Senior Maddie Stephens will perform in the All-State Band concert Feb. 14 in San Antonio during the Texas Music Educators Association convention. She is the first Canyon High School student in six years to make the All-State Band.

Twenty band members from Canyon High School auditioned for the All-State band Jan. 9 in Abilene after advancing past the Pre-Area auditions in December.

Senior Dominic Ortiz and juniors Shawn Williams and Ryan Sheffield placed alternate on their respective instruments. Stephens placed third chair in the 5A All-State band on E-flat clarinet.

“To make the All-State Band takes so much work, like hours upon hours of practice,” Stephens said. “You can play the music the way you interpret it and the judges can disagree. Music is up for interpretation and differs person to person depending on one’s experiences and emotions. That’s what makes music so great, but it also adds difficulty to the audition process.”

Since she received the music in August, Stephens said she practiced 45 minutes a day and had weekly private lessons for her audition.

“In August each instrument is assigned three etudes to practice for these try-outs,” Stephens said. “We try-out for the All-Region band in November against the schools near us, then we compete against the same schools in Pre-Area for the chance to audition at Area try-outs in Abilene. At the Area auditions, we play each of our etudes for judges and, depending on what instrument you play, the top players advance to the All-State Band. However, those of us on “specialty instruments” have to record our auditions and have them sent off to be judged for the All-State Band.”

While the deadline for judging was 10 p.m., Stephens received the results near 1 a.m. the next day. Stephens said the most stressful portion of the auditioning process was waiting for results.

“All of Monday, I kept checking my phone for the results,” Stephens said. “It made me sick to my stomach all day to know that there was nothing I could do to help my results or speed up the posting of them.”

Stephens decided to audition for the All-State band process when she was a freshman.

“My private lesson teacher started talking about this thing called the All-State band and it became my goal to make it ever since,” Stephens said. “I feel accomplished and proud that, after years of hard work, I finally accomplished one of my goals. I’m just glad that it all paid off.”