All-State Reflections

Live music has never been more impactful!

Last year, as we started to work with the Ensemble Hosts, Student Host and CASMEC Board, there were a lot of uncertainties about our live conference coming back. We knew students would be hungry to perform in person again and so we set out to create the All-State experience as safe as possible in an unsure time. Our team spent more hours than ever before to ensure our students would have flexibility in this first year coming back to a live CASMEC. While we knew that it wouldn’t happen without some bumps in the road, we were challenged with more adversity than normal with some of the housing not fulfilling our agreements. Luckily, thanks to the incredible help of some of our Board Members and CASMEC Staff, we were able to overcome the obstacle within a matter of hours.

From the All-State Coordinator perspective, I would like to send a large amount of gratitude to the Ensemble Hosts (Susie Martone & Angelina Fitzhugh - CCDA, Brant

Nishida - CODA, Paul Herrera - CAJ, Ashley Shine - CBDA,

Galen Lemmon - Percussion Coordinator), we were able to create and facilitate a positive experience for our musicians. I would also like to send special thanks to our Student Host - Yasmine Brackens-Alexander and her team, and our fearless leader, Ali Gilroy-Golden - CASMEC Coordinator, for leading us through this difficult transition. We couldn’t have made this experience happen without your dedication and hard work!

From the Ensemble Host side, I would like to thank my Assistant Danielle Cavazos for all of her help and the tireless work of our CBDA Managerial Staff. These rehearsals, and subsequent performances, were able to be successful thanks to the hard work and dedication of our Ensemble Managers and Percussion Managers. Please join me in thanking these music educators for their non-stop work!

Katie Gilchrist

Maritza Spieller

John Gilchrist

Matthew Fell

Kaitlynn Albers

Shota Otaguro

Marco Mellone

Scott Downs Chris Pun Brad Pulverenti Marc Dwyer Jeffrey Marcos Julie Myer Honseng Tu Joshua Kwan

Thank you all for your support of our All-State musicians in a year where they needed your support the most. As always, it is an honor to serve our students and our organizations.

Ryan Dirlam

Student Host Director of Bands, Matilda Torres High School

Ashley Shine

Ensemble Host Director of Bands, Weaver Middle School