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Wayland Student Press

The student news site of Wayland High School

Wayland Student Press

The student news site of Wayland High School

Wayland Student Press

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Budnick and Quinn to perform with All-Eastern Band

Junior Ryan Budnick (left) and senior Grace Quinn (right) will travel to Baltimore, MD in March to perform with the All-Eastern Band. (Courtesy of Kathy Radmer)

On March 30th, Wayland High School senior Grace Quinn and junior Ryan Budnick will head to Baltimore, Maryland along with 150 other students to perform with the All-Eastern Band. In Baltimore, they will spend three days rehearsing with band students from approximately 12 northeastern states.

They will rehearse about eight hours per day during the course of the three days and are joined in their performance by 150 orchestral players and 350 chorus members, as well as a 20-member jazz band, which must include at least one member from each northeastern state.

“I’m very excited to go to All-Eastern. I know that it’s very possibly going to be the best group I’ve ever played with,” said Budnick.  “It’s neat to see how 150 people like me can come together and pull together some amazing music in just a few days.”

“I am thrilled,” added Quinn. “I’m so excited to be going.”

Their accomplishment is no small feat. Before making it anywhere near All-Eastern, high school band students must audition for the Senior District Festival Band, a selective Massachusetts regional band. The top students in each region then get recommendations to audition for All-State Band, and the top All-State students are put into another selection pool.

These select few then send in individual student résumés with performance history and other information. Using the résumés, the selection panel picks out who gets into All-Eastern. Final seating will be determined when the students arrive in Baltimore.

Quinn and Budnick’s journey to All-Eastern started over a year ago, when they auditioned for Senior Districts in the fall of 2009.

“Auditioning is an odd experience that has changed a lot for me over time,” said Quinn. “I’ve become used to auditions enough that I’m now able to stay pretty calm mentally, but my heart still beats harder, and I breathe a little faster.”

Both Budnick and Quinn have extensive musical experience, as well as musical experience in their families.

Budnick’s entire family plays instruments. His mother is a professional vocal coach and music instructor at the University of Connecticut and Boston University and also runs an opera company, Opera del West.

Though he made All-Eastern on clarinet, Budnick also plays jazz saxophone and piano as well. His musical experience includes Senior District band, Senior District Jazz Band (for saxophone), Massachusetts All-State Band, Metrowest Youth Symphony Orchestra, a Mozart clarinet quintet, and pit orchestras in numerous musicals.

“My family is pretty musical – as long as I can remember, there has always been classical music playing in the car or in the house,” said Quinn.

She has been playing flute since the age of 8 and has played in both the Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble (MYWE) at New England Conservatory and the Longy Youth Chamber Orchestra (LYCO) at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge for three years.

She has spent the last five summers at a music camp, Camp Encore/Coda, where she worked as a counselor this past year.

Both Budnick and Quinn will play in the pit band for the WHS spring musical, Les Miserables, this spring.

“If I’m stressed out about anything that doesn’t have to do with musical performance, practicing is pretty calming,” said Quinn.

“I try to practice every day for a couple of hours, but often doesn’t work out because of school work or extracurricular activities,” said Budnick. “I generally get a good few hours on the weekends. Thankfully my playing is kept in fairly good shape by playing in different groups.”

The anticipation level for All-Eastern is high for both Quinn and Budnick.

“We found out we were accepted about five months before the actual festival, so the waiting is a bit hard, but whenever it pops into my head, I get excited about it again,” said Quinn.

Expectations are high not only for the musical experience, but also for the conductors and fellow musicians they will work with.

“The All-State conductors I’ve had have been incredible,” explained Quinn. “It’s unbelievable how endless their enthusiasm seems to be, and how much they are able to share with you in about 72 hours.”

“I have high expectations for the conductor – the All State band conductor was by far the best one I’ve ever played under, and the higher up you go, the better the conductors generally get,” added Budnick.

Quinn and Budnick will leave for Maryland on March 30th, with rehearsals from March 31st to April 2nd, culminating in a performance on April 3rd.

View Comments (5)
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Comments (5)

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  • M

    MsMApr 1, 2011 at 8:42 PM

    Your middle school band director is proud of you guys. Bravo! MsM

    Reply
  • F

    FellowbandcamperMar 29, 2011 at 7:16 PM

    Yayy grace!

    Reply
  • S

    shadesMar 29, 2011 at 9:55 AM

    yeaaah!! good luck guys!

    Reply
  • G

    GrammarianMar 26, 2011 at 6:48 PM

    "The anticipation level for All-Eastern is high for both Quinn and Budnick."

    Really? A passive construction?

    Reply
  • Y

    yesthat'swhatIsaidMar 23, 2011 at 12:34 PM

    Budnick is so hot!!!

    Reply
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Budnick and Quinn to perform with All-Eastern Band