If you ask any of the Fine Arts students at Bellefonte High how chaotic the season of winter can be, there’s a chance they’ll mention Districts, a festival where musicians from around Pennsylvania come together to perform songs with one another.
The Pennsylvania Music Educators of America (PMEA) hold these festivals once a year, and the festivals are split up into four categories: band, orchestra, chorus, and jazz band. Centre County is grouped up with Clearfield, Clinton, Huntingdon, Mifflin, and Junita as District Four, with various high schools hosting the festivals every year.
As someone who’s attended the festival for District Chorus, the experience is very welcoming and rewarding. The process starts off with initial auditions decided by the school’s band, orchestra, or chorus director respectfully. From there, they attend a conference to decide which hundreds of musicians will advance into the Districts stage of the festival. After the conference, audition results are announced to the musicians and music is distributed.
Musicians are then given a rough 2-3 month window to practice and rehearse their pieces with each other, or their director, before getting ready to spend a 3-day trip at a different school. On the first day of the festival, musicians head out to rehearse with the other selected musicians from different schools all in one place.
Districts isn’t the only stage, though. On the first day, after a rough 2-3 hours of rehearsing, students break out into different groups and get ready for another audition. Only this time, the auditioners cannot see who’s grading them. The students are given minimal communication between them and the judges, and can only speak to a non-judge usher for the remainder of their audition.
The next day, the audition results are given and announced by placements, called “chairs,” based on many factors, including but not limited to, tones, pitches, tempos, dynamics, etc.
As the band and the orchestra conclude their district festivals, the choir gets ready for theirs on February 6.
