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10/02/2013 12:00 AMWhen Andrew Hook looks back on his time at Daniel Hand High School, the band room will be a recurring backdrop for his memories. An accomplished All-State and All-Regional musician, Andrew, a senior, plays the tuba-and the piano, guitar, trombone, and violin. Now he can add another designation to his résumé: All-National.
Andrew is one of only a few high school students in Connecticut, and the state's only tuba player, invited to play in Nashville, Tennessee, at the end of this month with the All-National Honor Ensembles concert band at the Grand Ole Opry.
The event is organized by the National Association for Music Education and features students in grades 10, 11, and 12 who attend a high school in the 50 states, Washington, D.C., or one of the various Department of Defense Schools in Europe or internationally.
In order to be eligible, students must also have been accepted to their state's All-State Festival that year.
Andrew has been playing the tuba since 7th grade and lives in Madison with his parents, Ronald and Leslie. His sister, Melina, is a sophomore at the University of New Haven. His maternal grandfather, David Singer, lives in Old Lyme and was a band director at East Lyme High School before Andrew was born.
"When I started getting into classical music and band music," Andrew says, "he helped me find and read scores and analyze them and read music a lot better. I want to do anything musical for the rest of my life, but he really got me interested in being a band teacher."
Another band director who has helped Andrew succeed is Hand's own John Gage.
"Mr. Gage is an amazing band director," Andrew says. "He's really helped me a lot in finding my way through music and helping me become a better tuba player and have more knowledge about score study and classical music in general."
When Andrew first made the All-State band during his freshman year, his grandfather helped him buy a King 2341 B-flat tuba, which he named Katie.
Andrew and Katie have their sights set on Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, at which Andrew plans to major in tuba performance next year.
He explains, "That's my first choice. They have a really good conservatory there, and I have a lot of family on my dad's side in Pittsburgh. Craig Knox is the [artist lecturer] there. He's a world-class tuba player. I met with him. That's what you do when you're a performance major for an instrument. Instead of going to the school and looking at the classes, you meet with the instructor, because that's the person you're going to be working with three times a week."
Meanwhile, as Andrew continues his final year as a high-schooler, he infuses a whole new meaning into the term "extracurricular activities." He is a member of Hand's cross country team because it gives him a chance to hang out with his friends, he says, but most of his time is spent immersed in music-practicing, performing, and even conducting.
"I'm in New Haven four times a week for either rehearsals or I conduct a middle school ensemble," he explains. "I volunteer with a middle school band at Neighborhood Music School, which is a really good organization. I'm also in a symphonic band and youth orchestra there. I teach with the concert band, and I'm in a brass quintet band. I also take private tuba lessons through there with [Neighborhood Music School faculty member] Art Hovey. He's definitely a big role model for me."
Andrew is eager to practice his part for the concert in Nashville, but at press time he had yet to receive his sheet music, or even the names of the four songs in the band arrangement that the ensemble will be performing. All he knows is that one of the songs will be the work of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, he says.
"We have three days of rehearsals together as a band and then we play one concert there," Andrew says of Nashville. "You send in your video audition for seat placement [first chair, second chair, and so on], then when you get there it's mostly ensemble practice because they expect us to learn the music at home."
Among Andrew's dream pieces to play with a full orchestra someday are Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 and Mahler's Symphony No. 3. But between now and Carnegie Mellon, Andrew has plenty of other plans for Katie-namely a Mother's Day concert with the Neighborhood Music School and attending the upcoming Northeast Regional Tuba & Euphonium Conference at Ithaca College.
Andrew muses, "Gene Pokorny, who's a really famous tuba player, once said that if you don't like the tuba for its sound and you're just doing it for its performance opportunities, then you shouldn't be playing it. And I really do like it for its sound. I love playing solos on it and I love playing it in general. It's definitely my favorite thing to do."
To nominate someone for Person of the Week, email Melissa at
m.babcock@shorepublishing.com.