By Nathan Straus
nstraus@jacksonvilleprogress.com
Spencer Jay, an oboe-playing junior at Jacksonville High School, was selected to the Texas All-State Band after a competition at Tyler Junior College on Saturday. He is one of the 125 students who will play in the 4A All-State Band out of about 2,500 who originally competed for a spot.
Mike Bullock, band director, said it is the first time in about eight years the school has had an All-State student.
“We had Lindsay Waller, a clarinet player in 2002. It’s been real dry since then,” Bullock said.
He said Jay has done a phenomenal amount of work to prepare for the run-up to All-State at both the regional and area level.
“He started in August preparing music,” Bullock said. “Everything he did was done outside of the normal school day. It was all on his own time.”
Jay will travel to San Antonio on Feb. 17 to begin tryouts for All-State chair placement, Bullock said. Each of the students with the same instrument who made All-State will be put in the same room and play one after another.
On Feb. 18, the rehearsals will begin and will lead to a Feb. 20 concert with all the All-State players.
“This usually leads to scholarships,” Bullock said. “It can lead to incredible opportunities such as performing with orchestras or a job playing with an orchestra.”
Bullock said Jay is a friendly, happy and outgoing student and he is very proud of what Jay has accomplished.
Jay said he feels good now that he’s moving on to All-State.
“I am glad to have finally achieved it,” he said.
He said over 500 hours of practice at a pair of two- to three-hour sessions each day went toward his current All-State qualification.
“I was most nervous about the area audition,” Jay said. “It was competition that beat me last year and I went up against them again. This time, I played the cards right.”
Competitors had both a regular audition and a recording. Jay said the regular audition was the tenser of the two as he was required to play his oboe in front of both the judges and the students waiting to play.
“My parents were outside watching through the window,” he said.
The record entailed just Jay and a single operator for a recording device.
“The recording was really good. I was in a big theater playing my heart out,” he said.
Now Jay looks to the All-State Band.
“I’m looking forward to playing with the best in the state,” he said.
Jay said he plays oboe because of the characteristic sound and the expression that can be put through it. He said he heard the instrument played by Alicia Tennison, a former JISD teacher, at Central Baptist Church and knew that was the instrument he wanted to play.
“She’s been my mentor ever since,” Jay said.
