Twelve Coppell High School students have earned a spot in the 2010 Texas All-State Band after CHS topped its own record with 140 students making the All-Region Band.

Students making the Texas All-State Band are Catherine Lugo, alto clarinet; Angela Song, flute; Anna English, french horn; Phoebe Walden, B-flat clarinet; Ali McCully, bass clarinet; Alex Park, alto saxophone; Erik Piontek, tenor saxophone; Arnold Hechanova, B-flat clarinet; Evelyn Coffman, E-flat clarinet; Landon Grissett, contra bass clarinet; Haley Greenia, french horn and Paul Blazek, bass clarinet.

This is the third year for Blazek and the second year for McCully and Hechanova to earn a spot in the state's most prestigious band.

“The Coppell High School Band program has been fortunate to have the most or at least the second most All-Staters of any band program in Texas for the past several years." said CHS head band director Scott Mason. "This represents the great deal of musical talent, hard work and determination of our band students in Coppell."

"It is unbelievable to be fortunate enough to make this amazing group for a third time," said senior Paul Blazek, who plans to participate in a wind ensemble in college.

"Making it (All-State) the first time was great because it was such an amazing experience," said senior Ali McCully, "but one of the best things about returning is that it solidifies the fact that music has been and will always be a huge part of my life."

"I had such a great time last year at TMEA (Texas Music Educators Association convention), and this year hopefully, I can focus even more on how to truly become a musician," McCully added.

Making All-State is a goal all high-school musicians should strive for, Hechanova said. "The TMEA experience in San Antonio gives amateur musicians an opportunity to practice and perform like professionals," he said.

With more than 250,000 high school music students in the state, only .01 percent makes it to the coveted All-State Band.

Making the Texas All-State Band requires a series of auditions and begins with regional tryouts for either all-region band or all-region orchestra in one of the 28 regions in the state. In Coppell, a record 140 students made the All-Region Band.

The Region 20 North Zone All-Region Band concert and clinic was held at Coppell High School Jan. 15-16. CHS Band members claimed about 80 percent of the seats in the Region 20 North Zone High School All-Region Band, which includes a zone covering some 20 5A high schools.

Some of these students were allowed to go directly to one of seven area tryouts in the state and others were required to go through a pre-area tryout before going to area, depending on their chair placement at the region level. In Coppell, 45 students, more than any other school in the state, competed at the area tryouts Jan. 9 in Waco.

At area, which includes all high schools from north Houston, Austin, Waco and the Dallas area, the top students were named All-State Band members and will now attend the Texas Music Educators Association All-State clinic and concert Feb. 10-13 in San Antonio. In addition to the 12 All-Staters, Coppell also had seven students who were first alternates.

All-Staters must audition one last time in San Antonio for band and chair placement at the All-State level.

"The path to All-State consists of several grueling tryouts which may just be the most stressful part of my high school experience," said Hechanova, who also served as CHS Marching Band head drum major. "Especially after making it to San Antonio last year, it was even more difficult to 'defend' my position and place even higher than I did last year."

The key for making the All-State Band for Blazek each year has been a lot of practice and praying.

For McCully, her best advice when it comes to the actual auditions is to simply relax. "I always bring hand warmers into the audition room because I know I'll get cold so it's also important to thoroughly prepare and plan out everything prior to the audition."

Blazek, who has not decided on what college he will attend next year, said the best part of actually making it into the All-State band is the four-day trip to San Antonio to play with the most amazing players in all of Texas and to produce an unbelievable concert.

"That is what has motivated me these last two years to repeat," he said, adding that he plans to continue playing in college yet double major in biology and economics.

McCully, who plans to major in microbiology and molecular genetics at Oklahoma State University, said majoring in bass clarinet performance is not an option at major universities because they prefer students to perform on soprano clarinet.

However, she does plan to play bass clarinet in the university band and in the marching band.

Hechanova said although he does not plan to pursue a career in music, he does hope to find opportunities to play clarinet as he attends the University of Texas-Austin to study engineering.

McCully said the lesson she's learned from being in band and trying out for All-State all during high school has been that even in supposed failure, one can find success.

"Just like Mr. Mason says, it's all about how much effort you put into it," McCully said." You can put a lot of effort into the tryouts, but not make it, and get more out of it than someone who just had a great audition that day.

"Competition can be brutal," McCully said, "but I can vouch for the fact that healthy competition can drastically improve a person if taken correctly.

"Take it from someone who has been in a brutal rivalry for four years now with my fellow bass clarinet, Paul; it is actually possible to scramble for that elusive first chair and still remain good friends," she said.