February 27, 2017
Each year, on a frigid day in early December, the campus of Hickman High School (HHS) in Columbia, Mo. bustles with activity. Cars and buses pack the parking lot, some traveling over three hours, from all corners of Missouri. Through two large sets of double doors lies the school’s commons area, crammed with over 1,200 high school students. They each carry their own vital piece of cargo: an instrument. From just before 8 a.m. to well after 8 p.m., HHS is filled with the music of the All-State Band auditions.
A Lot to Handle
Before reaching the All-State auditions, students must first audition for and make the band in their particular district, which takes months of practice and preparation, according to multiple band students. Then, at the audition, students are not only faced with the pressure of doing well, but the stress brought on by the experience as a whole. Emma Verrill, junior, auditioned for All-State this year on the bassoon and said part of the anxiety comes from the long day students have to prepare for before entering HHS.
“It’s a really long day,” Verrill said. “You wake up [around] 7 a.m., drive for two hours, and [the room] is immensely loud. Then you wait, and you wait, and you never know how long it is going to take [before you audition].”
Katie Myler, clarinet faculty member at the Webster Community Music School, receives similar reports from her students every year. She has been teaching clarinet players for 17 years, and for the most part, when she asks her students about the All-State auditions, their responses are infused with an air of frustration. As Verrill mentioned, this stems from students waiting as long as six hours before they audition, which can have a negative effect on their mental preparation, according to Myler.
“[During the wait] students are dealing with the anticipation of what they’re getting ready to do [and] hearing all the other students playing exactly what they are going to be playing, so it becomes more of a mental game during that day,” Myler said.
Opposing Views
Overseers of the audition process, however, do not seem to be aware of this trend. Chelsea Silvermintz, St. Louis All-Suburban Band Coordinator, said she did not know anyone who has had a negative experience at All-State, be it this year or any other. According to Silvermintz, the Missouri Bandmasters Association (MBA), the organization that plans the event, holds a yearly meeting regarding the efficiency of the auditions in order to ensure students are given the best experience possible. Silvermintz likes the procedures as they are currently, saying they provide the best possible accuracy and fairness for the students.
“I love the fact that it is all held on the same day at a mostly centralized location to give equal advantage to all auditioning students,” Silvermintz said “I don’t like the fact that students have to wait around for hours for a result, but I’m not sure there is an easy solution that still ensures the same accuracy and fairness.”
A Change is Needed
Yet Myler spent the weeks after the audition discussing the experience with her students, and most agree something needs to be done to alleviate some of the pressure. She said this could be accomplished by imitating the procedures used at the district level, at which students are told the exact time they are going to audition, rather than choosing their own.
“I’ve run a lot of auditions for a lot of students for a lot of years,” Myler said. “When you assign a time, it does eliminate a large amount of anxiety for the kids who audition.”
Silvermintz could not say definitively if assigning times would be considered in the future, or if it would have any effect on the All-State procedures. But regardless of the method used, Myler and Verrill agree the auditions procedures, in their current state, are too much of an ordeal for many students to handle. Myler said the wait time, pressure and anxiety can all add up for students, which in turn, takes away from the whole purpose of the All-State Band auditions: to celebrate the young musicians who have achieved so much just by being there.
“I understand [auditioning] is stressful for students, and I understand they’ve worked really hard for it,” Myler said. “So we want to give you the opportunity to go out and do your best and make the decision difficult for the judges. That should be the whole goal.”
Being a musician is all about overcoming obstacles. But for every hurdle cleared, there’s at least two more down the road. This is the case for both amatuer and professional musicians.
I have been playing the bassoon—a large, woodwind instrument with the likeness of a bazooka—for almost six years. I have faced and overcome many obstacles; from preparing difficult repertoire to playing on a broken instrument. And as last winter approached, I had to prepare myself to clear another hurdle: the All-State Band and Orchestra auditions.
On the morning of Dec. 3 I left my house at 7:30 a.m., apricot danish in hand, and embarked on the two hour journey to Columbia, Mo. in the passenger seat of my mom’s car.
Walking into Hickman High School at 9:30 a.m. the morning of All-State auditions was overwhelming to say the least. A lone blow-up mattress, sleeping bags, folding chairs and instrument cases clogged the hallways. Saxophonists paced around, attempting to outplay the hundreds of other musicians in the room. Band directors ran around frantically, trying to track down students before they missed their audition slots.
I scoped out an empty bench and set up camp, knowing that I could very well be there for more than ten hours.
As my preliminary audition approached, for once in my life, I felt prepared. My number was called and I rose from the ground to speak with the room monitor. It was not what I expected. The room monitor apologized and informed me that the judges will be taking a 30 minute lunch break. I returned to my place on the ground, only to be abruptly called back by the judges minutes later to take an audition I was no longer mentally prepared to take.
Coming out of my preliminary audition I was certain I would not be called back to perform a final audition. Usually only half those who audition on bassoon are called back, and given my poor performance, I was prepared to go home. All there was left to do was wait.
Every time someone came on the intercom to announce audition results, the room fell silent and everyone glued their eyes to the projector screen where the results were posted. And for two hours I stared at that projector screen
When bassoon callbacks were finally posted, much to my surprise, I was on the list.
I rushed to the office to pick up my callback slip, and returned to my seat giddy and eager to practice as much as possible before my final audition.
Leaving my callback audition, I felt significantly more confident in the way I had performed than I had following my preliminary audition, and was incredibly relieved to have completed the audition process.
After an hour or so, an announcement was made directing people to the projector screen for the official bassoon chair placements. Curiously enough, nothing appeared on the screen. More announcements were made, insisting that the selected bassoonists come pick up their music from the office. But the projector screen remained blank. No one had any way of knowing the final audition results. I hurriedly scanned the results posted in the windows of the office while other bassoonists started to crowd around the office door, each of us confused and anxious to hear the results.
As time went on, they began announcing names over the intercom and instructing the individuals to come to the main office.
That’s when I heard my name.
Upon entering the office I was handed as large, sleek, black folder with gold embossed lettering on it. The folder read “Missouri All-State Band” and was filled with pages upon pages of music. I had been selected as the third chair bassoon in the All-State Band. Another hurdle had been cleared.
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