On the morning of Monday, December 6th, 2021, band and orchestra students who participated in the auditions for all-state awards got their results back.

Nine students from Park City High School (PCHS) were selected for all-state, out of the 450 plus people that auditioned in the band section.

In the wind symphony section, Alex O’Brien qualified. In euphonium, Dallen DiCesaris qualified, and in percussion, Charlie Maulding qualified.

In the symphonic band section, for trombone, Bodi Marzka and Harper Nagel qualified. In Percussion, Alexander Kent and Tyler Kaufman also made it.

In the first orchestra winds section, on clarinet,  Zane Jensen was selected, and in percussion, Oliver Diaz Moore.

Senior Charlie Maulding was very excited when he found out he will be in the wind symphony ensemble, which is the top all-state ensemble,

“I [had] to wake up at 5:30 to get to the school for zero hour and I was looking through my email while eating breakfast, and I read the email with the results and I just yelled!” said Maulding.

Back in August, students decided to enter into the competition and immediately start rehearsing their music sets to be ready to submit their audition video by the first day of this past November.

The all-state section in music is different from other areas of the competition. Not only do students get selected, but they also get to work with a nationally known guest artist to prepare to perform in a concert in Abravanel Hall in front of judges and music teachers from all around the state.

In the audition process, the students work to submit a video audition which then goes to a panel of adjudicators specific to the instrument they choose.

After the students get the music they need to learn for their audition, the audition process starts. “We talk about it a little bit in class but most of the preparation is done by the students outside of class. It’s entirely student-driven,” said Taylor.

During the audition process, “We would start the day off at the high school when it was dark and leave when it was dark,” said Maulding.

While PCHS band and music students were working on their audition for all-state, they were able to apply the methods of learning new music pieces they have been taught in school on their own.

“The audition process is nerve-racking, especially when [students] have to do a video because they have to learn what ‘good enough’ is, otherwise they will sit there and keep making [audition] videos and then try to choose between them,” Taylor said.

The jazz band all-state section is still waiting on their results, which should come in the first week of January.

“If there are any future kids who are interested [in auditioning for all-state] it is a good thing to put on your resume, definitely go for it,” said Taylor.