TMEA All-State Musicians
On Saturday, we had sixteen students audition in the final round of the individual TMEA (Texas Music Educators Association) audition process and we had an amazing SIX band students that earned seats as TMEA All-State musicians. I’ve talked to band directors from here going back to the early 80s and this the most all state band students any of us can recall. If not a school record, it has been a very, very long time since RHS has had this many all state band students. For reference, in the previous 5 years COMBINED we’ve had a total of 5 all state band students. These incredible students are Horacio Arenas (12) - Trombone, Noella Barron (12) - Oboe, Lorien Britt (12) - Flute, Alejandro Martinez (9) - Trumpet, Alfonso Martinez (12) - Eb Clarinet, and Allyson Verret (12) - Bb Clarinet.
Earning a spot as a TMEA All-State musician is the highest honor a high school musician in the state of Texas can earn and the most challenging to achieve. Less than 1% of the over 70,000 students that start the process throughout the state advance to the level of being named an all-state musician. There are also a couple of interesting notes about these incredible students. For Horacio, this is his second time to earn a position as an all-state musician. The only thing more challenging than making all-state in the state of Texas is making it multiple times. In case you didn’t notice above, Alejandro Martinez is a freshman. It is EXCEEDINGLY rare for a ninth grader to play at a level that even allows them to advance to the area round, let alone earning a seat in an all-state group. We are so, so proud of these tremendous student musicians. Please congratulate them if you see them around campus.