Five Redhawks soar to All-State band

Deputy+Superintendent+of+Schools+Kenny+Chandler%2C+Chief+Academic+Officer+Dr.+Wes+Cunningham%2C+and+Chief+Student+Services+Officer+Erin+Miller+were+recognized+by+the+TMEA+for+their+work+in+leading+FISDs+fine+arts+programs.+

Isabella Santiago

Deputy Superintendent of Schools Kenny Chandler, Chief Academic Officer Dr. Wes Cunningham, and Chief Student Services Officer Erin Miller were recognized by the TMEA for their work in leading FISD’s fine arts programs.

Maddie Aronson, Staff Reporter

The 2018-19 TMEA All-State Band will feature a touch of red and black as five Redhawks have earned a spot after auditions over the weekend.

“If you’re going into music after high school, this is good on a resume,” band director Jamie Weaver said. “There are no all state groups in the country that are as prestigious as Texas, simply for its size and competitive nature, and those things.”  

Senior saxophonist Edward Chen put in hours of preparation to perform at the level expected for the players.

“We have master classes every week so once a week, a teacher came from outside and we work on it in school for an hour and a half once a week,” Chen said. “Also in my alone time I would practice, practice, practice you know, 45 times out of the seven days a week. And I would also have a private lesson once a week.”

Weaver is proud of the students placement in state, and it’s implications about the students journey and work in music.

“From a program perspective it’s confirmation of kids individual hard work. So much of what we do is based on group success, so this is an opportunity to individually show of to speak their preparation of this is five months long this is all them,” Weaver said. “So when they make it to this level its because they’ve put in hours upon hours upon hours of individual preparation to get to that place.”

Senior and four time All-State member Richard Huang believes the long journey is worth it.

“It’s really rewarding knowing that I’ve been able to achieve this level of accomplishment four times in a row and I can maintain this consistency,” Huang said.  “You got the music in late July, so it’s just kind of like, the journey of just like getting to know it from that, and then really trying to make it to a piece of a piece of music that people can enjoy.”