Two Paoli High School musicians have been selected to All-State Orchestra.

by destany pingle
(Paoli News Republican - Thursday, October 2, 2003 - Reprinted with permission)

Trombone player Emma Meyer and clarinetist Erin Hall were selected for the honor. The last Paoli student to be chosen for All-State Choir was Mindy Lambdin-Cochran, daughter of Skip and Martha Lambdin, who was selected in the 1989-90 school year.

This year, over 200 tapes were submitted for the 90-piece orchestra. This is pretty difficult to get in to, according to Pride of Paoli Director Bill Laughlin noted, as there were only three trombone positions and four clarinet positions open.

The largest section in an orchestra is the strings (violins, violas, cellos, and string basses). Any student in this organization is obviously a top musician from his/her school and quite proficient at doing group I solos at the 
State Solo & Ensemble level.

The Indiana All-State Orchestra  is organized by the State Orchestra Teachers Association, in conjunction with the Indiana Music Educators Association convention that is held in Indianapolis in January. The Orchestra mails out audition materials in May of each year. Students who are involved in their school band/orchestra programs are eligible to apply.

The students must put together an audition tape that has the required music, major and minor scales and an excerpt from that student's State Solo. Once the tapes are done, students mail in the tapes in June. A panel of teachers will listen and evaluate all tapes, selecting the most outstanding for the orchestra.

A lot of time, perseverance and commitment goes into preparing an audition tape; that process alone will keep mediocre players from even attempting.

This year's All-State Orchestra will be performing at the IMEA convention on January 17, 2004. It will happen at the RCA Dome Convention Center. The all-state orchestra and all-state choir are the finishing concerts of the convention.

The orchestra will be playing Academic Festival Overture by Johannes Brahms, Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Seans, and the 4th movement of the Tchaikovsky 4th Symphony. Students arrive on Thursday and spend 2 1/2 days in rehearsal.