In October 2024 Quinn submitted his audio audition for the California All State Band which he had been working on with his tuba instructor Mike Freed. And on November 16 he found out that he made it! What an incredible achievement for Quinn. There were 6 kids from Westlake High School that made All State.

The All State Band is held in Sacramento and is a 4 day event where they spend time rehearsing, meeting with clinicians, and also watch other bands perform. On Thursday morning, we dropped Quinn off at the Sacramento Conference Center and said good bye until Sunday. The kids stay at the Sheraton across the street from conference center and have a full schedule.

We were also staying at the Sheraton and could frequently hear various musical instruments. We happened to catch the tuba players before or after their chair placement auditions. Quinn said he totally botched the chair placement audition.

Don and I enjoyed our weekend “alone” in Sacramento walking 20,000 steps a day and enjoying dinners out. But we were eager to see and hear Quinn play. The concerts were held at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium which was within easy walking distance of the convention center and hotel. We attended a Friday night concert to see one of Quinn’s bandmates perform with the All State Jazz Band and the auditorium was packed to the rafters with the other student bands (including Quinn).

Quinn’s Symphonic Band performed on Sunday morning and we got little glimpse of him in the back.

My picture of the full band.

The pro picture of the full band. Quinn is the tuba closest to the front of the stage on the right.

Quinn grabbed this selfie with all the other tuba players. The kid with the tuba furthest away from Quinn is local to our area and also takes tuba lessons with Mike Freed.

Here are the performances:

It was a great experience for Quinn and he plans to audition again next year. And we could not be more proud of him for putting himself out there to audition and then make the All State Band. Way go to dude!