Congratulations to Iris Tian (II) for passing both Senior Districts and the Massachusetts Music Educators Association (MMEA) All-State audition for violin! Tian currently plays for the Boston Latin School Concert String Orchestra and has nearly ten years of experience under her belt.
Among the 27 students who represented BLS at the MMEA Eastern District Senior Festival this January, Tian was one of 16 receiving an all-state recommendation.
Many BLS students participating in band, choir and orchestra are familiar with the lengthy audition process of All-States: the months refining an unfamiliar piece, the judging process, all before moving on to the next round of auditions. Auditionees selected from the top scorers in Senior Districts auditions earn an All-State recommendation, which qualifies them for All-State auditions. These are followed by more judging, and for string players, getting accepted means a chance at being selected to play with an orchestra of like-passionate musicians that also qualified for MMEA for two days: one for rehearsal and the other for the performance.
With such a demanding musical commitment, how does one balance the arts on top of school and other extracurriculars? Tian finds that in regards to her own practice, it’s much more productive to focus on quality rather than quantity.
She explains, “Some people I know practice two hours, [which] is a lot of time to invest, especially for BLS students. I like to designate a bit of time where I really work on one specific thing that I want to improve on.” This way, she is able to make the most out of her limited practice time.
One of the biggest obstacles Tian has faced in her musical career is accurately gauging her abilities, whether in terms of strengths or areas for improvement. When she first started the violin, Tian’s assessment of her skills largely depended on instructor feedback. But throughout the years, she began to realize the importance of determining her artistic identity.
A key factor in doing so was accepting humility as part of the growth process. While Tian is now at a point in her journey where her mindset reflects positively on her skills, she equally recognizes how important it is “to realize not everything is perfect […] there’s always something to improve [upon].”
Playing an instrument has intangible rewards, too. Although Tian initially relied on self-discipline as motivation, she has since discovered that music is an excellent medium for expressing emotions. She believes that, “Especially for violin and other instruments, it’s a very cathartic experience […] And it’s really relaxing after a tough day, to just set everything down and pick up your violin.”
Aside from excelling in orchestra, one can find Tian picking up a new crochet pattern, plucking the ukulele or playing tennis for the BLS girls’ JV team.
To all her fellow musicians, the best piece of advice Tian has to offer is “just to find what makes you happy when you’re doing music. Don’t force yourself to […] practice every day if that’s what someone’s forcing you to do.”
And of course, explore different genres of music! Despite being an avid student of the classical genre, Tian is branching out into jazz and encourages others to explore outside of their main genre as well. In the end, what matters most is personal fulfillment and discovering an outlet representative of your artistic expression.
