Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Carroll Jazz Band All-State Results

Carroll Jazz is proud to announce the exciting results of the recent All-State auditions. Carroll Junior Diego Peña has been selected to the 2021 Texas All-State Jazz Ensemble 2 on Baritone Saxophone. There are only two 20-person All-State Jazz Ensembles, so this is a unique and special honor for Diego and all associated with the Carroll Jazz Band.

Carroll Jazz is also proud to announce three other students who placed very highly in the State results. Senior Joe Sweeney placed 6th in the State on Tenor Saxophone, Junior Tom Kersen placed 6th in the State on Piano, and Hudson Koonsman places 13th on Trumpet.

“With so many things being out of the ordinary these days, it was nice to have had a semi-normal audition process for All-State, and I am very grateful to TMEA for putting it together,” said David Lown, Director of Carroll Jazz Bands.

Carroll Jazz had about 40 students initially audition for All-Region Jazz auditions in October, and out of those, 24 made it to an all-region jazz ensemble. Fourteen of those 24 students made the top all-region jazz group, which entitled them to record their auditions for All-State Jazz. The All-State Jazz auditions were conducted online November 13-15, and the judges were from all over the State of Texas. The auditions were conducted as a blind process, so judges only hear the performances without knowing their names or seeing their faces. 

“All of our Dragons put in a tremendous amount of work on their All-Region and All-State auditions, and I could not be more pleased with what they have accomplished,” said Lown. “The elevation of students’ skills throughout the Fall has been really noticeable, and this All-Region/All-State goal has greatly helped keep them focused on improvement.”

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