Sophomore Jackson Burnette earned a spot in the All-State orchestra on December 3rd. Burnette auditioned along with 25 other bassists, all vying for a spot in the orchestra. In the end, All-State judges chose the top eight bassists from the 26 and awarded them a spot in the orchestra. He was named second chair. This means he is the second best among the eight bassists picked.

“I think it’s a great honor to make it and the chance to play with other great musicians,” Burnette said.

All-State orchestra is a very selective, statewide orchestra that high school students can audition for. All-State distributes the audition materials three months prior to the audition. The materials include specified excerpts according to your instrument as well as an etude. An etude is a short, difficult musical piece that is used to show one’s skill with a particular instrument. The audition itself consists of a three octave scale, an etude, orchestral excerpt, and sight reading. Sight reading is reading the music while simultaneously playing it. Burnette had one audition that determined his fate for All-State orchestra.

“Waiting to see if I made was really stressful,” Burnette said with a chuckle.

Burnette will perform with the rest of the All-State orchestra in the Tulsa Performing Arts center on January 20.

Also a sophomore, Victor Nguyen auditioned for a spot among the violins. He and 139 other violinists all auditioned in a preliminary round then the worst players were weeded from the pack to create a condensed final round with different music. Nguyen was just shy of the 40 violin cutoff but was named the fourth alternate. If some of the violinists cannot attend the performance, Nguyen will be called on to fill the missing spot.

“I thought I did pretty good but you can’t change what’s been done… I really want to make next year so I’ll practice a lot more” Nguyen said.