By DICK MASON • The Observer

LA GRANDE — Teagan Null is starting the new school year with a musical resume that now features experience performing internationally.

The La Grande High School senior was part of a select group of Oregon high school students who played in four concerts — in France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland — during a tour of Europe in July. The group, the Oregon Ambassadors of Music, was composed of 350 band players and 150 choir members. All had been nominated by music educators at their high schools.

“It was such an honor to be a part of the tour,” said Null, who plays the bassoon for La Grande High School’s wind ensemble.

The Oregon Music Ambassadors played with a polish that so impressed some audiences that they were sometimes asked to perform three encores, despite the fact the students had been playing together for only a short time. The students first met in Corvallis at Oregon State University to prepare for the tour about four days before it started, rehearsing a repertory of 15 songs during a camp that culminated in a concert for their parents on the OSU campus.

Null said the large ensemble was able to come together quickly in part because sheet music for the songs they played had been sent to them earlier, providing plenty of time to rehearse in advance.

Songs the students rehearsed included France’s national anthem, which was played at the start of the Oregon Ambassadors of Music concert at Normandy on Omaha Beach.

“We opened with the French national anthem and then played our national anthem,” Null said.

The site of the concert in France of course was that of the World War II D-Day invasion, which led to the liberation of France from the Nazi Germany occupation. A number of songs honoring those who fought at Normandy were performed.

Null said that the audience at Normandy was one of the most enthusiastic.

“They just seemed to be so happy and thankful that we were there,” she said.

When not performing, the student musicians and singers toured some of Europe’s most famous sites, including the Louvre Museum in Paris. Members of the Oregon Music Ambassadors received a two-hour tour of the museum and were impressed with its enormity.

Works displayed at the Louvre include perhaps the world’s most famous piece of art, the “Mona Lisa,” a portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Null said she did not get a chance to get a close up look at the painting because security around it is so tight.

Null said she got within 100 feet of the painting, which in itself was a thrill.

“I did get to see it, which made me feel good,” she said.

In addition to the Louvre, Null said she enjoyed getting to see sites like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, a castle wall that surrounds a German town and the Matterhorn in Switzerland.

“There were a lot of people around but seeing the Matterhorn was very peaceful,” said Null, the daughter of Heather and Glenn Null.

One of the musical challenges the Oregon Music Ambassadors faced in Switzerland and throughout their European tour was they were not able to rehearse after leaving Corvallis because of time restrictions. To keep their musical skills sharp, Null and many other musicians would silently finger play the songs in their group’s repertoire without their instruments.

“This helped everyone conceptualize our songs,” she said.

Null, who helped LHS’s wind ensemble place third at the Oregon School Activities Association’s state championships for schools in the class 4A category in May, had never before played in such a large group as the 500-member Oregon Music Ambassadors.

“That meant it was especially important to always pay close attention to the director,” she said.

Null described the Oregon Music Ambassadors tour as exhausting but also exhilarating in a special sense.

“I am so thankful for the opportunity I had,” she said.

Null said that as a member of the Oregon Music Ambassadors she and others saw themselves as representatives of the United States with a single message to share.

“We wanted to spread kindness and joy,” she said.