Isaiah Hampton and Zephyr Spann, members of the Paris High School choir will perform with the Texas All-State small school choir in San Antonio, Saturday, February 10, 2024, at the Henry B. González Convention Center as part of the 2024 Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention.
Hampton and Spann were chosen for this prestigious honor through a competitive process held this year across the state at District, Region, and Area levels. Hampton and Spann sing at school under the direction of Lindsay McCarter, who is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association, a 14,000+ member organization headquartered in Austin.
High school students selected to perform in the All-State concerts have competed through auditions to qualify at the state level. All-State is the highest honor a Texas music student can receive. One thousand eight hundred seventy-five students are selected through a process that began with over 70,000 students from around the state vying for this honor to perform in one of 18 ensembles.
Texas Music Educators Association sponsors the Texas All-State competition. This competitive process begins throughout the state in auditions hosted by 33 TMEA Regions. Individual musicians perform selected music for a panel of judges who rank each instrument or voice part. From this ranking, a select group of musicians advances from their Region to compete against musicians from other areas in eight TMEA Area competitions. The highest-ranking musicians judged at the TMEA Area competitions qualify to perform in a TMEA All-State music group. Only the top 2.6% of musicians who initially audition become All-State musicians.
These All-State students participate in four days of rehearsals directed by nationally recognized conductors during the TMEA Clinic/Convention. Their performances for thousands of attendees bring this extraordinary event to a close. For the All-State concert and conductor information, go to the Performances section of www.tmea.org/convention.
About TMEA: Since 1920, Texas Music Educators Association has worked to ensure excellence in music education for all Texas students. TMEA’s 19,800 members include over 13,800 school music educators who belong to one of five TMEA Divisions: Band, Orchestra, Vocal, Elementary, and College. Members elect Vice-Presidents to their Division to guide the Division’s programming. On behalf of its members and Texas students, TMEA monitors the actions of state decision-making bodies on issues affecting fine arts instruction in Texas. In addition to many member benefits, TMEA offers professional development for its members through workshops and its annual Clinic/Convention that hosts over 30,000 attendees. TMEA supports the future of music education by offering scholarships to music education majors and sponsoring the Texas Future Music Educators, an organization through which high school students interested in careers in music education learn more about what to expect in their college education and future careers.
Go to www.tmea.org/convention for more information about this event
