Harwood musicians tuning up

Matt Skelly, a singer and saxophonist, and Chloe Riven, a clarinetist, lead the Harwood Union High School contingent headed for the Vermont All-State Music Festival next month.

The festival kicks off Wednesday, May 4, at Missisquoi Valley Union High School in Swanton with a parade at 6 p.m.

The following three days, Thursday through Saturday, music will fill the school gymnasium and auditorium as student performers practice their pieces, culminating in three concerts: A scholarship concert Thursday, May 5, at 8 p.m. in the auditorium; a jazz concert Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium; and an orchestra, band and chorus concert Saturday at 2 p.m. in the gymnasium.

Here’s a look inside the lives of these promising musicians.

Matt Skelly

Matt Skelly, a Harwood junior who lives in Waterbury, loves all things music.

He plays saxophone in the band and has taken piano lessons much of his life.

Matt’s most precious instrument, though, is his voice. And he uses it as much as he can, whether that is as part of a Harwood choir, in the band or in a musical production.

“It can be hard sometimes,” Matt said of balancing his schoolwork and musical projects, “but it’s definitely worth it.”

His schedule is fairly light, with a heavy focus on music and a history class he’s taking online.

Matt plans to study music in college, and that’s partially why he participates in all the festivals he can. Each one rounds out his resume a little more.

In addition to the All-State Music Festival, Skelly has been part of the Winooski Valley Music Festival and the New England Music Festival.

He doesn’t get nervous about singing auditions. “It’s kind of just instinctual,” he said; he just goes in and sings his part.

Instrumental auditions — most recently on alto sax — are much more difficult for him.

At All-States, he earned an honorable mention for a vocal scholarship, which allows him to perform in a scholarship concert the first night of the festival.

When Matt gets copies of the festival’s music program, he tries to find recordings of the songs, then listens to them over and over again to get the feel of the music.

After a while, he starts singing along with the recording. By the time he gets to the festival, he’s practically an expert.

“It’s a growing experience as an artist,” he said. “Even if you don’t get in, there’s always next year.”

Chloe Riven

Though Chloe doesn’t plan to study music in college, she wants it always to be part her life.

Chloe, a Harwood Union junior, plays the clarinet, and has taken private clarinet lessons.

Rather than music, she hopes to pursue a career in nursing. She loves her human anatomy class.

Music is something she does for fun. That includes the Winooski Valley Music Festival, the All-State Music Festival and the New England Music Festival.

Chloe says the auditions aren’t too difficult, although “All-State kicks it up a notch.”

For the auditions, instrumentalists need only memorize a few scales, including the chromatic scale — every note possible to play on the instrument — and a couple of other scales, both the sharp and flat versions.

The festivals also have an audition piece, which this year was Mozart’s “Concerto Op. 107” for clarinet.

Chloe doesn’t tend to get nervous until she gets into the audition room, face-to-face with two judges who know the instrument well.

The best way to get through an audition is to just let your fingers go, Chloe said. If you’ve practiced enough, they’ll know what to do.

Chloe’s audition earned her a spot in the first clarinet section.

Once she gets the festival music package, Chloe likes to listen to the pieces before she tries playing them. Once she gets the rhythm down, she’ll practice once or twice a week, as her schedule allows.

She also has a weekly private lesson, and her teacher will help her master the piece.

When she gets to All-State this year, her third time, she’ll be ready to play.

“Overall, it’s a fun festival,” she said.