All-State Music Conference underway
Organizers are calling this week’s Arkansas All-State Music Conference a musical celebration of the best and brightest high school singers and instrumentalists across the state.
Across several ensembles, 400 choral students and 600 band and orchestra students will be preparing to share their talents in concerts today and Saturday.
“All of our concerts are free and open to the public,” said Julia Reynolds, executive secretary-treasurer for the Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association.
“We like to give these performances to the community,” she said.
“You’ve got students from all backgrounds, some from small schools and some from large schools, some who take private lessons and some who have done it on their own. Some of these students have met at all-region or band camp and remained friends, and in fact, a lot of our band directors have been friends since they were in high school in all-state bands. So we kind of have a unique musical family here in Arkansas.”
Performances by the Intercollegiate Choir and Intercollegiate Band take place at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. today, followed by the ASBOA Junior High Honor Concerts at 4:15 p.m. and the Choir Honor Concerts at 7:30 p.m. The band performances today will be held in Hall D and choral performances in Hall A of the Hot Springs Convention Center.
On Saturday, concerts will begin at 11:30 a.m., with band and orchestra performances in Bank of the Ozarks Arena and choir performances in Hall A.
“(People) can expect to see some of the finest high school students in the state, and they can expect to hear some of the finest high school musicians in the state,” said Tom Street, executive director for the Arkansas Choral Directors Association.
The conference kicked off Thursday with an opening session at 9:30 a.m., with all students performing the national anthem before starting rehearsals at various locations at 10 a.m.
Choral and instrumental clinicians from across the country are brought in to help students hone their music skills.
“When you bring in these international clinicians from across the country that are able to interact with these young people in a very positive way and speak to them as young adults and
maybe say things to them in a way that hasn’t been said to them before, and you’ve got students of very similar ability together,” Reynolds said.
“The level of musical ability and musical sensitivity that these students have together, it’s just amazing the amount of music these students can cover and how impressive their concerts can be,” she said.
“When I’m making these name badges and the programs I’m thinking of the concerts on Saturday afternoon. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
Street said what makes this year so exciting is this is the 50th year that ArkCDA has sponsored the All-State Conference, and he was a part of that first year. However, the conference has been hosted in Hot Springs for a shorter time, he said.
“We’ve been coming to Hot Springs probably since the convention center opened,” Street said. “I was here for a conference at what used to be the Austin (Hotel & Spa) when this was under construction. In fact there wasn’t anything but the ground work, and I looked out the window and saw the size of this thing. I thought we can have AllState there all at one time because it’s so large.”
Street said that Hot Springs has been a gracious host of the conference, welcoming students, directors and parents during this week each year.
“The people here at the convention center and the people here in Hot Springs have just been great,” Street said. “They are so cooperative, and it’s just been a great experience and location for us over the years.”