Date: Feb. 02, 2016
CARTHAGE, NY (WWNY) – There’s an old joke: how do you get to Carnegie Hall?
The punch line is: practice, practice, practice.
That’s exactly what some local students are doing.
And, when they get there, there will be more practice.
7 News reporter Patrick Malowski had the opportunity to sit down with the four students playing the Honors Performance Series, where elite musicians in high school are invited to perform with the best on one of the world’s most famous stages.
Watertown High’s Evan Smith will be playing trombone.
“I look forward to it. I mean, it’s hard for me to put into word my excitement. I think maybe once I’m there and back I’ll be able to describe it a little bit better,” he said.
He has come a long way since fifth grade
“I picked the instrument because you could do the whole all the way down and all the way back up thing and that ‘wahhh’ noise,” said Smith.
But singing on stage is where he hopes to find his future.
“Getting to be somebody else for a little while on stage, but yeah, I love them both,” said Smith.
In Carthage, there are three students performing.
Rebekah Zehr will play the French horn.
“One night at the dinner table my mom told me and I really freaked out. There’s so many students and we’re just in a little neck of the woods,” she said.
While the French horn is what she hopes takes her far, her “fun” instrument is the piano.
“With piano you play a lot more goofy stuff,” she said. “It would be really cool if I could play in like a professional orchestra or something like that. Also, the idea of opening a French horn studio.”)
Meet Morgan Bernat and Jonathan Travis both will sing with the select choir at Carnegie Hall.
“Music is passion. It’s something I really like doing,” said Morgan.
Morgan’s job will be to hit angelic notes in the soprano section.
“I’m mostly excited, not really nervous, like musically since they’ve accepted me, I’m like, you’ve got the skills you can do it,” she said.
While she’ll study math in college, music is where her true dream lies.
“I really want to do music performance. That was my goal,” she said.
Jonathan will sing the deep notes as a bass in the Carnegie Hall choir.
“I’ll be able to look back and tell my kids, ‘Yeah, I sang there,'” he said.
But his goal isn’t to be a Broadway star, just help people with music.
“I plan to be involved with the church. A worship leader. I love writing music and see people coming up to me saying, ‘Wow, your song really touched me.’ That’s what I want,” he said.
The four students will spend the rest of week rehearsing.
On Sunday, they’ll officially have their names etched into that famous lineup at Carnegie Hall.
Patrick Malowski 