LHS student receives All-State Band honors

Amanda Garrison

Amanda Garrison, a member of the Lampasas High School Band, will perform with the Texas All- State Band in San Antonio Feb. 16 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, as part of the 2008 Texas Music Educators Association Clinic and Convention.

Miss Garrison was chosen for the honor through a competitive process held across the state at district, region and area levels.

The LHS student is under the direction of Richard Hooper, a member of the TMEA, a 10,000-plusmember organization headquartered in Austin.

This is Miss Garrison's first time to perform as a member of the TMEA All-State organization, and she is the first student since 1994 to earn the honor, said Hooper.

Miss Garrison is the daughter of Wendi Garrison.

High school students selected to perform in all-state concerts have competed through several levels of auditions that began in fall 2007 to arrive at the state level.

All-state is the highest honor a Texas music student can receive. Over 1,500 students are selected through a process that began with more than 55,000 students from across the state vying for the honor to perform in one of 13 ensembles (bands, orchestras and choirs).

TMEA sponsors the Texas allstate competition. 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 seven TMEA Area competitions. The highest-ranking musicians judged at the TMEA area competitions qualify to perform in a TMEA all-state group.

All-state students participate in three days of rehearsals directed by nationally recognized conductors during the clinic and convention. Their performances for thousands of attenders close the event.

In other band news, David Bloomfield on clarinet and Sarah Casey on flute were in attendance at the All-Region Band Clinic and Concert held last weekend. They represented Lampasas in addition to 21 other bandsmen.