Cape band, chorus students earn All-Eastern recognitions

Several Cape High band and chorus students recently earned All-Eastern recognitions from the National Association for Music Education, and will be traveling to Hartford, Conn., this spring to perform at the biannual All-Eastern Conference.

Senior Jacob McLean and junior CJ Schaffer both earned spots in the concert band, while senior Dylenn Enright was selected for the mixed chorus, and junior Julia Burrell made the treble chorus. Each ensemble comprises students from the northeast U.S., from Maryland to Maine, who were hand-picked by the NAfME Eastern Division selection committee.

“I’ve never done anything this big before,” Burrell said. “The whole process was scary to me, and when they posted the results, I thought, ‘Alright, just open it, you know you’re not in.’ Then I read my name, like, ‘Oh, really?’”

Burrell qualified for an All-State ensemble, which is a requirement for students to be considered for All-Eastern, but she didn’t expect to make it further.

“It makes me feel good,” she said. “My dad told a bunch of people at my job, and I went into work one day, and they all said, ‘We’re so proud of you.’ And I was like, ‘I haven’t even thought about that yet, but I’m proud of me too.’”

McLean, who’s played the clarinet since his sophomore year, also said he never thought he would qualify for All-Eastern. He said he’s practiced a lot over the past two to three years, but had a late start compared to most of the other students who were selected, many of whom likely started playing around fifth grade or so.

“Getting in is a really big accomplishment for me,” McLean said.

According to Cape High Band Director Chris Burkhart, who works alongside several other directors at the school, “It’s really cool because it shows how hard [the students] work.”

Schaffer, who’s played the trombone since fifth grade, said, “A concert is payoff for previous rehearsals, but this feels like a larger recognition of the work I’ve put in over those seven years.”

This year’s All-Eastern Conference, which will feature performances by each ensemble, will take place from Thursday, April 24 to Sunday, April 27. It will also feature performances by other smaller ensembles.

Cape’s jazz band was invited to perform at the 2023 conference in Rochester, N.Y., and Schaffer and Burrell, freshmen at the time, both went. This time around, they’re both in lead seats.

According to Enright, while the students in each All-Eastern ensemble will receive their music ahead of time to practice on their own, they won’t meet the other members of their ensemble until the conference, meaning each ensemble gets only a day or two for full-group rehearsals before the performance.

Enright and the other three Cape students received grants from the Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation to help cover trip expenses.

“I am really grateful for that because it’s supporting me and my family, who would have had to pay that,” Schaffer said. “Now I get to go for free. All I had to pay was the application fee.”

Schaffer and Burrell also embarked on the Cape music program’s January trip to San Diego, Calif., where they performed on the USS Midway. The group had the opportunity to attend a San Diego Symphony recital and participate in a choir clinic led by professionals from the University of San Diego.

“I thought the choir clinic was amazing,” Burrell said. “It was one of my favorites we’ve ever done. The director really connected with us, and he was bright and happy, and everything he said, I immediately absorbed it and immediately fixed all of these problems that I didn’t even know existed.”

“I’ve never been to Connecticut,” Schaffer said. “I had never been to Rochester or California. It’s really cool that I get to go to all of these places with a reason, and that music is that reason.”