Many students participate in the various music classes that are offered at WHS. However, there are a few students who choose to go above and beyond by auditioning for Senior Districts, a prestigious ensemble that only accepts the most talented musicians.

Last week, these musicians put their hard work to the test and made the trip to Milton High School to audition for the group.

This year, 14 students from the WHS music program were accepted into Senior Districts. These students will play in a music festival, in which they will perform upper level music pieces with the other musicians from surrounding districts who also made the cut.

In order to prepare for this audition, the students are given a music piece that they must play a selection from.

“The audition piece comes out in the spring, and if you want to audition you can buy it at a music store and practice it over the summer,” said senior cellist Andrew Laven, who made Senior Districts his freshman, sophomore and junior year. Laven was unable to audition this year because of scheduling conflicts.

Since the audition piece comes out so far before the actual audition, students take many different courses when deciding how to prepare.

“Often people don’t really work on it until the fall, but if you want to make a really good chair, you have to practice for quite some time,” said Fine Arts Department Head and orchestra teacher Susan Memoli. “You can’t mess up, because the competition in this district is unbelievable.”

Because of the intense competition, there is much stress surrounding the auditions for the students.

“Every time you audition, it’s always so nerve-wracking,” said junior violist Maddie Memoli, who has made senior districts twice.

“The musicians go into a blind audition room,” said the elder Memoli. “The judge does not see them and he listens to two different scales, a portion of the prepared selection and sight reading, which is playing music that you’ve never seen before. The culmination of those scores determines whether or not you get into the ensemble.”

Although this may seem complicated, the audition process is only 5-10 minutes.

Some students believe that experience helps lower the stress involved with the audition.

“I finally got over the audition nerves this year. It went a lot smoother for me than in years past,” said junior saxophonist Karen Zhang.

Out of the students who make senior districts, only a few have the chance to audition for All-State.

“If you score in the top half of your section, which means you are pretty much the best of the best, then you have the opportunity to audition for All-State,” Susan Memoli said.

The students who are accepted into this group then rehearse together in Boston and ultimately perform at Symphony Hall.

This year, eight of the fourteen students who made Senior Districts achieved an All-State recommendation. These eight students were Myra Afzal, Jesse Hoopes, Emily Huber, Maddie Memoli, Steph Steltzer, Katherine Wang, Austin Wong and Karen Zhang.

Despite all the hard work that’s necessary for these auditions, most students have only good things to say about Senior Districts and All-State.

“I think it’s a really good learning opportunity because you get to meet so many skilled musicians,” said Zhang.

The students participating in senior districts will perform with their ensemble on January 4 and 5 at Boston Latin School.