PHS junior Caroline Myers, the drum major for the Princeton High School marching band, has been chosen for the prestigious All-State band. Because of her selection, she will perform in San Antonio on Saturday, Feb. 10, at the Henry B. González Convention Center as part of the 2024 Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention.

Caroline was named to the All-State band following a competitive process held this year across the state at district, region and area levels. Caroline plays the trombone in the band program under the direction of Jason Smith, who is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association, which is a 19,800-plus member organization headquartered in Austin. She is also a music student of Megan Boutin. This is Caroline’s first time to perform as a member of a TMEA All-State organization. She is the daughter of Adam and Krista Myers.

Caroline said she had plenty of support to achieve this honor.

“This is a big honor that I wouldn’t have received without the help of my band directors, parents and lessons teacher,” Caroline said. “I would not have been able to achieve this alone. A lot of time has gone into helping me get All-State from other people, and I am very grateful.”

Caroline’s pursuit of music was gradual, as she took her first band class in middle school at the urging of her very band-oriented parents.

“Band has always been a big part of my life because my dad is a band director in another district and my mom repairs instruments,” Caroline said. “They encouraged me to do band at least during middle school and the start of high school.”

Although she said she wasn’t the biggest fan in the beginning, it grew on her.

“I knew it would be important to me personally when I got to freshman year and joined marching band,” Caroline said. “All of the people and the unity in the group led me to enjoy band.”

This budding interest led Caroline to seek additional roles within the band program.

“I applied for leadership the next year and eventually drum major,” she said. “Band is now a major part of my life and how I made some of my best friends.”

Her positive experiences have made Caroline a big proponent of band.

“It is a lot of hard work, but it’s worth it,” she said. “It offers so many opportunities.”

All-State is the highest level a Texas music student can receive, with 1,875 students selected through a process that began with more than 70,000 students from around the state vying for this honor to perform in one of the 18 ensembles for band, orchestra or choir.

Texas Music Educators Association sponsors the Texas All-State competition. This competitive process begins in auditions hosted by 33 TMEA regions. Individual musicians perform selected music for a panel of judges who rank each instrument or voice part. From this ranking, a select group of musicians advances from region to compete against musicians from other areas in eight TMEA area competitions. The highest-ranking musicians from the TMEA area competitions qualify to perform in a TMEA All-State music group. Only the top 2.6 percent of musicians who initially audition become All-State musicians.

These students participate in four days of rehearsals directed by nationally recognized conductors during the TMEA clinic/convention. Their performances for thousands of attendees bring the event to a close. For the All-State concert schedule and conductor information, go to the Performances section of www.tmea.org/convention.

The Texas Music Educators Association is an association of nearly 14,000 school music educators dedicated to promoting excellence in music education.