The Maryland Music Educators Association has released the updated lists for both junior and senior All-State this week. In years past, there was a four-year rotation of the same études, so this presents nearly a complete departure from said rotation. I am on board with this, being fairly new to Maryland’s system for All-State.

After looking over the lists for clarinet, I can already see that judging All-State again this year will be challenging. The octave jumps on page 23 at 120 bpm will be a true test of the students’ abilities and our patience as judges. That said, I remember mastering the same étude when I was a sophomore clarinetist, auditioning for West Virginia All-State. Ah, memories.

MBDA List 2015-16