Freshman Anne Wu shines in Redwood High School’s band, selected for Prestigious CASMEC All-State Music Conference

By: Jenna Landin

Anne Wu, a percussionist, is the only freshman from Redwood to be accepted into the CASMEC Conference and has been playing piano since age four, joining band in the 5th grade.

Redwood has many talented students and some involving ensemble, but Anne Wu is in Redwood’s school band and she has been recognized for how she goes above and beyond along with other students in band.

When asked how she got interested in band, Wu says “I’ve been playing piano since I was 4, and I was interested in band because I saw a bell set and I thought, oh that looks like you just hitting a piano, and then I joined in 5th grade.”

She explained how she felt when a she found out she made it, Wu says “I was honestly surprised when I made it to the CASMEC all state music conference, I wasn’t expecting to make it because normally only upperclassmen make it.”

Wu says “I do want to continue playing out of highschool not necessarily in college, but maybe through an outside organization.”

Wu says “My favorite piece that I’ve played so far is a melody from ‘A phantom of the opera’.”

Wu says “The audition for all state was pretty good, I’ve been preparing for it since June, so I’d be comfortable with it when we had to send in the recording.”

When asked how she had to audition, Wu says “To audition we had to send a recording of ourselves playing a solo on 5 different percussion instruments.”

Wu was asked if she was nervous auditioning, Wu says “I was a bit nervous when I sent the recording in, it was sort of a last minute thing because we were under a time crunch, and so there wasn’t too much time for me to freakout, but it’s different when you have to send in video recordings because its not as stressful verses as performing live.”

When she was asked if she was nervous for the CASMEC all state music conference, Wu says “I’m not really nervous, my percussion teacher prepared me pretty well, I believe.”