How to prepare for Connecticut’s Regional Music Festival Auditions
The Hartt Community Division presents a Middle and High School Regional Workshop open to all string and percussion students auditioning for the Connecticut Music Educators’ Association (CMEA) Regional Middle School Festival. The workshop will take place at 12:30-2:30 PM on Saturday, October 19, 2013, at The Hartt School, University of Hartford (200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06117). The event is free though pre-registration is required. To pre-register or find more information, visit hcd.hartford.edu or contact the Hartt Community Division at harttcomm@hartford.edu or (860)768-4451.
CMEA is a federated state association of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), one of the world’s largest arts education organizations addressing all aspects of music education. Each year CMEA hosts Regional Middle School Festivals for young musicians in the northern, eastern, western, and southern areas of the state. It also hosts the high school Regional festival, as well as the All-State Festival for Connecticut’s top-tier high school musicians. Students in grades 10-12 who are selected for the All-State Festival are also eligible to represent the state of Connecticut in NAfME’s All-National Honor Ensembles which perform at the National In-Service Conference in October. In 2013, twelve students from the Hartt Community Division will participate in the All-National Honor Ensembles.
Auditions for Connecticut’s Regional and All-State events can be competitive and intimidating. CMEA’s audition requirements are specific and rigorous, and the opportunity to play challenging repertoire alongside other motivated students draws many candidates from all over the state. Hartt’s Regional Workshop will allow string and percussion students an opportunity to receive feedback on designated prepared solos and learn practice strategies for scales, sight-reading, and other audition requirements set by CMEA. It will be particularly valuable for younger middle school students and to those who are preparing for regional auditions for the first time. Participation is free and open to all middle school students regardless of previous participation in any of Hartt’s programs.
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The workshop will be led by Hartt School faculty members Diane Slone (violin), Lydia Redding(violin), Steve Larson (viola), David Kramer (cello), Sue Powell, (bass), Benjamin Toth (percussion), and percussion assistant Chelsea Tinsler.
For more information about the string workshop contact Diane Slone, Chair of the HCD Strings Department at slone@hartford.edu. For more information about the percussion workshop contact Benjamin Toth at btoth@hartford.edu.
