On December 9, 2017, six Hill students participated in the District 11 Band and Orchestra auditions. Two student musicians, Rachel Liu ‘20 and Max Tsiang ‘19, qualified to perform in the District Band and Orchestra Festivals. Liu, who won the 4th chair flute among 56 other competitive flutists, is currently preparing for the District Band Festival on January 12 with her ensemble.

“Being part of the band is already a huge honor for me,” Liu said. “Being at this festival will allow me to broaden my horizons from what I’ve been able to do at Hill and make music with other musicians that are much greater than I am.”

“This is so exciting because the District Band has so much that Hill cannot offer as a small community,” Margaret Neiswender, director of instrumental music said. “Rachel is surrounded by instruments she has never seen before and musicians who are passionate about music just as much as she is! This is going to be a great opportunity for her music education.”

Tsiang won the 17th chair violin position and earned his place in District Orchestra that more than 100 violinists auditioned for.

“The journey to get to districts is simply practicing,” Tsiang said. “I managed to get my practice done within one and a half months of Fall Afternoon Arts.” 

Tsiang said that musicians would still need to prepare for re-auditions after they qualified for Districts.

“Though auditioning into District Orchestra determines my rank, I will still be asked to re-audition with the pieces that the orchestra plays in the future,” Tsiang said. “Auditioning well means that I can advance to the Region Orchestra and eventually, State Orchestra.”

Participating in the District Band and Orchestra is also a large time commitment for the student musicians.

“I think that I’ll definitely feel the stress from the three school days that I am missing in order to attend District Band Festival,” Liu said. “I know that I’ll be spending some time making up for the work that was done in my classes and asking for help with things that I don’t get – the thing with time management is that, after all, you’ve got to manage it.”

According to Neiswender, over the past 10 years, Hill has been successfully producing at least one student musician each year who is qualified for participation in District, Regional, or State Band and Orchestra.

“It took courage and commitment to take a part in such competitive auditions,” Neiswender said. “I am proud of all the Hill students who auditioned for these positions.”