Out of thousands of students across the state, Jesuit had 3 students make All-State in their respective instruments.
Three Jesuit band students were invited to attend the Oregon All-State Honors Ensembles. Thousands of students from Oregon submit audio recordings to be judged and the top students are invited to participate at the OMEA convention which takes place in January.
Emily Seo ‘27 made All-State Orchestra, and Olivia Sun ‘28 made All-State Symphonic Band. Rarest of all, Kaiyan Nguyen ‘27 made All-State Jazz band. A spot that is only given to 2 people in the entire state of Oregon.
“We don't work on the solo music here in class. It's all done outside of this place, and so they do a great deal of work to prepare,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman has had many students that have been invited to participate in all state events, but Kaiyan Nguyen ‘27 made All-State Jazz band. In a sporting context, this would be on par with the Player of the Year title. This is why this is such a big deal because there are only 2 positions available that are up for grabs for thousands of alto sax players.
“It's always a great theme with just one student over the course of my 35 years of teaching, I've had dozens upon dozens of students who've attended an all state event,” Hoffman said. “I think the one that's most noteworthy is for Kaiyan Nguyen ‘27, who made it for alto sax. And if you think about the only take two alto saxes in all state jazz. So you can think of the hundreds of jazz alto players who have tried to get in and auditioned, and for him to be selected as one of only two is just huge”.
Nguyen’s love for the alto sax started in middle school and he couldn’t stop playing after he picked it up.
“When I was in eighth grade, I asked my band director, if you know, I could try out the alto sax, and he lent me one, and I just got really into it.”
“[There is lots of practice, lots of focus, practice especially, and really trying to be interested in learning from teachers or other players and listening to a lot of alto sax players,” Nguyen said. “I usually try to practice for at least an hour each day, but whenever I can for three hours. And I also go around playing with other people out of jam sessions and asking higher level players what they do to get better”.
You can see The All-state jazz concert on Saturday, January 18th at 5:00pm in the Soren’s Theater in Eugene.
