Galway Student Chosen for All-State Chorus

GALWAY — Quinn Smith, a high school senior from Galway Junior/Senior High school was recently selected out of thousands of students to participate in the 2016 All-State Chorus Festival, December 1-4 in Rochester. “This is a special honor, which doesn’t happen every year for Galway,” said Gary Barrow, Director of Bands at Galway Central School District. “It is wonderful that our school will be represented! Congratulations to Quinn!” Each August, approximately 900 students are selected to participate in the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Conference All-State music groups. NYSSMA divides New York State into 15 regional zones, and last Spring 6,500 sophomores and juniors from those zones prepared for their All-State evaluations in hopes of being chosen for the festival. Smith was one of the talented students chosen. “I thought it was pretty cool at first, and after I started thinking about it I got more excited when I realized how big of a deal it was,” said Smith. According to a statement released from the school district, Smith believes he was chosen based on his performance of “Hear Me Ye Winds and Waves” at the NYSSMA Conference. He has been singing in a chorus since elementary school. A bass 2 vocalist, Smith began private lessons in seventh grade. Aside from his talent in singing, Smith enjoys playing trombone, piano and guitar, and is currently working to learn flute and the clarinet. He also commits his time to sports, playing basketball, baseball and soccer. When asked how he maintains such a busy schedule, Smith said, “I kind of just do it. I don’t really think about it. I only get stressed when I have a lot of schoolwork to do, but that doesn’t happen often because I’m pretty on top of it.” Unlike most high-stress seniors trying to figure out what’s next after high school, Smith has it figured out. In the fall of 2017, he will be attending Eastern Nazarene College, a liberal arts college in Quincy, Massachusetts, majoring in music education. “I’ve been hoping to go there since freshman year,” said Smith. “I’ll hopefully become a music teacher. I’m not entirely sure what level yet, but hopefully that’s what happens.” According to Smith, his private voice lessons teacher, Mrs. Drew, has helped him get as far as he has in music. “She basically taught me how to read music from the beginning and helped me develop my voice and piano skills,” said Smith. When it comes to making the choice between music and sports at college, Smith is going to try his best to balance them both, but ultimately music comes first. “I hope to play sports in college, but if it doesn’t fit into my schedule I’m prepared to drop it. Music is definitely more important,” said Smith. For more information about the All-State Chorus Festival in December, visit https://www.nyssma.org/event/2016-nyssma-winter-conference/.