Friday, March 29, 2024

Choir Students Earn Spots in the Texas All-State Mixed Choir

Amber Meagher and James Wade, members of the Carroll Senior High School Chorale, will perform with the Texas All-State Mixed Choir in San Antonio, Saturday, February 16, 2019 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center as part of the 2019 Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention. They were chosen for this prestigious honor through a competitive process held this year across the state at District, Region, and Area levels. James and Amber are students of Kristen McKinley and sing at school under the direction of Paul Doucet who is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association, a 19,000+ member organization headquartered in Austin. This is James and Amber’s first time to perform as a member of a TMEA All-State organization. Amber Meagher is the daughter of Peter and Rosa Maria Meagher. James Wade is son of Bill and Katy Wade.

High school students selected to perform in the All-State concerts have competed through auditions to qualify at the state level. All-State is the highest honor a Texas music student can receive. Almost 1,800 students are selected through a process that begins with over 70,000 students from around the state vying for this honor to perform in one of 15 ensembles (bands, orchestras, and choirs). Texas Music Educators Association sponsors the Texas All-State competition. This competitive process begins throughout the state in auditions hosted by 33 TMEA Regions. Individual musicians perform selected music for a panel of judges who rank each instrument or voice part. From this ranking, a select group of musicians advances from their Region to compete against musicians from other areas in eight TMEA Area competitions. The highest-ranking musicians judged at the TMEA Area competitions qualify to perform in a TMEA All-State music group. Only the top 2.5% of musicians who initially audition become All-State musicians.

These All-State students participate in three days of rehearsals directed by nationally-recognized conductors during the TMEA Clinic/Convention. Their performances for thousands of attendees bring this extraordinary event to a close. For the All-State concert schedule and conductor information, go to the Performances section of www.tmea.org/convention.

The Texas Music Educators Association is an association of over 13,000 school music educators dedicated to promoting excellence in music education. Go to www.tmea.org/convention for more information.

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