If you walked through the halls of West High’s music wing in early to mid-October, you would find practice rooms full of musicians and singers dedicatedly preparing for one of the biggest Iowa high school music events of the year. Musicians from across southeast Iowa auditioned for the All-State Music Festival Oct. 25 at West, including 80 instrumentalists and vocalists from West.
All-State is highly competitive, with some instruments having as low as one or two musicians accepted in the southeast district of Iowa. However, West has traditionally taken many of those spots, with more than 40 musicians accepted out of around 220 in the region for five out of the past six years. Additionally, the Iowa City Community School District led the state in acceptances last year with more than a hundred musicians.
For musicians, auditions mark the culmination of months of practicing, workshops and mock auditions, with students also putting in several hours of practice each day outside of school. West High students across the three programs shared their experiences preparing and auditioning for All-State.
Training for All-State begins long before the actual auditions. As a violinist in West’s Symphony Orchestra, Nathan Chen ’28 has been preparing for All-State for the last several months. He has been accepted to All-State before, recalling it as an eye-opening experience.
“You can meet other musicians from across the state, talk to them and get experience of performing big pieces,” Nathan Chen said. “[Without All-State,] you might not be able to play with a full orchestra. You might not be able to get that in school orchestra. It’s a really unique experience and opportunity.”
However, he tries not to place too much importance on All-State. “A lot of students place their goals solely on All-State, but there’s other auditions and other competitions that are also equally important.”
He also makes sure he’s not pushing himself too far during audition preparation by keeping his practicing and worrying in check.
“There’s such a thing as over-practice. You don’t want to be over-practicing so much that you might get some physical sensations in your body that are telling you to stop,” he said. “[And before the audition,] I don’t run through the audition material over and over again.”
For many musicians, preparation includes more than just individual practice. Violinist Shannon Chen ’27 describes All-State workshops and clinics, held by many universities across Iowa, as a great way to refine her audition. “They give you perspective. You can see how bad or good [your playing is], and they really motivate you to practice,” she said.
Orchestra auditions include two out of five excerpts released in July, two scales out of 12 and a solo exposition. “I start my solo around summertime, and then I’ll work on that for a long time,” Shannon Chen said, adding, “When the excerpts come out, I’ll ease into them. The week before, I’ll just grind like crazy.”
Shannon Chen, a junior, has been accepted into All-State twice before, which is the main reason she hopes to make the cut again. “It’s always been super fun, and you get to hang with friends. I’m just looking forward to the experience again.”
Just down the hall from orchestra, West’s choirs were also busy preparing to send 21 vocalists to auditions. Singer William Seberger ’28 went out for auditions for the first time this year. He placed less stress on All-State, focusing more on the auditioning experience.
“It’s an achievement that goes on my record forever, and could help me out someday when I’m applying to colleges, or it could just be a fun time singing fun music with hopefully fun people.” He adds, “I’ve got two more years after this one if I don’t make it in to try again. So it’s not really a life or death issue to me, whether or not I make it in this year.”
Seberger believes that the auditions aren’t an assessment of a musician’s skill, but rather an indication of competition within a state or district. “If you try out and you don’t make it in, it’s not that you’re a bad musician,” Seberger said. “You don’t have to be the greatest to be good.”
Another chorister, Greta Gromacki ’26, hopes to make All-State for the second time in her high school career. She places an emphasis on proper vocal techniques, especially for warming up.
“Something funny I do is blow bubbles into a cup with a bit of water in it on pitches,” Gromacki said. “This helps your vocal chords wake up and it helps the placement of my voice. One goal I’ve accomplished is singing in the tone of an All-State choral performer – it’s very different from singing how I’d normally sing, so getting used to it has improved the diversity of my voice.”
Choir auditions for All-State are unique in that the musicians perform in quartets. Gromacki and her group put a lot of effort into practicing together and achieving a good, harmonic sound.
“[Practice involves] lots of individual hours spent focusing on pitch and blending with the other voices in your audition group,” Gromacki said. “Sometimes holding our parts individually while blending at first with others is difficult, but now I’m feeling good about it.”
For West’s band auditionees, practice happens more outside of class than inside. While taking lessons, playing mock auditions and incorporating feedback, band students also had to balance playing in marching band, which took up most of their class time.
Wind Ensemble musician Caleb Davies ’26 auditioned for the fourth time this year on clarinet. Davies has been preparing since early July, when he received his solo and etudes. He describes his practice process as: “scales are practiced, intensely for the hard ones and occasionally for the easier ones. I practice roughly an hour for a couple days each week.”
Aiming to be accepted into All-State for a fourth year, Davies has an additional goal of also placing first chair. “It would be crazy if I got first chair in the band, because that is insanely hard; I would be very surprised to get that,” Davies said. Becoming a four-year All-Stater is extremely difficult and one of the greatest achievements for a high school musician.
In comparison, trumpet player Zachary Kaplan ’29 auditioned for the first time this year. Kaplan found that being one of the youngest caused him to push himself to work harder to pursue his goals.
“My goal is to make it through the auditions and get into All-State. I’ve already accomplished making it through my home auditions, which I’m proud of. It’s a little scary since there are a lot of older students, but it’s also exciting,” Kaplan said.
Many students who audition for All-State have private lessons, each with various teachers around the area, and Kaplan is no different. While preparing, “I usually practice almost every day for about 30 minutes on school days and a bit longer on weekends,” Kaplan said. “It takes a lot of time and focus. I practice the music in smaller sections, work on tone and technique, and go over it with my teacher every week to make sure I’m improving.”
Musicians who are accepted will travel to Ames with over 150 schools to perform in the All-State Music Festival Nov. 20-22. The event showcases Iowa’s top high school talents and includes performances for band, orchestra and choir. For West’s musicians, it’s an opportunity to display the hard work and months of preparation that got them there.
