TO THE KIDS WHO DIDN'T GET IN

To Maryland All-State

Today, MMEA released the results of their 2025 All-State Auditions. Congratulations to all the students who got in, but I’m not here to talk to you. I’m here to talk to the ones who didn’t get in, my people.

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Dear Kids Who Didn’t Get In,

I was rejected from Maryland All-State, too, in 1991 and 1992. And I want to let you know off the bat that you can love music and have a wonderful, meaningful life in music if you want and still not get into All-State ever. I felt like such a massive failure when I couldn’t get into All-State twice in a row. I worked so ridiculously hard and knew the stuff cold and thought I played really well. My parents thought if I was any good at the oboe, I should get into All-State, like it was like a math test or something. I really wanted my parents to think I was good because they thought a career in music was stupid, and that’s what I wanted more than anything. I thought math tests were stupid. And the not being able to get into All-State did not help my case AT ALL.

And I know a lot of you were all like, “I need this for my college application!” I hear you. I wanted it for your college application for you. But you will be okay with your college application with or without an All-State acceptance.

The good news is music isn’t a math test. They’ve tried to make it into a math test for these auditions, with rubrics and scores and stuff that have nothing to do with music. But a lot of you weren’t even playing music anyway, but boring-as-all-get-out etude snippets instead. It was less like a math test and more like a competition of whose macaroni and cheese was best—but you couldn’t even make your own recipe. You had to use the stuff in their box and follow their directions. And they bought the boxes on discount because they were expired from a school cafeteria supply store.

Music isn’t about scores and rubrics and moldy blue books. There is a whole huge world of music open to you and All-State has pretty much nothing to do with any of it.

That said, good musicians are always trying to get better.

Did you have a great audition? Did you play your best? If so, how can you repeat that? What about your preparation was so effective? Is this something you could teach someone else? Is there something new you can listen for to improve your best and take it up a notch?

If your audition wasn’t the absolute best you could play (and chances are this is where things landed for you), think about what you could work on for another stressful performance situation down the line. What experience can you take away from this which will be valuable to you elsewhere? What elements of your playing would you like to improve, not for just another audition? How are you going to do that?

Now that you’re a few weeks out from the audition, go back and record your materials into your phone. Then you can come back and listen in six months with fresh ears. Save it for later and you can reassess then, listening back to your old self.

Music is about so many wonderful things. Make sure you find music you like to play. Make sure you are open to other types of music you might not know you like, or could possibly grow to like. Think about what you want to play and who you want to play with. Think about what composers’ voices and messages you want to amplify. If the music you want to play doesn’t exist, write it yourself. Think about the people who have been playing music throughout history. How do you connect to them? How do you connect to the composers who wrote the music you love the most if they are dead? Make your own magic happen. You don’t need Boxed Macaroni All-State for any of that.

And please be aware that in any audition at any level of the musical profession, there can be unfairness and corruption. Even if this audition was 100% clean and perfectly run, there is no right answer as to if you should have gotten in or not. It’s a matter of taste, and taste surrounding some pretty mediocre boxed macaroni and cheese. That said, I heard so much about judges peeking out from behind screens at these last MMEA auditions, paired with the plan for some judges to be in front of screens and some behind them, that I would not assume these auditions were 100% clean and corruption-free at all. I would assume the opposite, actually. When I was rejected from Maryland All-State in 1991 and 1992, the person who got first chair was the student of the judge. Was that right or wrong? I have no idea. I will never know. And in the end, I made a career in music and that first chair oboist didn’t. I wanted it more than anything, and she probably didn’t. And we’re all fine. And, then they got a different judge. And then I was first chair the next two years I auditioned… and you know what? I can’t tell you one single thing about my All-State experience. That’s how much I remember of it at the age of 46.

The only things in your control are your relationship with music and your own work ethic. So, go love your music. Go work hard if you want to, or work a little, or don’t practice at all and just play for fun with your friends, or work smart and efficiently and learn to prioritize the way you want. Work how you want to work, and work on what you want to work on. It’s your show. It’s not a math test and that’s actually awesome.

(You can read this post on Facebook with its numerous comments here.)