Lynn student musicians set sights on Symphony Hall

LYNN – When she asked Edward Senn to start playing the bassoon two years ago, English High School band director Kaitlyn Laprise and Senn were not setting their sights on competing in a state-wide music championship.?I was wondering how I was going to get good enough at the bassoon,” said Senn, now an English senior.Senn, 17, has not only mastered the bassoon – a tall, tubular instrument that costs almost as much as a Honda Civic (a good one goes for about $12,000, he says) – he?s won a shot at being picked next spring to perform in Boston?s Symphony Hall with fellow high school master musicians.And he is not alone: Fellow English senior and drummer Mathieu Bruneau, 18, is also auditioning for the high school music All-State Festival.School Department supervisor of fine arts Joseph Picano said Senn and Bruneau were among 441 musicians out of 1,116 who passed Nov. 8 auditions for musicians from high schools around Northeastern Massachusetts.Only the top auditioners – about 70 students, including Senn and Bruneau – are eligible to audition in January for a chance to perform as an All-State Festival orchestra member. Districts from other parts of the state will also send their best students to the January auditions.English has produced All-State contenders in prior years, but sending two students to the auditions is remarkable, said Laprise.?This is very, very rare – out of hundreds of kids they are with the top 15 percent of their peers in northeast Massachusetts. It?s great,” Laprise said.Music is embedded in Senn?s and Bruneau?s DNA. Bruneau hardly fazed his parents, Joseph and Patricia, when he picked up one of his father?s drums at the age of 2 and started banging away. Joseph Bruneau attended King Philip Regional High School in Wrentham and marched in the drum line.?It?s one of the better music schools,” said his son.Jacqueline Senn?s versatility with several classical instruments rubbed off on her son, who started studying the clarinet and thought he had found his instrument of choice until Laprise asked him to take up the bassoon.?He?s a really hard worker and this can be a challenging instrument,” she said.Although it has a funny name and anchors the bass end of the woodwind family in an orchestra, the bassoon is a recognizable instrument – many advertisements and most cartoons feature its distinctive sound.?It is known as the clown of the orchestra,” Senn said.With his dry wit, Senn is a bit of a clown himself around English?s second-floor music room, Laprise said. He practices about an hour and a half a day and Bruneau plays the drums for an hour daily, occasionally asking his father for technical advice or suggestions.When they competed in the Northeastern District auditions, Senn scored 107 in the basson category – four points below the top category score. Bruneau scored 51 in the percussion category – five points below the top score.?They are both very versatile with Edward?s skills as a woodwind musician and Matt?s ability as a percussionist and brass instrument player,” Picano said.The pair will audition in January for the All-State Festival – giving them a chance to compete to play with elite high school musicians at Symphony Hall in mid March. Just over half of those who audition will get picked.?It will be much, much harder,” said Picano.The University of Massachusetts Amherst with its recognized music program is Bruneau?s and Senn?s top choice for college acceptance.?If I?m accepted, I will audition for the drum line,” Bruneau said.Senn hopes to eventually sit in the woodwind section of an orchestra pit, playing music for an opera or ballet.