With December beginning, the time for regionals and NEMFA has arrived. Students who are a part of Band or Chorus are eligible to join the experience! While this year’s season is coming to an end, applications may not be able to be held at this point, it is still always possible to join next year! With that being said, what truly are these programs, what’s the purpose? While it may seem like just another extracurricular for the super serious musical students, there’s actually a more in-depth process and value to it.
To start, it’s important to know what these programs are, and what they entail. While they are similar, they do have their big differences. CMEA, more commonly known as regionals, is a competition where musical and choral students across the four regions of Connecticut (Western, Northern, Eastern, and Southern which is our region) compete to earn their spot in their regions respected orchestra, band, or chorus, where the best of the best get to play and sing together. Students prepare the same piece as one another, some scales, and audition in front of 1-3 judges. If students get a high enough score, they make it in, and are often eligible for all states. From then on, students are given roughly 1-2 months to practice the music they give them, and then on a weekend in January when the event is held, students get to practice with everyone else and play in a small concert after 2 days. .
NEMFA is very similar to CMEA regionals, except students compete with all of the northeast. The overall concept is the same, but participants can meet people from all over the northeast region of the United States if they are accepted. NEMFA was made, because not all states have enough musical students to hold entire state, or even regional competitions, so NEMFA allows kids from all over the northeast to be able to participate in competitions like these. Additionally, In NEFMA, unlike regionals, students pick a song from a list of songs, allowing students to pick a song that represents their style and expertise. This year it’s being held in Gilford NH, and students stay overnight for 3 days.
Regionals and NEMFA is offered as an extra step for the students who want to pursue their musical skills outside of school. Many band and choir students either just do the class or zero hour as well, but there are some who want to push themselves that extra mile and Mr. Taylor and Dr. Milton always support that. Mr. Taylor states, “There are kids who want to engage in music as not only a process but a goal, and become much better at it.” It is vital that the music department offers these types of outlets, for students to succeed and reach their full potential in music.
However, these auditions and festivals don’t just offer growth in students musical careers, but also opportunities to replicate the same fundamental ideas in interviews (the audition), building self confidence and resilience. The NEMFA auditions require a proper dress code, and take off points according to how professional auditioners made themselves appear, which prepares many students for life in interviews and after high school obligations they may need. Mr. Taylor also speaks about the importance of bouncing back from criticism, and failure, stating “The proudest I’ve been of kids around these auditions is when they fail, practice very hard and come back to try again and often succeed.”
