The road to All-State band (also recordings :) )

[takigan]

So, it only takes a quick look on the forums (or a full Saturday following along with our Live Blog) to see that marching band competitions are a big deal in Texas in the Fall.  But also around this time of year, many students begin their own individual journeys to becoming a member of the elite All-Region and hopefully even the TMEA All-State Bands and Orchestras. Nearly 29,000 band students statewide compete in 5A/6A alone for one of 548 spots in these elite groups. 

Winning the honor means college scholarships, discounts on summer band camps, bragging rights as someone who is in the 98th-99th percentile of Texas HS musicians, performing in a spectacular concert in front of nearly 3,000 concert goers at the TMEA convention in February, and, not to mention....a big ol' patch for the letterman jacket the size of a tea saucer






Making Texas All-State is a borderline-Olympian feat (makes sense when you consider Texas won the most gold medals of any state this past Olympics). This means putting an absolutely incredible amount of time and effort into preparing the etudes (I put in nearly 100 hours of practice time on them myself from July to December back in my day and I didn't even make it past the first round.). Studying with a private teacher and attending masterclasses is essential as is listening to various recordings. The etudes are your masterpiece sculptures for most of the Fall semester that you must slowly chisel away at and polish to grandiose perfection.  But don't forget to practice other things to enhance your skills. To those who are making the journey this Fall, I wish you the best of luck.....work hard, realize your greatest potential and relish the experience of applying your greatest efforts to become the best of the best...Which is what we Texans are .

[takigan]

Etude Recordings (most instruments....feel free to post others that you've liked that might be better than these....or even post a recording of yourself for critique )


Oboe - Melissa Bosma - Professor of Oboe (Okla. State Univ.)

Etudes:

Bassoon - Dr. Kelly Hancock - Professor of Bassoon (Okla. State Univ.)

Etude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhk-jTPKIGQ

(other etudes will likely be posted later)

[takigan]

Flute - Dr. Krista Jobson - Professor of Flute (UT Rio Grande Valley)

Etudes:

Alto Sax - James Barger - Professor of Saxophone (West Texas A&M)

Etude 1 -

Etude 2 -

Etude 3 -

Dallas-area Saxophone lesson teacher Scott Campbell also has a video series on his
Youtube channel where he breaks down the etudes in great detail at
slower tempos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCedjfMN5fvjkUe-tBOXUNmw


Tenor/Bari
Sax - None so far, though keep an eye on Scott Campbell's page.   He
released a recording of the Tenor Jazz etudes, and only just recently
released Alto videos of the Concert Band etudes.  He'll probably get to
them eventually.

[takigan]

Clarinet - Eric Chi (Houston area Clarinet teacher)

Etude 1 -

Etude 2 -

 

[takigan]

Trumpet - Mike Arnold (UT Austin grad student)

Etude 1 -

Etude 2 -

[takigan]

Horn - Mark Houghton (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)

Etude 1 -

Etude 2 -

 

[takigan]

Trombone - Dr. John Shanks - Professor of Trombone (West Texas A&M)

Etude 1 -

Etude 2 -

Etude 3 -

[takigan]

Euphonium - Youtube User 'Bach New York 50B'

Etude #1 (in-depth practice guide) -

Etude #2 (in-depth practice guide) -

Etude #3 - Not yet released, here's a performance by TubaPeter from a few
years ago:

(don't play repeats)

[takigan]

Tuba - Daniel Frost (UT Austin Doctoral Student)

Etude #1 -

Etude #2 -

[takigan]

Percussion (Rudimentary) - Travis Fife - Professor of Percussion (Lamar University)

Snare:

Timpani:

Percussion (Mallets) - Dr. Matthew Holm - Professor of Percussion (Lamar University)