Local band students reflect on All-State experience

By Robert Tomlinson
News Director

THREE RIVERS — Four Three Rivers band students earned the opportunity to perform on stage with talented students from across the state last weekend.

Three Rivers Middle School eighth-grade students Lillian Blakley, Sophia Hussey, and Todd Wadsworth, along with Three Rivers High School senior Blake VandenBrink, performed on Saturday, Jan. 21 at DeVos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids as part of the 2023 Michigan All-State Bands.

For the Middle School All-State Band, Blakley was selected for percussion, Hussey was selected for bass clarinet, Wadsworth was selected for trumpet, and for the High School All-State Band, VandenBrink was selected as first-chair tuba.

“We are tremendously proud of our students at Three Rivers Middle School and High School who were selected for the All-State Bands,” Three Rivers Community Schools Director of Bands Cheryl Thomas said. “This year, we had a total of 23 students practice and complete the audition practice for All-State. They’re extremely driven and they work hard throughout the process. To be selected among the best high school and middle school instrumentalists in the state, this is a huge honor for them and for our band program at Three Rivers. We are especially proud of Blake, Lillian, Sophia, and Todd. It was awesome to see them performing in the All-State Bands on Saturday.”

To audition for All-State bands, students have to memorize a number of different scales, perform an announced song, and perform a sight-reading piece during a 10-minute audition. The auditions are recorded and submitted using only an identification number to a judge, who then places them in order, with the required number of instruments selected to fill each section.

About 2,900 students across the state auditioned for All-State bands, with only 500 students selected in total between the high school and middle school ensembles. Along with the Middle School Band and High School Band, there is a Middle School String Orchestra, a High School Full Orchestra, and a High School Jazz Ensemble.

Each band gathered in Grand Rapids for two and a half days of rehearsal the week of the concert with nationally-recognized conductors, leading up to this past Saturday’s performance at DeVos Performance Hall during the annual Michigan Music Conference. This year’s Middle School All-State Band was conducted by Chip DeStefano, the McCracken Middle School (Skokie, Ill.) Director of Bands, while the High School All-State Band was conducted by internationally-recognized clinician and composer Robert Sheldon.

The students said it was rewarding and an honor to be selected to this year’s all-state ensembles.

“It was very accomplishing,” Wadsworth said of his selection to the Middle School All-State Band. “It makes me feel like I succeeded at what I try to do with my work.”

“I feel kind of proud; just kind of a successful feeling,” Hussey said.

“It’s an honor to be in all-state band,” Blakely said. “It felt good.”

“I knew that it was a huge goal of mine to make it this year,” VandenBrink said. “It felt like my hard work was shown properly, because I practiced forever for that, and it felt really good. I was really excited when I got the email that I got accepted again this year.”

At the middle school level, the three eighth-graders said it was their first time being selected for an all-state band, and enjoyed the experience. Auditioning, a couple of them said, was a bit “nerve-wracking,” even after having practiced for hundreds of hours to get the material down.

“It was nerve-wracking because you didn’t know how it was going to go,” Blakley said. “It could’ve gone great, but it could’ve gone different ways depending on what you did.”

However, when they heard they got selected, they said they were very excited. When they arrived on stage at the performance hall, they were amazed.

“It was exciting to walk on that stage for the first time,” Wadsworth said.

“It was huge,” Hussey added.

“It was exciting but also nerve-wracking. It is a big place and a lot of people there, but it’s much different than, like, going on just our high school or middle school stage,” Blakley said.

The trio of middle schoolers agreed that their favorite song to perform during the day was a piece called “Wild Dance,” composed by Douglas Akey.

“It was really hard, but I like how it sounded, and it went together really well,” Blakley said.

“Wild Dances was their hardest piece by quite a bit. There’s ‘normal’ music that we play where the groove locks in, but that one really required them to count and be patient throughout rehearsal,” TRCS Assistant Band Director Mai Lan Vo added.

All three said it was exciting to also be around musicians just as talented as they were, with Hussey adding that all of the band members “knew how to count” the beats and stick to the rhythm. All in all, they said they had a great experience with it, and were looking forward to making the jump to high school band next school year.

“It was phenomenal,” Wadsworth said.

As for VandenBrink, the lone high schooler from TR to make All-State, it was his second time on stage at DeVos, having been selected for the band for the second straight year (he was named honorable mention his sophomore year). He said the audition process wasn’t much different this year than in his junior year, but said he was a lot more confident going into this year’s audition than last year’s.

“Last year I don’t think I was taking it that seriously because I didn’t know if I was going to be doing music later in life. Going into my audition this year, I was a lot more confident, and I actually had the opportunity to play for my private lesson teacher. She was the person recording me, and it was great, because she’s a person I feel really comfortable playing with,” VandenBrink said. “I think it helped me be less nervous, because I get really nervous no matter what it is. It took off a lot of pressure, let me relax a bit, and I think it helped me play to the best of my ability.”

Being first chair, which means they are the member in their section closest to the audience, was something he was “grateful” to achieve.

“I know a lot of people work hard for that. The guy who was first chair last year was second this year, and I know it’s a huge thing and a big deal to people. I’m very grateful to get placed the way I was, because it really shows how hard I was working for this. Especially coming from last year, when I was last chair, I saw how fun it was to be in the band, and I realized how much of a goal it was for me to place first,” VandenBrink said. “To achieve that is something that I’m really proud of myself for.”

VandenBrink said rehearsals were long, but fun, praising Sheldon, the director, who composed “Glorious Insurrection,” a song about the American Revolution, his favorite song to perform during the concert. He also made a lot more friends with the band than he did the previous year, with a couple of his best friends making the band, and called the experience overall a lot more fun because of it.

“Last year I didn’t have a lot of friends in the all-state. This year was a lot more fun because I got to talk to my friends and I got more fond of the people who were in the all-state band, because a couple people made it that were in it last year,” VandenBrink said. “It was great to be around everyone in the band and everyone at the Michigan Music Conference shares the love of music, they all have the same mindset and share the same goals, and to share that with everyone else and appreciate music for a weekend, it was great.”

VandenBrink said his future goal is to get into the University of Michigan’s music school, with an audition coming up next Friday, but that his broader goal is to keep music in his life as long as possible. He also gave a shout-out to the middle schoolers who made All-State, telling them to keep up the good work.

“I’m really proud of all the middle schoolers who made it this year. They’re awesome people, and I want to make sure they know how proud I am of them,” VandenBrink said. “I know last year, I was the only one, but it was awesome this year to share that with them too, because they really care about music too, and I hope they keep practicing as much as they are, and I hope they audition and eventually make it into their high school years. It’s a huge thing, and it’s something that will help your love of music.”

Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@threeriversnews.com.