Every year, the Kansas Music Educators Association selects a group of high school musicians to perform in ensembles at the state level. This year, Newton High School senior saxophonists Ryan Ruggiero and Oliver Dungan were selected for the All-State Jazz Band.

To audition for a state music ensemble, candidates must first be selected to play in a district group. Both Ruggiero and Dungan were selected as part of the south-central district jazz band, both earning the lead position for their respective sections. According to Dungan, auditioning for the state ensemble was a very similar experience to auditioning for the district group.

“I had to make one of the district ensembles to be eligible, which is a similar process to making state that involves playing a few excerpts – one that included an improvised solo for a judge as well as sight reading an additional excerpt that you hadn’t seen or rehearsed prior to the audition,” Dungan said. “Even though the audition material is the same, the stakes are higher at the state level which can make auditions more nerve-wracking.”

Ruggiero and Dungan were both encouraged by their band teachers at NHS as well as other music instructors they work with. Specifically for Ruggiero, since he had made the all-state group last year, this year many of his instructors just expected him to audition once again.

“In previous years, my private lesson teacher, Joel Boettger, was the person to help me prepare and encourage me to audition for all-state and district groups,” Ruggiero said. “All of the staff in the music department also encouraged me to audition. However, this year it was just expected that I would audition. Mr. Bergman [my band teacher] was the person to put me on the list to audition.”

Playing in the state jazz band ensemble is a three-day experience, consisting of a lot of time practicing with your ensemble group before the performance on the last day. The final performance will take place at the Century II Performing Arts & Convention Center in Wichita on Feb. 25. Every state ensemble will perform at different times throughout the day, but the jazz ensemble that features both Ruggiero and Dungan, will perform at 12 p.m.

“I am excited to get to know my fellow musicians that I’ll be rehearsing and playing with, I think it is really cool to meet new people that share my same love for jazz and music as a whole,” Dungan said.

Although both Ruggiero’s and Dungan’s primary instruments in the ensemble will be the saxophone, that doesn’t mean it will be their only instrument. Ruggiero will be playing three instruments during the final state performance.

“Although I auditioned on alto saxophone, I will be playing flute and soprano saxophone also during the all-state performance,” Ruggiero said. “It’s just hard to think about the fact that there are seven districts in Kansas that each has a jazz band and concert band for both 1/2/3/4A and 5/6A with two to three alto saxophones each and all of them are able to compete for only two alto saxophone spots for jazz in Kansas.”