Rusk student selected as Texas All-State Musician
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Feb. 8—Jonah Johnston, a member of the Rusk High School Band, will perform with the Texas All-State ATSSB Symphonic Band in San Antonio, Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Henry B. González Convention Center as part of the 2023 Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention.
Johnston was chosen for this prestigious honor through a competitive process held this year across the state at District, Region, and Area levels. Johnston has a few lessons with Dr. Andrea Denis (SFASU Horn Professor) and plays the French Horn at Rusk High School under the direction of Gehrig Blankenship, Brittany Thedford, Matthew Foster and Haley Hollowell, who are members of the Texas Music Educators Association, a 14,000+ member organization headquartered in Austin.
This is Johnston's first time to perform as a member of a TMEA All-State organization. He is the child of John and Kristy Roesslein.
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. 1,875 students are selected through a process that began with over 70,000 students from around the state vying 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.
Founded in 1921, Texas Music Educators Association is an association of over 14,000 members dedicated to promoting excellence in music education. Go to www.tmea.org/convention for more information.
