Practice makes Professional

Cellist and senior Dylan Sutherland, violinist and sophomore Valerie Hsiung and violist and freshman Hazel Ecklund-Johnson performed in the KMEA All-State orchestra on Feb. 25 in Wichita, Kansas.

The All-State Orchestra is made up of the best high school musicians in Kansas and is meant to emulate a professional orchestra. The selection process is rigorous, and students who want to participate have to go through multiple rounds of auditions over 10 months, constantly working on perfecting every note of every scale and excerpt.

“It’s a process that starts in May, and goes all the way to February,” orchestra teacher Adam Keda said. “They’re practicing for months and months and months, an hour or more each day.”

Sutherland dedicated an hour each day to practicing, having some days where he hated practicing. But, he believes it paid off once he made it to All-State.

The conductor of All-State, Thomas Dickey, expects nothing but perfection. Players are treated as professionals, and if they want to be in the orchestra, they need to be willing to perform and practice as well as a professional.

“They’re trying to give young musicians an authentic experience as to how it feels to be in a professional orchestra,” Keda said. “I don’t know if it’s necessarily ‘strict,’ but I would say that they have high expectations, including playing really well and being very attentive.”

Though going to All-State is mostly about playing in a high-level orchestra, it is also an opportunity for more. Keda appreciates the opportunity to connect with teachers from across the state. They all enjoyed the friends and memories they made in Wichita. For Hsiung, it was seeing old friends from previous orchestras. For Sutherland, it was making new friends — and also learning how to play hacky-sack.

“One of the bassists was super good at hacky-sack,” Dylan recalled. “Every hour, we’d have a 15-minute break. And then during that break, me and a few other guys could play hacky-sack.”

Though the practice was a large time commitment, they both agreed that the experience of going to All-State was worth it.

“It definitely paid off because I made it and it was an experience I’d never done before,” Sutherland said. “To perform in front of an audience and a judge and get a good score, with an audience applauding you. Making your parents proud. Nothing beats it.”

Cellist and senior Dylan Sutherland, violinist and sophomore Valerie Hsiung and violist and freshman Hazel Ecklund-Johnson performed in the KMEA All-State orchestra on Feb. 25 in Wichita, Kansas.

The All-State Orchestra is made up of the best high school musicians in Kansas and is meant to emulate a professional orchestra. The selection process is rigorous, and students who want to participate have to go through multiple rounds of auditions over 10 months, constantly working on perfecting every note of every scale and excerpt.

“It’s a process that starts in May, and goes all the way to February,” orchestra teacher Adam Keda said. “They’re practicing for months and months and months, an hour or more each day.”

Sutherland dedicated an hour each day to practicing, having some days where he hated practicing. But, he believes it paid off once he made it to All-State.

The conductor of All-State, Thomas Dickey, expects nothing but perfection. Players are treated as professionals, and if they want to be in the orchestra, they need to be willing to perform and practice as well as a professional.

“They’re trying to give young musicians an authentic experience as to how it feels to be in a professional orchestra,” Keda said. “I don’t know if it’s necessarily ‘strict,’ but I would say that they have high expectations, including playing really well and being very attentive.”

Though going to All-State is mostly about playing in a high level orchestra, it is also an opportunity for more. Keda appreciates the opportunity to connect with teachers from across the state. They all enjoyed the friends and memories they made in Wichita. For Hsiung it was seeing old friends from previous orchestras. For Sutherland it was making new friends — and also learning how to play hacky-sack.

“One of the bassist’s was super good at hacky-sack,” Dylan recalled. “Every hour, we’d have a 15-minute break. And then during that break, me and a few other guys could play hacky-sack.”

Though practice was a large time commitment, they both agreed that the experience of going to All-State was worth it.

“It definitely paid off because I made it and it was an experience I’d never done before,” Sutherland said. “To perform in front of an audience and a judge and get a good score, with an audience applauding you. Making your parents proud. Nothing beats it.”