District Music Students Earn All-State Honors

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The highest-ranking musicians judged at the TMEA Area competitions qualify to perform in one of 18 Texas All-State ensembles sponsored by the Band, Orchestra, and Vocal Divisions.

The Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) recently announced the area students that made All-State. Two Aldine ISD students — Victoria Cerda and Andrés Castillo — earned All-State honors.

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.

Victoria, a member of Eisenhower High School’s varsity mixed choir, will perform with the Texas All-State Mixed Choir. Andrés, a member of the Aldine High School band, made 12th chair in the state and will perform with the Texas All-State Symphonic Band.

Their performances will occur in San Antonio on February 12, 2022, at the Henry B. González Convention Center. The event will occur during the 2022 Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention. TMEA expects more than 30,000 people from Texas and worldwide to attend the nation’s largest music educators convention. It will be the first time since 2020 that the convention will be held in person. 

Judges selected Victoria and Andrés for the prestigious honors through a competitive process held across the district, region, and area levels. It begins throughout the state in auditions hosted by 33 TMEA Regions.

Andrés is a student of Vicky Williams at Aldine HS and plays flute at school under the direction of Jeremy Gray. Victoria sings at school under the direction of Sandra Walker, head director of Eisenhower HS choirs. Walker and Gray are members of the TMEA. It is Victoria’s third time performing as a member of a TMEA All-State organization. Meanwhile, it is Andrés’ first time performing as a member of the TMEA All-State organization.

Individual musicians perform selected music for 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.

Only the top 2.6% of musicians who initially audition become All-State musicians

TMEA sponsors the Texas All-State competition. According to a letter from the organization, 1,875 students were selected through a process that began with over 70,000 students. The young musicians vie each year for the honor to perform in one of 18 ensembles. The highest-ranking musicians judged at the TMEA Area competitions qualify to perform in a TMEA All-State music group.

As All-State students, Victoria and Andrés will participate in three 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 schedule and conductor information, go to the Performances section of www.tmea.org/convention.

Founded in 1921, the Texas Music Educators Association, headquartered in Austin, has more than 14,000 members dedicated to promoting excellence in music education. Go to www.tmea.org/convention for more information.