‘IT DEFINITELY CHANGED MY LIFE’

Some people have the “it” factor.

Consider Cordell High School senior Gabby Giblet one of them.

Her list of accomplishments is exemplary for a student.

Her resume reads like a who’s who. Gabby earned a seat on the State Superintendent Student Advisory Council. She’s on the academic team, student council and in the jazz, concert and marching bands. She won a CK Energy writing contest. She’s taking concurrent college courses. And she’s in the final consideration for class valedictorian.

“I like to keep myself wellrounded,” she said.

Her top accomplishment just may be earning All-State Band honors with her trusty clarinet for two straight years.

“Her father and I are very proud. That was her dream, that was her goal ever since she started music to make All-State,” said Kim Giblet, her mother.

The All-State band is usually dominated by musicians from larger schools, which have more resources. Schools like Cordell will see students honored occasionally, but not too often.

Before Giblet, the last time Cordell had a student make the All-State Band was five years ago when Justin Hamlett earned the honor.

“No one had made it for several years and then Justin made it (In Gabby’s 8th grade-year). So she was like, ‘Wow, someone can make it.’ That was her dream come true,” Kim said.

Hamlett used to call her his little allstater, Gabby said,

“I was like, I got to live up to the dream now,” she said.

Mom added: “That was her dream, she made it known that was what she was shooting for.”

First-year band teacher Aaron Edge is glad he was part of the process.

“It makes me feel really, really wonderful, and it’s something I can be proud of her for, but it’s nothing that I can really take credit for,” he said. “Her lessons teachers work hard, she works hard. No student can make it without personal discipline and dedication.”

How she made it

The process to make All-State Band is arduous, nerve-wracking and stressful.

In the first round, Gabby had to learn a sheet of music she’d never seen before, from scratch.

“It’s a pass or fail,” she said. “If you pass, you go to the second round and you get a month to learn two whole different pieces of music again compared to the couple of months of first round.”

When she passed the second round, she advanced to the third round where she played a different portion of the second round of music as well as performing a sight reading.

“It’s a very intense and stressful process,” she said.

Weirdly enough, Gabby said, auditioning is more stressful than playing.

“When you’re in ensemble, it’s not just you,” she said. “Sure, you have to hold up your part, but you’re a group, you each have a group responsibility.”

In the audition, you don’t get to see the judges. That way, they can just judge the performance and not be biased by other factors.

“When you walk into that audition room, it’s so stressful. You just have to do it and hope for the best,” she said.

Gabby’s best has been great for the past two years. And earning a spot on the All-State Band is a high honor.

There are only 20 clarinets accepted into the symphonic All-State Band.

Last year, Gabby made 20th chair, although she was bumped up a few spots, she said.

“This year I did better, I made 17th chair,” she said. “I’m quite proud of that.”

She’s worked hard at her craft, balancing all of her other extracurricular activities and schoolwork.

“I take lessons throughout the year, and I would not have made it if I did not take lessons,” Gabby said. “I feel like I can represent not only my school, but it’s just a cool accomplishment, in my opinion.”

But even taking lessons isn’t easy, as she had to drive to Elk City. She took clarinet lessons from Kathleen Jung, who teaches the elementary music program at Elk City’s elementary school. She took saxophone lessons from Dillon Jung (Kathleen’s husband), who is the band director at Mangum High School.

“I get a two-in-one, so it’s pretty cool,” Gabby said.

In normal circumstances, Gabby said, the All-State Band would meet in January or February in Tulsa for a three-day clinic. It would rehearse together, and eventually put on a performance.

“Since we can’t do that for social distancing reasons, we’ll be doing it via Zoom.

Last year, her first All-State honor, was a performance she’s never done before.

“It was surreal,” she said. “I really think that if younger people who are doubting if they want to continue learning music, I think they should continue learning music because they don’t know how much it can impact them. It definitely changed my life.”

She said the All-State experience was phenomenal.

“It was like no concert I’ve ever done before. It was amazing,” she said.

Life in new COVID-19 world

It’s very different, Gabby said, as she and her classmates have dealt with COVID-19 since March. With no end in sight, save vaccines, the 2021 Senior Class likely will have dealt with COVID-19 for their entire school year.

“Band activities are very different. A bunch of the honor bands that we auditioned for got canceled,” she said.

Marching band was also a challenge. Preparation time was iffy.

“It really cuts into the amount of rehearsal time you have because people – you just don’t know who got quarantined or not. So you to be careful. And for a lot of people, that cuts into a lot of practice,” she said.

That uncertainty traveled down through the lower grades, too.

“It’s really hard for the younger students. I’m Mr. (Aaron) Edge’s teacher’s aide for his sixth-grade band, and if one of them gets quarantined not necessarily because they have it but someone else, it cuts into a lot of learning time. You learn a lot in two weeks. It really impacts how you play.”

As a first-year teacher, Edge said it was helpful to have someone like Gabby on board.

“Going into this, I didn’t really know what was going on, still don’t really know what’s going on,” Edge said. “It was nice to have a student that I can say, ‘Hey, come here. Are we doing this right? Is this a way that we want to go?’ She would always be honest whether it hurt my feelings or not.”

Like a lot of people, Gabby never heard of Zoom before the pandemic.

Since Gabby takes a few college classes, the move back-and-forth between distance learning and traditional schooling hasn’t affected her too much this year, she said.

“It proves its own challenges, like self motivation to make sure you get up on time, and actually attend it. It is what it is,” she said.

Mom Kim added: “I think it did make her appreciate actually going to class. And learning one-on-one.”

Zoom meetings offer other difficulties, too.

“It’s a lot trickier to do question-and-answer via Zoom because like, you have to consider, ‘Oh, I’m talking over everyone else, or they don’t have time.’ Or the teacher, you can’t just walk up to the desk, and say, ‘Can I have some help.’ ”

Facing the prospect of continued disruptions and possibly not having traditional senior-year memories hangs over the school like a dark, nasty cloud.

Gabby feels like the district and students will be better prepared this time.

In the spring, the pandemic came through like a wrecking ball.

“We got slammed. We weren’t expecting all this to happen,” she said, “We’ll probably be able to go through with some events, just more socially distanced.”

She predicts her class will persevere.

“I think we’ll make it through. If the previous class was like really scathed, then I would say we’re partially scathed,” she said, joking.

The future

Gabby plans to go to Southwestern Oklahoma State University next year.

She will continue with music in some shape or form. The trusty clarinet won’t find some dusty corner in a hall closet.

“If not as a major, then I want to continue with it on the side,” she said.

SWOSU has a good music department, Gabby said, with a lot of good music programs. That means the chance to continue playing in the marching and symphonic bands, if she chooses.

“She’s a fabulous band person. She’s also pretty darn good at school, too,” Kim said.

Gabby will enter college with course credits already on the books, thanks to the dual enrollment she’s taken this year.

She has some keen advice for those seeking a future in music.

“It takes a lot of hard work. A frustrating amount,” she said.

If something seems hard, difficult and unreachable, they should keep on trying, even if they fail at first, she said.

“It will be a great learning experience, to see how far they would grow,” she said.

Gabby points to her own experiences as her roadmap.

“I tried my sophomore year and didn’t make it,” she said. “It was a really good learning experience. I improved my skills as a player just by learning the music. But also like it helped me learn how to deal with nerves. I feel like I just grew as a musician, as a person.”

GABBY GIBLET

SCHOOL: Cordell High School

YEAR: Senior

PARENTS: Kim and Kyle

FAVORITE COLOR: Black

FAVORITE CLASSES: Science. “I’ve enjoyed all my sciences classes with Mrs. Boecker.”

FAVORITE FOOD: Chicken alfredo. “My dad makes some really good chicken alfredo.”

TV: BBC Sherlock.

MOVIE: Howl’s Moving Castle

HOBBIES: I like to watch movies and read (fantasy fiction is one of her favorites)