HSW Musicians Take On All-County!
Consisting of some of the best high-school musicians in the county, the All-County concert is an incredibly honorable event to participate in, and students dedicate long hours to preparation for this concert.
These 11th and 12th graders with exceptional talent earned a spot in the All-County concert. All-County, hosted by the National Association for Music Educators Administrators (N.Y.S.C.A.M.E), is highly selective and requires an almost perfect level 6 NYSSMA score.
Suffolk County is one of the most musically inclined counties in New York, and some say the music is more complex than at the renowned All-State concert. If a musician makes All-County, they are given 6 weeks to learn the music independently and then have 3 group rehearsals to play the music.
Peter Stallone, a mixed choir All-County contender, exudes the difficulty of achieving the level of talent needed for this significant event. Peter practiced his NYSSMA solo piece 7-8 hours a week and 6 months in advance; the NYSSMA festival requires high levels of dedication because the musician pool is highly competitive, with every student looking to extend their music career. The choir performed five pieces:
1. Keep Your Lamps
2. Domine Fili (Latin)
3. Time
4. Va Pensiero (Italian)
5. Through Love to Light.
Learning new and unfamiliar music is tiresome, especially when some pieces are in entirely foreign languages. From a different perspective, Alan Yu, a musician from the Youth Symphony Orchestra, also discusses his experiences preparing to participate in the All County concert. Alan, who had been playing the violin for almost nine years, had practiced an hour daily to prepare for NYSSMA months prior.
Additionally, he explains how the experience was delightful and how he enjoyed playing with everyone. He expresses, “The conductor was fantastic! Even though the music was hard, he was good at guiding the orchestra and making it cohesive.”
Both Peter and Alan rank the music difficulty in All County an 8 out of 10 from their past pieces. Overall, these exceptional musicians should be incredibly proud of their dedication and effort to be where they are today. Hills West Media would like to sincerely congratulate them on their efforts in making All-County, and we wish you the best of luck in your future music endeavors.
