NEMFA NEWS BULLETIN

The official newsletter of the New England Music Festival Association, Inc..

Founded 1936

February, 2010 Volume 74, No. 2

Published Quarterly during each school year at

PO Box 102, Templeton, Massachusetts 01468.

Website: www.nemfa.org E-mail: treynold@worldpath.net Telephone: (617)529-9402

This Weblog is the official Bulletin of the New England Music Festival Association, Inc. and it is published four times each year. The purpose of this Weblog is to get information regarding the NEMFA activities out to the membership in an efficient and timely way, as well as to give them and other interested people opportunities to give feedback about the operation of the organization.

ABOUT THE NEW ENGLAND MUSIC FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION, INC. (NEMFA)

The New England Music Festival Association has enjoyed a long and proud history of providing quality music performance opportunities for school-age singers, string and wind players and percussionists since 1928. The Festival has undergone many changes since that initial beginning, and as the process has been refined, the experience has become one that continues to attract students wishing to perform in a challenging and professional-like environment.

The process begins for the students as soon as the year’s Concert Festival has concluded. Students and their music teachers start examining the next year’s Solo List and find a selection that seems to fit the performing ability of the student. Then the process of practicing and preparing the selection starts for the next year’s Solo and Ensemble Festival performances. When completed, the students’ performance ratings are used to select the highest achievers to form a Wind Ensemble, Orchestra and Concert Chorus. These students are sent their music and spend hours preparing for the advent of rehearsals. Each year a different community in the six New England states hosts the Festival, housing students in local homes, and providing space and an environment that is conducive to quality music making. Conductors of national and international stature are contracted to lead these students in rehearsal and in the two Festival performances. The result is a high level of music making and a musical experience that will last a lifetime.