Members of the all-state orchestra
When McCallie junior Nishanth Basava found out last fall that the East Tennessee School Band Orchestra Association had scheduled its All-East auditions for this past weekend in Gatlinburg, he didn’t put off practicing for the event.
“I started as soon as I got the music (Hungarian Dance) in October,” said Nishanth, who plays the violin. “I practiced a lot over the holidays. When we got back to school from break, I started practicing two to three hours a week over the last three weeks to be ready.”
All that preparation paid off. When the All-State Convention takes place in Nashville’s Opryland Hotel on April 10-13, Nishanth will represent the All-East Orchestra as its Chair One, Second Violin. A year ago, he was the Sixth Chair, proving practice sometimes makes perfect.
But Nishanth was far from the only McCallie student achieving excellence in Gatlinburg. Five other members of the McCallie/GPS Orchestra will accompany him to the All-State conference, including Isaac George (Chair 4, 2nd violin, string orchestra), Akhil Giddaluri (Chair 6, 1st Violin, string orchestra), Nikhil Giddaluri (Chair 1, Viola, string orchestra) and Joshua Kim (Chair 1, B-flat Clarinet, 9-10 Blue Band).
Girls Preparatory School freshman Victoria Schmidlin will also be in Nashville as the Chair 1, Concertmaster, 1st Violin. And she didn’t even know she’d be auditioning for that position until two hours before the audition began due to a student from another school unexpectedly being scratched for disciplinary reasons.
Beyond that, another 11 McCallie and GPS students were named to honorary orchestras or bands but will not be headed to Opryland. They include: Harry Carter (Chair 12, Horm, 11-12 Blue Band), Joe Chambers (Chair 4, Bassoon, 9-10 Red Band), Peyton Chang (Alternate, Horn, Red Band), Will Danks (Alternate, Red Band), GPS’s Lucie DeGaetano (Chair 20, Clarinet, 11-12 Blue Band, Benjamin Jeong (Chair 11, 1st Violin, string orchestra), Kelvin Kaaie, Chair 12, 1st Violin, string orchestra), Zachary Murray (Chair 9, Bass, symphony orchestra), Porter Parrish (Chair 19, Bflat Clarinet, 11-12 Blue band), Brody Thompson (Chair 7, 2nd Violin, string orchestra) and Gus Wilson (Chair 9, B-flat Clarinet, 9-10 Red Band).
“These kids are so talented,” said Nicole Pitts, director of McCallie’s orchestra. “I’m so proud of all of them. This is our best showing ever in the All-East competition. They put in so much hard work.”
More than 1,200 students competed in Gatlinburg this weekend. And playing the songs they were all sent in October was only part of what they were graded on.
“The students had to know and demonstrate several scales, a prepared piece demonstrating skills, and sight read a piece for the first time,” said Ms. Pitts, who’s been the orchestra director for the past five years, the last three as a full-time employee. “ They did these activities for a panel of judges, and were ranked by the average of the scores.”
The Giddaluri brothers, both sophomores, couldn’t do much practicing over the holidays because they took a family trip to India to see relatives. But they were practicing almost every day once the new year started.
“This is great,” said Nikhil. “I practiced quite a bit once we got back from India. I liked the conductor a lot this weekend. He made it seem like we didn’t practice as long as we did. Excited to get to the Opryland Hotel.”
From his brother Akhil: “It was a lot of fun. Putting all the time and effort in is a struggle at times, but all the hard work paid off. I’m excited to go to State.”
So how did Nishanth and the two Giddaluri brothers celebrate their success on Saturday?
Nishanth went with some friends to an Indian restaurant in Gatlinburg, where he ordered a chicken dish and a mango drink that had some milk in it. The Giddaluri brothers and their family hit the P.F. Chang at Hamilton Place.
“Got the fried rice,” said Akhil. “That’s my go-to meal.”
Sounds like the Giddaluris are the Go-To Brothers for reaching the State.