of some of the best choral or band students in West Virginia. Being chosen for All-State choir or band is a
huge honor for a recipient. Two of our senior students have been chosen this
year for the third year in a row, a rare event.
Jeana
Mahan
Senior Jeana Mahan has been selected to
participate in All-State Choir for 2016.
This makes her third year being chosen for All-State, which has not
happened for a very long time. To try
out for All-State Choir, one must audition at the school for choir director
Annie Hancock. An audio recording is
sent to judges, and from there, eight recipients will be chosen. The eight recipients then travel to
Parkersburg, where they audition at Regionals.
“I feel so honored to be a third year
recipient because of how selective the process is,” says Mahan.
Five students were chosen from our high
school and will perform at the All-State Choir Conference in March.
In March, singers from all over the state
will come together for three days to perfect the music they will perform.
“It is a very tiring process, but absolutely
worth it to sing with some of the best singers in the state. The songs we sing are some of the hardest
musical pieces I’ve ever performed, but they always end up being my favorite,” said
Mahan on performing at the conference. “I’ve met some of my best friends
through All State. It has also helped me
in making lasting connections for the future,” she said.
Olivia
Poe
Senior Olivia Poe has been playing the
French horn for almost four years. She
has been a qualifier for All-State her sophomore, junior, and now senior year.
“The
first time I tired out for All-State was simply for the thrill of it,” said
Poe.
Trying out for All-State band is much
different than choir and requires an audition in six different categories
including tone, sight-reading, scales, etudes, solo, and overall quality. The audition is performed blind behind a
curtain, without speaking.
Poe has worked with many different band
directors in the past, including RHS director Sherry Poole and WV Symphony
instructor Tom Beal. Poe travels to
Charleston on Mondays and Tuesdays to rehearse with the symphony and has put in
a lot of time and effort to reach where she is now.
“The benefits that have come from All-State
have not been as much about being there, but the process of getting there,”
said Poe.
“All-State has been such a neat experience,” said Poe. “I am able to reunite with familiar faces as
well as meet a lot of brand new people who share the same ambition as me.”
We at Ripley High are very proud of our
senior qualifiers and wish them the best at their conferences next month.
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