Two Midway High School Band students earned the top honor for music students in Texas as members of the 2024 Texas Music Educators Association All-State Band.
French horn player Jacob Wiley and contrabassoon player Emmanuel Maxey are among the top 2.6% of over 70,000 students statewide who auditioned to become All-State musicians.
On top of that, Jacob earned first chair in the All-State auditions, making him the highest-ranked high school horn player in Texas. He was also a TMEA All-State member in 2022.
As All-State honorees, Jacob and Emmanuel performed alongside the top music students in the state as part of the annual Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention held in San Antonio from Feb. 7-10. They participated in three days of rehearsals directed by nationally recognized conductors leading up to their performances for thousands of attendees, which brought the event to a close.
High schoolers chosen to perform in the All-State concerts compete through three rounds of rigorous auditions to qualify at the state level. To audition, individual musicians perform selected music for a panel of judges who rank each instrument or voice part. The top performers from 33 regions advance to compete in eight area competitions, with the highest-ranking musicians qualifying to perform in an All-State music group.
In the past 12 years, Midway High School has only had one other All-State Band student, underscoring the difficulty of the audition process.
The Midway High School Band is under the direction of Pam Hyatt.
