In the early Fall of 1970, Mr. Corelli, our boy’s and advanced chorus teacher approached a few of us and asked us to try out for All-State Chorus. I knew I had a pretty good voice but I wasn’t sure I could compete for a spot at that level. He took some time and coached us a few days on what we were going to be singing during the audition. We would be given a single starting note and, a capela, asked to sing two scales, from low to high and back in half steps. At the end, we should end on the same note we started with. They weren’t concerned about tone so much as our ability to stay on key. We were then challenged to sing a short segment, again a capela, that demonstrated our tone and range so we could be correctly catagorized – Bass, Baritone, or Tenor for boys. There were a number of us who competed, and in the end, two seniors, and four juniors were selected. I was so proud to be a part of it. It’s important to mention the quality of music education in New Jersey was one of best in the country. Maybe it was its proximity to New York City and Philadelphia, or the fact that it was a highly-taxed state with relatively high household incomes that could afford it, or it had a disproportionate number of well-read citizens. One thing is certain, New Jersey has a number of successful musicians: Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Clint Black, George Clinton, Donald Fagen, Debbie Harry, Lauryn Hill, Whitney Houston, Janis Ian, Ice-T, Jonas Brothers, Les Paul, Queen Latifah, Paul Simon, Patti Smith, The Four Seasons, Sarah Vaughn, and Dionne Warwick. 

My high school did not have a football team, and I wasn’t ever going to try out for any sport, for me this was the equivalent of getting a varsity letter. New Jersey, being shaped like a bowling pin, was always separated by North and South Jersey. The Princeton area where I lived was usually lumped into being either Central or South Jersey. So for three Saturdays we all got in a van and traveled down to Audubon High School to rehearse with half the singers. We had to learn twelve songs. Very intricate songs that had, at some points, ten part harmonies. Two of the pieces we were to perform with the All-State Orchestra. It was awesome singing with that caliber of singers all around you. I was in no way a stand out singer in the group, but I felt I held my own. The fourth rehearsal was held with both North and South Jersey contingents together. What a rush it was to get all 300 kids together, and when we first heard ourselves with the orchestra, it gave me goosebumps. On Saturday, November 7, 1970 we performed at Convention Hall in Atlantic City, the same place where Miss America was crowned. I was excited because I was sharing a room at a hotel with a classmate, a first for me. He was Mark Spurgiesz, a jock with a fantastic bass voice. I was also happy that my family was going to see the performance that evening. There was no sheet music for the singers, so on stage we could look out and watch the audience. I looked out but couldn’t see them anywhere. Just when I was about to grin and bear it and after the orchestra was into its second piece, I noticed the doors opening up in the back and saw my family come in. Mom was hobbling for some reason, but they were all there, Lisa in tow. The rest of the concert went exteremely well. Dad took us all out for dinner afterwards, and the story was that Mom was dancing at a Unitarian Church function, and she fell on her elbow and broke it. Against doctor’s orders, she insisting on making the long and painful trip to Atlantic City to see me sing. The second concert we gave was the next weekend at Symphony Hall in Newark. I will never forget the sound of those voices, that phenomenal orchestra, and the experience of being a part of it. My take-away from this experience was that you reach your highest potential when you surround yourself with those that are better than you. If you are around good, decent, and positive-minded people, you will be a better person. If you want to produce videos, be a great teacher, or be a successful musician, find a way to be exposed to the highest level of practitioners of that skill. A person that is exposed at that level will either get a wake-up call that they’re not as good as they thought (big fish, small pond syndrome), or they will become motivated by the challenge to be better on a world-class playing field. I still have the LP of the concerts we perfomed in 1970. To this day, when ever I hear it, I’m brought back to that time, when I transcended to a higher plane, and feel again the pride and enthusiasm of being a part of it. I cry almost every time. 

This experience shaped how I prepared my own kids for their chosen fields years later. I made sure they gained exposure to practictioners at the highest level. I sent my son Drew Orton to learn the music business in New York with successful music producer and friend Carl Sturken, and sent daughter Emily Orton Bonner to learn drama and writing with Second City in Chicago.