Outstanding Student Madeleine Riding

Have you ever heard a screeching violin? Well, it’s pretty dang painful!  Thankfully, the musicians who have been accepted into the All-National Honors Ensembles won’t have to deal with anything quite like that. Students from 49 states have been accepted into 4 different ensembles: the band, the orchestra, the choir, and the jazz ensemble. In order to audition, these students had to have participated in their states All State Music Festival, as well as received superior ratings in their state’s solo and ensemble festival. Ou own Madeleine Riding, a junior at SFHS, auditioned for and was selected to participate in the All-National Orchestra as a first violin. Madeleine began taking violin lessons just before she turned 3 years old and now hopes to study music performance at a university. She currently is a member of our school’s chamber orchestra, the Lyceum Philharmonic, and teaches 14 students. You could say music is pretty much her life. She’s excited to go to Texas in November and spend 4 days working with musicians from around the nation who share a similar love of music. For now, just don’t ask how much she practices.  The answer is always, “Not enough.”

Congratulations Madeleine! We are proud to call you a Don.