Two Fine Arts Students Selected for TMEA All-State

Two Sherman High School students have earned the state’s highest musical honor after they were selected for Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) All-State spots after multiple rounds of auditions.

Sophomore Rickey Coursey was tapped to play the clarinet in the All-State Band, and junior Wade Patterson was selected for the All-State Tenor-Bass Choir. Over 70,000 students audition each year for an TMEA All-State spot, and only around 1,800 are selected for a spot in the All-State Band, Choir or Orchestra.

When the results first came in, Coursey was stunned.

“I didn’t think I did very well,” he said. “When I first saw how I placed in the results, I didn’t realize I made All-State until about 20 minutes later. That’s when I got excited.”

Coursey had been practicing the music selection every chance he had leading up to the final audition.

“I played it as often as I could,” he said. “Every day, right before class or right after class, even for a couple of seconds, I’d practice.”

Coursey is the first SHS student to make the All-State Band since 2022.

“This honor is a culmination of all the work he's done over the past five months, and he absolutely deserves this recognition,” said band director Ryan Jenkins. “Rickey is the embodiment of what it means to be dedicated to a goal and to work tirelessly to achieve it."

For the choir program, Patterson is the first student to make the All-State Choir since 2015, and this was his first year going through the lengthy audition process.

“I’ve always sang and done choral activities in the community, but I didn’t join choir until sophomore year and didn’t know about All-State,” Patterson said.

That didn’t stop him from practicing the music selection when it was first released in May of last year, said choir director Heidi Scheibmeir.

“I am extremely proud of Wade placing in the Texas All-State Tenor Bass Choir,” Scheibmeir said. “I am excited for Wade to sing with the top choral singers in the state of Texas.”

The two will have the opportunity to perform at the TMEA Convention in February. They will rehearse for three days prior to the performance with guidance from nationally recognized conductors, and the performance itself draws thousands of attendees from across the state.

“I’m really excited to go to the convention and make as much of an impact as I can,” Patterson said. “I’m looking forward to learning from the conductor for my choir.”