In 2023, Kennedy High School senior Remi Wilcox made All-State as an alternate harpist, however, on Oct. 24, 2024, Wilcox was disqualified from the All-State Orchestra because she didn’t use a concert grand harp. Instead, she used her own petite pedal harp.

Stephanie Williamson, Kennedy High School’s band director, fought this decision, claiming the disqualification was not mandated by the rule book.

“If a concert grand harp is going to be a regulation, great. Let’s write it down, so this doesn’t happen,” Williamson said. “There just should be a way to present these types of things so we don’t just say ‘No this is the way it has always been.’”

According to email documents shared with the Torch, Thad Driskell, the executive director for the Iowa High School Music Association (IHSMA), disqualified Wilcox for playing the wrong instrument. Other Iowa high school students accepted the positions available for the All-State performance on Nov. 23 instead.

“What hurts just a little bit more is the fact that we know Thad,” Williamson said. “We worked with Thad. He was the director at Jefferson and he was my mentor when I came into the district.”

Wilcox played a section of The Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky for her All-State audition. This piece required Wilcox to play strings she did not have on her personal harp, so she adapted the notes in the piece to ones that could be played on the harp.

“The excerpt that my teacher and I changed slightly had scales played in octaves that went very low on the harp that I could not reach while doing both octaves,” Wilcox said. “It is an edit she makes in her music as well. The edit cut out the bottom four notes of the scale in the left-hand.”

All-State harp audition submissions are sent by video. Principal harpist and tenured All-State judge Acacia Scott was in charge of judging the harp auditions for the whole state. Scott selected Wilcox as one of two harpists to perform at All-State, out of around six students who auditioned.

“Remi Wilcox submitted an audition where they performed an excellent solo (one of two to be in length requirement) and the cleanest excerpts at performance tempi (the only one to do so),” Scott said in an email sent to the IHSMA obtained by the Torch. “Thus I placed them as the Principal Harpist.”

But, when the results were posted on Oct. 24, Wilcox’s name wasn’t listed.

“I didn’t quite understand what was going on” Williamson said. “I had every single emotion in that hour. I was seething mad, then completely heartbroken and devastated, then just angry and frustrated.”

The IHSMA Rules and Regulations, under the legitimate instruments section, lists what electronic instruments can be used to substitute instruments including the harp, stating; “Electronic instruments may be substituted for the following acoustic instruments: harpsichord, celeste, organ, and harp.”

There is no mention of the correct size of harp or harp substitutes that should be used. Yet a rule regarding the type of harp was created to disqualify Wilcox from the competition. Scott noted that in a call exchange with Hallberg, he admitted to watching the audition tapes prior to Scott’s assessments and not knowing that Wilcox played on an arrangement of strings that did not align with the notes in the composition.

“I told him that the admission confirms Remi did indeed play the part, so their statement that Remi could not play the excerpts was invalid,” Scott reported.

It wasn’t until Scott left an email mentioning the string substitution in an email that Driskell and Hellberg noticed the difference in Wilcox’s harp.

“Remi did the audition on a harp that does not have the bottom strings needed for Pictures, however, they had the cleanest audition,” Scott said in an email thread with Hellberg. “I am happy to help arrange a Concert Grand harp (the full or correct harp) for them to use during All-State if we need to.”

In a phone call between Scott and Driskell on Oct. 22, Driskell said he was having All-State harpist results reviewed by Ted Hallberg and promised to keep in touch.

“After being notified that my results were being re-evaluated and a promise to be in touch, I was stunned to see the posted results and that Thad Driskell and Ted Hallberg had removed Remi simply due to the size of the harp used for their audition,” Scott said.

On Oct. 24, in a phone call between Scott and Hallberg, Scott voiced her concern about Wilcox’s name being removed from the list of harpists after not being consulted as promised. Hallberg explained that due to the size of Wilcox’s harp, she was disqualified. He then went on to say if Wilcox never found out, there would be no problem. According to Scott, Hallberg said, “It’s not disappointing for Remi because they’ll never know.”

However, details about Wilcox’s disqualification were emailed to Williamson by an unnamed whistleblower who said, “If it were my kid, I would want to know what was going on.”

In addition to the enforcing of a nonexistent rule, the IHSMA rule book states a judge’s decision cannot be overturned.

“It just makes the whole all-state process suspect because what is in the bylaws is a judge’s decision can not be overturned. That is in there,” Performing Arts chairman and choir director Storm Ziegler said. “So, they violated a rule that is in there, and they created a rule that doesn’t exist.”

As a choir director, Ziegler has been a long-time mentor during the All-State audition process and was disappointed in IHSMA and their lack of transparency.

“I have been a long-time opponent of the process but not for any nefarious reasons. But, to the extent that I can, I will not participate in an IHSMA event again until the leadership is replaced,” Ziegler said. “I am not interested in participating in or advocating for an organization that says they are in the best interest of students but who demonstrates that they are not.”

When Torch emailed Driskell and Hallberg jointly about this situation, Hallberg said “no thank you” in an email back. When asked about the process in general without any specific situation, Driskell responded, “Thank you for your email.  The Iowa High School Music Association cannot comment on confidential student matters.”

In the beginning, Wilcox was confused as well. She believed she had done everything by the guidelines of IHSMA rules and couldn’t understand why the disqualification was placed.

“I was under the impression that all-state was a fair system to allow students to compete and earn their place following the rules and guidelines that are indicated,” Wilcox said. “But now it seems that the IHSMA doesn’t actually hold itself to the standards and values that it claims.”

While many concerns are being raised about the situation, Wilcox has turned the disqualification into a learning experience.

“I was talking to Remi’s parents, their mom specifically, and she said that Remi was going to take this and spin it in a positive way,” Kennedy band director Lesley Fleer said. “And the person who listened to them play their audition offered to write a glowing recommendation for college scholarships and things like that.”

This situation was a setback in Wilcox’s harp journey, but she is not going to let it stop her.

“Now I am pretty okay with it. I know it was unfair but I can’t do anything about it now,” Wilcox said. “Hopefully, I can still get the scholarship that is given to all-staters at the college I’m going to.”

This story was originally published on Kennedy Torch on December 17, 2024.