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Local students selected for All State Orchestra

By Toni Milbourne - For the Chronicle | Jan 28, 2022

Members of the Fellowship Bible Church Youth Orchestra selected for the West Virginia All State Orchestra are, from left, Addisyn Kirkland, Rachel Beall, Natania Henson, Diego Zavala, Sam Lake, Abigail Beall, Isabel Kirkland, Ella Schmidt and Hannah Beall. Courtesy photo

CHARLES TOWN — Several students of the Fellowship Bible Church Youth Orchestra recently auditioned for the West Virginia All State Orchestra in Bridgeport.

According to orchestra instructor Hector Zavala, the students received music to prepare for the January auditions in September.

“All of the public, private and homeschool students around the state are welcome to try out for the auditions,” Hector said. “This year, there were around 90 middle schoolers and 100 high school students trying to get in for each orchestra.”

Eight members of Hector’s youth orchestra successfully completed auditions and will perform as part of the all state orchestra in March in Charleston. Middle school students Rachel Beall, Natania Henson and Hannah Beall earned spots in the middle school all state orchestra, while high schoolers Diego Zavala, Sam Lake, Abigail Beall, Isabell Kirkland and Addisyn Kirkland earned spots in the high school all state orchestra.

Diego Zavala, son of orchestra leader and instructor Hector Zavala, said any students who are part of an orchestra were eligible to try out.

“We went in under the Fellowship Bible Church Orchestra,” Diego said.

Diego, according to his father, began playing violin at age four and has been selected for the All State Orchestra two previous times. He attends Faith Christian Academy in Martinsburg.

Lake, a home school senior, has been playing the violin since fifth grade. He said that selection to be in the All State Orchestra is a great accomplishment and one that did not come easily.

“We got the music without much time to practice it,” Lake said, adding that the pieces provided were difficult at best.

“There were 23 of us auditioning for first chair violin. Eighteen got in,” Lake said, mentioning that he, Abigail Beall and Diego Zavala were numbers seven, eight and nine.

Abigail, also a homeschooler, is in ninth grade and has been playing the violin for about eight years.

Rachell Beall is an eighth grade homeschool student who has played the violin for approximately eight years, as well, while her sister, Hannah, a seventh grader, has been playing violin for five years and the viola for one. Henson, a sixth grade homeschool student, has played the violin for four years. Schmidt, an eighth grade homeschool student, plays the violin and piano and has done so for approximately six years. Sisters Isabel and Addisyn Kirkland round out the group as Isabel has played the viola for five years and Addisyn the cello for six years.

On March 3, these students will travel to Charleston, where they will participate in two days of rehearsals at the civic center there, before performing in the concert scheduled for March 5. The All State Orchestra operates in conjunction with the West Virginia Music Educators Association Conference happening concurrently in the state’s capital.

“We are so proud of these students for playing and developing their instruments, for having the courage to audition and for playing in front of the judges in order to be selected,” Hector said.

He went on to share that benefits of orchestra participation include such things as enhancement of academic skills; improvement of reading and cognitive development; stimulation of the parts of the brain related to reading, math and emotional development; stress relief; and acquisition of a respect for discipline that carries over to other aspects of life.