Local Musicians Represent Carlsbad at All-State

By Misty Cryer

The Carlsbad High School Choir, Carlsbad Early College High School Choir, and Carlsbad High School Band students participated in the New Mexico All-State Music Festival in Albuquerque January 8-11. The 21 Carlsbad students earned a seat in the All-State Choirs and Bands through auditions in October.

“We travel together to this event,” said Robin Irving, Choir Director for CECHS. “We had nine students from the Early College Choir. For New Mexico All-State, students have an audition—that is true for band or for choir. The audition process happens in the fall semester,” she said.

Ten CHS choir students attended the festival, said Kyle Martin, Director of CHS Choirs. “I’m pleased with the students and their hard work. I’m proud of the students who haven’t been to All-State before and the kids who are returning All-State students. I’m looking forward to ending the year with them, and I’m grateful to be their director,” he said.

Robert Galindo said he and Ken Young are Directors of the CHS Band. “For All-State, we had two band members,” he said. The top band is the Symphonic Band, which both CHS Band students were selected for; the next band is the Concert Band, explained Galindo.

“For choir, there is a three-part audition process. They learn a piece of music that all the students learn,” said Irving. She explained the students sang it in Latin, and the piece was called—in Latin—‘Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina’ written by, she believes, one of Mozart’s teachers, Padre Martini. She said the translation is, “Lord, my God, Assist Me Now.”

The second part of the audition for choir: “They learn a competitive contest solo. The third part of their audition is to do some sight reading,” said Irving.

“The highest scores go into two different choirs. One of those is the New Mexico All-State Treble Choir, for the sopranos and altos, so that is nearly all female students. The other one is the Mixed Choir. That is the top choir actually; it includes soprano, alto, tenor, and bass—that is picking from all of the voice sections to go into that highest ensemble,” said Irving.

For band students to qualify for All-State, Galindo said, “They have to know their 12 major skills. They have to prepare an étude, which is like an instrumental study technique—they have to prepare two of them which are given to them by the state, basically. They have to do sight reading; they have to do a short, little sixteen-measure piece that they haven’t seen before, and they are expected to play it perfectly.

“All of this happens online,” said Irving. She explained that the teacher records the auditions and uploads them to a platform where the judges can listen to everyone across the state and decide who got the highest score.

“Years ago, it used to be in person. We would take whoever wanted to try out to Eastern New Mexico University to audition. Now, with technology being as it is, there is a website that we go to that New Mexico Music Educators Association works with, and that’s where we record the students and send to them,” said Galindo.

When asked about preparing the students for All-State auditions for the CHS Choir, Martin said, “In choir class, we all learn the All-State audition piece together. I usually practice sight-reading on a pretty regular basis with them. For the solo piece, they practice for solo by first going to an event called Solo and Ensemble, where they get a score from a judge. Then, I offer afterschool help,” he said.

“We find out who wins in October and, from that point forward, we get a packet of music that they have to learn and memorize. So, that’s what they’ve been doing in November and December. So, we get together over the Christmas holiday, we’re working on that music, making sure the students know their parts really well, and that they have it all memorized,” said Irving.

“The first thing that happens when we get there is a memorization check for the singers,” said Irving. “The expectation is that they are prepared to sing off any part of their six to seven tunes that they’ve learned. It is all very difficult music—in different languages, so they were singing in Latin, Spanish, Russian, among other things —German, both groups had a German piece,” she said.

“All of our students passed. That is pretty traditional because we make sure they know their stuff. We’re proud of the kids just for doing that amount of work over the last couple of months,” she said.

For the band, Galindo said, “When we first get there, which is usually Wednesday night, they have an hour and half sectional with their instrument. Thursday is when they have the full group to practice together or rehearse together. They go from 1:15 to 2:30 p.m.; then they have a break there for a little concert; then they come back at 4:30 p.m. and do rehearsal from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.” He said they do that on Thursday and Friday.

“On Saturday, they rehearse from 8 to 9 a.m., and then the concerts start at 9 a.m.,” said Galindo, adding they do their concert when scheduled.

Galindo said Isaiah Galindo is his son. “This is his third year. He has tried out his freshman, sophomore, and senior years and has made it all three years.” He said the other band student is Evan Antiporda. “This is the first year that he tried out; he made it his first year.”

Galindo said, “They both did a fantastic job of preparation. They were ready when we got there, with their music already learned, and were ready to participate. They did everything that the director wanted, and it was just a good trip. I think they learned a lot.”

“After two days full of rehearsals, on Saturday, the public gets to come to Popejoy Hall at UNM’s campus, and they put on all the concerts,” said Irving. “They usually sell out at Popejoy Hall, so it’s a full crowd,” she said.

“At this festival, the students actually get to hear some of the other concerts. We got to hear the two orchestras at New Mexico All-State and also a guitar ensemble,” said Irving. “The guitar ensemble was really exquisitely done; the students were all playing an acoustic guitar, and they played a variety of different styles of music like salsa or some classical themes. I told the students that it was really special that they got to hear that because not every state has an All-State guitar ensemble,” she said.