These outstanding ensembles consist of students chosen from a nine county area including Albany, Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren, and Washington counties. Admission to these highly selective groups is based upon the score received the previous spring during the NYSSMA Solo Evaluation Festival. All StateĮach year thousands of student musicians across New York State compete for an opportunity to be selected for the prestigious NYSSMA Conference All State Music Ensembles. The ensemble is awarded a rating for their performance and receive recorded and written comments critiquing their performance. Music must be selected from the NYSSMA Manual. Major Organization Festivals are opportunities for music teachers to bring an exceptional ensembles (band, chorus, orchestra, or jazz ensemble) to perform for two specially trained adjudicators. In addition, students often use this NYSSMA rating for acceptance into performing groups outside school. The feedback students receive from the judge will help them grow musically. The Solo and Ensemble Festival gives students the chance to practice the audition procedure, which musicians often go through. A grade and written critique are given, based on established criteria such as tone, pitch and rhythmic accuracy, intonation, and sight-reading. Students play or sing before an adjudicator and are evaluated on their performance.

The music is listed in six levels according to difficulty.

The New York State School Music Association is a professional organization which represents more than 6,000 music teachers across New York State.Įach spring NYSSMA sponsors music festivals across the state, which local school districts volunteer to host.Īt the Solo and Ensemble Festivals, students have the opportunity, alone or in a small group, to perform a piece of music that is selected from the NYSSMA Manual.

Level 6 nyssma sight reading