EDUCATION
A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2022
Dan Allen/Contributed Photo
Hermiston’s Sandstone Middle School students take the stage at Carnegie Hall for a dress rehearsal ahead of their performance June 6, 2022.
Students perform in famed music hall
Chavez, 14, described the trip as “a
new experience.”
“It was a cool thing to cross off my
bucket list,” she said. She said she wants
to go to many more places, including
Europe, now.
Hardy, 12, said she liked meeting
people from different places. Some of
these people are new friends, she said,
and she expressed the hope she would
see them again.
Hermiston kids, teacher
reminisce after returning
from Carnegie Hall
performance in New York
BY ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
Dan Allen has heard the joke.
Question: “How do you get to Carn-
egie Hall?”
Answer: “Practice, practice, prac-
tice.”
Allen is the director of bands at
Sandstone Middle School in Hermis-
ton. He rolled his eyes when he recently
heard the Carnegie Hall story. For him,
and his students, the Carnegie joke isn’t
just a silly gag; it’s a reality.
He and a group of his students re-
cently traveled to New York, New York,
to perform at the famed music hall.
The students sang under conductor
Greg Gilpin on June 6.
After the students returned to
Hermiston, Allen and his students
said it really did take a lot of practice
for them to be able to perform at Car-
negie. They all said it was worth it,
however, as they had a wonderful ex-
perience.
A LONG TIME COMING
At the end of 2019, the SMS choir
was nominated to perform alongside
a few choirs from around the U.S. and
one from Hong Kong. They were se-
lected for this opportunity, but the pan-
demic put the kibosh on it happening
when scheduled in 2020.
Dan Allen/Contributed Photo
Hermiston students pose with a poster of their Carnegie Hall performance on June 6, 2022.
By the time the concert was resched-
uled, some of the choir students from
Sandstone had moved on to Hermis-
ton High School. Fortunately, for them,
they were able to join students from
their old school to make the New York
trip and perform. And, like the middle
school students, they had a memorable
experience, according to their director
and his students.
“It was fantastic,” Allen said. “It was
great for the kids to be nominated, au-
dition and prove their worth. To be
recognized along with schools from
all over the country and the world as a
program of outstanding caliber, at that
level, that’s just outrageous.”
Nine students performed. They are
Keely Burns, Marely Chavez, Corine
Chen, Gracie Connell, Cord Cooley,
Jared Crowther, Jaylee Hardy, Harmony
Huntington and Mia Gardner.
They took a road trip to Portland,
then flew to New York City. Including
travel time, they were gone six days.
While in New York, the students had
daily rehearsals, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
In the afternoons, they would tour the
area. They visited the Statue of Liberty,
took a bus tour of New York City, paid
respect at the National September 11
Memorial & Museum and more.
They went to Broadway to watch
The Lion King, and they popped in on
the Empire State Building, too.
“It was a really great combination,”
Allen said. “It was a business trip, and
we were there for the performance, but
they left us with time to do some things
with the kids that were really cool.”
HAVING A COOL TIME IN THE BIG APPLE
Back at their school, students re-
ported that they did, in fact, have a
wonderful time.
“It was really fun,” Connell, 12, said.
She said she enjoyed being with her
friends and singing at Carnegie Hall.
Burns, 11, said that the performance
was memorable to her, too. Also, she
said, the visit to the Statue of Liberty
stood out on this trip.
Cooley, 13, stated that he had a good
time, but that he felt tired. The flight
was exhausting, he said, but he did en-
joy the experience. He said he liked the
Empire State Building best.
THE PERFORMANCE & THE NEXT STEP
Their teacher boasted of his stu-
dents, saying they were terrific on the
trip and excellent on stage.
As a musician, himself, he said a
performance at Carnegie Hall is mo-
mentous. Watching them, he said, he
was filled with pride. Then, another
big moment came at the end when an
usher pulled him out of the audience to
take a bow with his kids.
“Now I can say that I’ve been on
the same stage as the Beatles,” he said,
laughing.
Allen said Sandstone will return to
Carnegie Hall.
“Once you’ve become an alumni and
you’ve established your reputation with
them, you’re able to go back without
jumping through all the hoops that we
went through the first time,” he said.
Nominations and auditions, then,
are not required for another appear-
ance.
“We’re in a really good position,” he
said.
He added that he could simply pick
up the phone and say that they’d like to
perform again in 2025, and Sandstone
would be welcomed for an encore.