The Carroll Dragon Bandbris proud to announce that senior Sam Ortiz will perform with the TexasbrAll-State Band in San Antonio on February 11 as part of the 2017 Texas MusicbrEducators Association (TMEA) Clinic/Convention. Ortiz was chosen for thisbrprestigious honor through a competitive process held this year across the statebrat district, region and area levels.
This is Ortiz's firstbrtime to perform as a member of a TMEA All-State organization. He will playbrthe trumpet.
Those who heard thebrCarroll Dragon Marching Band's 2017 show “CONTACT” likely remember Ortiz'sbrhaunting solo in the beginning of the third movement. Ortiz is a senior and wasbrrecognized this year as a National Merit Scholar-Commended and a NationalbrHispanic Scholar.
High school studentsbrselected to perform in the All-State concerts have competed through severalbrlevels of auditions beginning in the fall of 2016 to qualify at the statebrlevel. All-State is the highest honor a Texas music student can receive. Nearlybr2,000 students are selected through a process that begins with over 68,000brstudents from around the state vying for this honor to perform in one of 15brensembles (bands, orchestras and choirs).
TMEA sponsors the TexasbrAll-State competition. This competitive process begins throughout the state inbrauditions hosted by 33 TMEA Regions. Individual musicians perform selectedbrmusic for a panel of judges who rank each instrument or voice part. From thisbrranking, a select group of musicians advances from their region to competebragainst musicians from other areas in eight TMEA area competitions. Thebrhighest-ranking musicians judged at the TMEA area competitions qualify tobrperform in a TMEA All-State music group. Only the top 2.6 percent of musiciansbrwho initially audition become All-State musicians.