This past weekend in Gatlinburg, six McCallie upper school student-musicians attended the East Tennesee School Band and Orchestra Association Clinic.
The clinic auditions are extremely competitive, so much so that only a handful of students are chosen out of hundreds of musicians.
Students are asked to play scales, two prepared pieces, and sight-read a piece they have never seen or played before.
Nichole Pitts, director of the McCallie Strings Program, said, "We really have some talented young men that represented McCallie extremely well this weekend. It is rare to have so many awesome leaders and musicians in one school."
The list of McCallie musicians and their placements is as follows:
Daniel Jeong '21 1st Chair, Concertmaster All-State Violin
Jerick Shi '21 1st Chair All-State Viola
Ricky Wang-Polendo '23 - Red Band (second band) - 9/10 Tuba
Byron Zou '22 - 1st Chair and All-State - 9/10 Percussion
Ben McDonough '20 - Blue Band (highest band) - 11/12 Flute
Sam Ellis '21 - Red Band (second band) - 11/12 Tenor Sax
Each ensemble performed at the clinic on Saturday evening. The McCallie musicians "created some of the most powerful musical moments I've experienced at the clinic," said Director of Instrumental Music Brent Alverson of the clinic performances.
Daniel, Jerick, and Byron have qualified for the upcoming All-State conference in Nashville this April. They will be joined by Caleb Olumofin '21, who qualified for All-State in the Men's Chorus.