Adkins to perform at Carnegie Hal

Indian River High School senior Schyler Adkins is what many would characterize as a well-rounded student.

Coastal Point • Submitted
Indian River High School senior Schyler Adkins poses in front of a Macy’s Great American Marching Band banner. Adkins will be participating in the American High School Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Sunday, Feb. 12.

“He does real well in school. He’s got a great character and personality, gets good grades. He’s the kind of student you love to work with, obviously,” said Indian River High School Band Director Mark Marvel.

Adkins, who is also a member of the Indian River High School Band, has kept busy this year, performing in the marching band, concert band, variety shows, stage band shows and more. And, in his senior year, Adkins has been given the opportunity to perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, as well as on the stage at Carnegie Hall, both in New York City.

“They’re both very select groups — very difficult to be a part of,” said Marvel of Adkins selection to perform in the New York events. “It’s really cool.”

Adkins has been playing the trumpet, an instrument he said runs in the family, since the fourth grade.

“Really my whole family has been trained to play trumpet. My dad played trumpet. My brother played trumpet. So it kind of came to me.”

Adkins currently holds first chair in the band’s trumpet section and was selected as sixth chair in the Delaware All-State Band, which he also played in last year.

“He played a solo in the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ show every halftime show,” said Marvel of the IRHS marching band show. “He’s amazing, because he also play’s keyboard. He has been my lead keyboard player for four years now in the Variety Show and Stage Band. He can listen to a CD and figure it out by ear, and he can also read music, read chords… It’s a gift.”

Adkins had a unique opportunity this past fall to be one of six Delaware high-school musicians to be selected to march in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, in the Macy’s Great American Marching Band.

“Last year, everyone in All-State Band got a waiver for it and, basically, to be in it, all you had to do is just sign up, because different states do it different ways, but they want representatives from all 50 states,” explained Adkins. “On top of that, you also send in an audition, a recording more or less, and using that, they can assign parts. I sent in an audition tape, and I was assigned first part for both songs we performed.”

Kelly Schlegel, an event coordinator for Music Tours Unlimited, who organizes the Macy’s Great American Marching Band, said that a select 229 students marched this past November, coming from all 50 states.

She added that the students rehearse for three days prior to the parade and were expected to have their music memorized before they arrived for the first rehearsal.

“We have given the opportunity to a lot of students … that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to receive through their high-school band. It’s also opening them up to new experiences, not only to music, but culturally and socially,” she said.

At the parade, students performed a version of “Disco Inferno,” as well as a piece of music that was composed for the event, to commemorate the parade’s 85th anniversary.

“The whole parade was three miles, so you have this huge, long walk leading up to the performance,” recalled Adkins. “And right at the performance, there’s this moment where all the confetti cannons go off and, marching off, you get that feeling of, ‘Wow.’”

Adkins will be able to have another “wow” experience on Feb. 12, when he will join other musicians for the American High School Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

“I just very recently found out that I was accepted, and it’ll pretty much be the same thing like Macy’s, where it’s a weeklong event of practicing and getting ready for the performance, as well as sight-seeing and stuff,” he said. “It’s really exciting.”

“It’s an amazing accomplishment,” said Marvel of Adkins’ upcoming Carnegie Hall concert. ”That, along with his Macy’s parade and All State Band success, has really given him quite a year on trumpet.”

Adkins has been receiving private trumpet lessons from Marvel, and he said that his band director has always encouraged him by being a supporter and friend.

“I’ve known him pretty much my entire life, and he’s always been a huge supporter and a close friend,” Adkins said.

Adkins said he hopes to attend either James Madison University or the University of Delaware, to study music education.

“He’s an all-around awesome musician,” said Marvel. “Schyler is going to do really do well in college, and we are going to miss him at IR!”