ATSSB All Region Results
On December 2nd, our middle school band students competed in the Texas Music Educators Association, ATSSB All-Region Band Competition. FCA Frisco participates in region 24 of the Association of Texas Small School Bands, which includes bands from Anna, Melissa, Howe, Van Alstyne, Celina, Gunter, Whitesboro and Dodd City ISDs together with Greenhill Private School Dallas, Legacy Christian Academy of Frisco and Trinity Christian Academy. Middle school band students in region 24 participated in an audition process which this year took place via recorded virtual auditions and included scales, one slow piece and one fast piece of music called “etudes”. Students in the region all auditioned on the same scales and etudes and were judged by instrument in “rooms”. Each room had 5 judges who scored each player on the 3 sections of the audition material; scales, slow etude and fast etude. After all the scores were tabulated, each “room” of instruments was ranked in order from highest to lowest. All auditions are anonymous; names of students and schools are not used by the judging panel. In region 24 there are two all-region bands; the top band is the symphonic band and the 2nd band is the concert band.
A total of 61 FCAF band students auditioned this year - many of them for the very first time, this being only the second year in which FCAF has participated in the ATSSB all region auditions. This year 21 FCAF Band students were selected which is an incredible achievement given the fact that most students have only been playing their instruments for one or two years. We clearly have some very talented students in our music program who are benefitting also from having a great teacher and educator in Mr. Sprouls.
On January 15th and 16th, the students selected for the two region bands will meet for two long days of 8 hours of rehearsals with prestigious guest conductors and will perform a concert on the evening of January 16th. I was lucky enough to attend the all region rehearsals last year with Mr. Sprouls and I can tell you that it was an amazing experience, seeing the talent that these students have and watching as they learnt challenging pieces of music from scratch which, as the rehearsals progressed, came together beautifully. This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to experience and learn from.
Listed below are the 21 FCAF Band students who were selected for participation in the two ATSSB Region 24 All-Region Bands.
Congratulations to all 21 students and to Mr. Sprouls who I know is immensely proud of their achievements.
Flutes (54 total participants)
1st Chair: Sabrina Montgomery (Symphonic Band) (Special recognition for 1st place in the region)
2nd Chair: Ram Sumedh Besta (Symphonic Band) (Special recognition for competing as a 6th grader)
6th Chair: Diya Patel (Symphonic Band)
10th Chair: Lili-Mai Pigeon (Symphonic Band)
12th Chair: Kailie Poon (Concert Band)
Clarinet (64 total participants)
10th Chair: Teagan Novak (Symphonic Band)
22nd Chair: Addyson Henry (Concert Band)
23rd Chair: Yalini Ramasrinivasan (Concert Band)
25th Chair: Milena Avanesova (Concert Band)
27th Chair: Jaleigh Schwarz (Concert Band)
29th Chair: Mia Weber (Concert Band)
Alto Saxophone (32 total Participants)
6th Chair: Lokesh Muttavarapu (Concert Band)
Trumpet (60 total participants)
1st Chair: Levi Viering (Symphonic Band) (Special recognition for 1st place in the region)
18th Chair: Isabella Barba (Concert Band)
French Horn (23 total participants)
3rd Chair: Kayitochukwu Eche (Symphonic Band)
11th Chair: Charles Broom (Concert Band)
Trombone (44 total participants)
16th Chair: William Linz (Concert Band)
Tuba (21 total participants)
5th Chair: Abigail Baines (Symphonic Band)
7th Chair: Cameron Trevino (Concert Band)
12th Chair: Kerrington Crawford (Concert Band)
Percussion (43 total participants)
11th Chair: Julia Floyd (Concert Band)