Tusky Valley bassoonist chosen for All-State Band
Kimmie Christ, bassoonist, poses under a photo of Emily Hiltner, the only other Tusky Valley student to be chosen for the OMEA All-State Band. Christ will perform with the All-State Band at the OMEA conference in February.
Summer break flies by for most teenagers. However, if you are waiting to hear important news like Kimmie Christ, it crawls by.
After applying May 31, the Tusky Valley senior finally received the news at the end of August that she had been selected for the Ohio Music Education Association’s All-State Band. Christ is the daughter of Rick and Dori Christ of Bolivar and a bassoonist in the Tusky Valley concert band, as well as the clarinet section leader in marching band.
“I’m so excited for this,” said Christ, who is only the second student from Tusky Valley ever to be selected for the honor. Emily Hiltner, an oboist, was chosen in 2010.
Christ, who was named alternate to the All-State Band last year, tried out with a fellow student. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to try out this year if I had to go by myself.”
A trip to Buckeye Girls State changed that, though. “I went completely by myself, and it was so fun,” she said. “I ended up making friends with four girls, and they were all band kids. It was so awesome. So I’m super excited to do this and meet like a ton of other people.”
The All-State Band and an All-State Choir will perform for educators from all over Ohio during the OMEA Professional Development Conference in Columbus in February.
This is not the first honor Christ has earned for her musical talent. She also was selected as first chair clarinet for the All Ohio Ambassadors of Music in 2019, when she and some 250 other Ohio students toured Europe.
“We flew into Heathrow and spent three days in London,” said Tusky Valley band director Merrie Gensley, who accompanied Christ in Europe. “We then spent three days in Paris and three in Switzerland.”
“We also went to Austria, Italy and Germany,” said Christ, who said she chose the bassoon as a second instrument upon Gensley’s recommendation. “I just really love the sound of the bassoon. It’s such a nice, low tone. It was more difficult for me to learn than clarinet was, so I also liked the challenge. The range is so extensive, and also it’s a double reed instrument, so it’s harder.”
Instruments like the clarinet and saxophone, classified as woodwinds, have a thin wooden reed in the mouthpiece that vibrates when it is blown across. Clarinets use one read, but instruments like the bassoon and oboe use two.
Christ studied bassoon under Pat Kroft of Louisville. “She’s constantly saying practice, practice, practice, so she definitely has pushed me,” she said.
Each year 1,000 students or more audition for the chance to play with the All-State Band, and auditioning is a rigorous process. Christ and others vying for selection had to learn excerpts from complex pieces of music and record themselves playing them. Each student also selected a solo piece and uploaded the audio to the OMEA website. The students were then chosen in a blind audition based solely on their recordings.
“I actually enjoyed working on the excerpts,” Christ said. “They were more challenging than a lot of the things I’ve played in regular band.”
Christ said she likes the process of learning new pieces and preparing for performances and contests. “It’s excellent when it’s getting really close to contests and we’re all stressed out, but then when it finally comes together, that’s the best part,” she said.
She said her favorite thing about being in band is the people. “It’s just a really fun thing to be a part of, and I love all my friends. At the end of the football games, win or lose, the band is doing our thing, screaming and yelling and having the time of our lives. So the people are the best part. I love being surrounded by them,” she said.