Welcome to 2024!

We hope you had a restful and relaxing holiday break. As we start a new year, we are heading into our busy time for LLMEA high school festivals. This Wednesday, January 3rd, we will be holding our mid-year general membership meeting at 4:15pm. We encourage all LLMEA members to attend the meeting via zoom at the following link. https://elcosd.zoom.us/j/95797338170. The first festivals of the year will happen this Saturday, January 6, with the county chorus festival at ELCO High School hosted by Melodie Fair (mfair@elcosd.org) and the High School Orchestra Festival on Saturday, January 20th, at Ephrata High School hosted by Rick Ney (R_Ney@easdpa.org). If you have specific questions about these festivals, please email the hosts directly.

Meeting Minutes from the September General Membership Meeting can be found here:

September Meeting Minutes

Meeting Agenda for Wednesday's Meeting can be found here:

January General Membership Meeting

On November 18th, the LLMEA County Middle School Orchestra festival was held at Garden Spot High School. Special thanks for Jennifer Petry and Colton Henry for hosting this event. The students worked hard for guest conductors, Dr. Tim Dixon and our very own Mrs. Sara Masten, to produce a great sounding concert.

The selection meeting for the Middle School Band North Festival will take place IN PERSON AT EPHRATA HIGH SCHOOL AT 4:15PM. Steve Goss will broadcast the general membership zoom meeting in his band room and directors will conduct the selection meeting immediately following. If you have any questions, please email Steve Goss at S_Goss@easdpa.org.

LLMEA will be hosting our annual Music Performance Assessment for bands, orchestras, and choirs from March 4-8, 2024. We have had GREAT attendance over the years and want to have you and your group(s) join us for our 9th year!

Why do an adjudication? Well, why not?! The adjudication process is one of the best ways to make YOUR ENTIRE ENSEMBLE better! The festival system is great in recognizing the best individual students in our programs, but adjudication focuses on the whole!

For those that are new to the idea, ensembles meet at the host site (Winter Visual and Performing Arts Center on the Millersville University campus) to perform prepared literature for adjudicators who will give feedback on your performance and insightful tips on improvement. A sightreading component is offered, but not required. You may register in the “contest” category for ratings and comments, or the “festival” category with comments only. Speaking from experience, this process has transformed our program and how we rehearse. It has improved our overall approach to literature and has made us more efficient through the music learning process.

Many of our member ensembles have participated and keep coming back! If you have never joined us, please consider registering! If you are interested and want to join us in 2024, please email me at smuenz@clsd.k12.pa.us – Don’t forget to indicate the number/type of ensemble(s) you wish to bring. Please pass this on to any interested colleagues in your district.

Participation/scheduling will be done on a first come, first served basis, so don’t sleep on this opportunity! An official registration will be sent in January, but this will act as our “sign up.”

If your district is interested in sending multiple groups (i.e. more than 2), please reach out to discuss possible scheduling solutions. Schedules are based primarily off of adjudicator availability.

Thanks,

Scott Muenz

The LLMEA Honors Banquet returns! Mark your calendars for Tuesday April 16, 2024 for an evening at the Eden Resort...stay tuned for more details in upcoming newsletters....!

Believe it or not, plans are underway for LLMEA festivals for the 2024-2025 school year. The following high schools are scheduled to host according to our rotational schedule.

HS ORCHESTRA - Manheim Central/Warwick

HS BAND NORTH - Lebanon/Northern Lebanon

HS/MS BAND SOUTH - Lancaster Country Day/School District of Lancaster

HS CHORUS -Lancaster Country Day/School District of Lancaster

MIDDLE SCHOOL COUNTY CHORUS FESTIVAL -

MIDDLE SCHOOL COUNTY ORCHESTRA FESTIVAL -

As you can see, we are still in need of hosts for the middle school county chorus festival and the middle school county orchestra festival. The Main items to be addressed at this point would be reservation of facilities and letters from your superintendents acknowledging the responsibility of hosting a festival. If you have any questions or concerns about hosting a festival or would like to volunteer to host one of the middle school festivals next school year, please contact David Fair dfair@elcosd.org or Sara Masten sara.masten@pennmanor.net ASAP. We would like to have festival hosts solidified by the end of January.

Please read the following language from our By-Laws:

Directors are required to accompany their students to the festival (and audition) and to remain in attendance at the festival (and audition) while their students are there. In the case of an emergency or other exceptional circumstances, the director will contact the LLMEA President and Festival Host(s) for permission to send a substitute. In order to be approved, a substitute must be on the teaching faculty in the member district and be capable of fully performing the role of the absent director. Other substitutes may be approved at the discretion of the LLMEA President and Festival Host(s).

January 3, 2024- LLMEA General Membership Meeting 4:15pm via Zoom

January 3 - MS County Band North Selection Meeting following general membership meeting AT EPHRATA.

January 6 - LLMEA County Chorus Festival ELCO HS

January 20 - LLMEA County Orchestra Festival Ephrata HS

February 3 - LLMEA HS County Band North Festival Palmyra HS

February 3 - LLMEA HS/MS County Band South Festival Lancaster Mennonite HS

March 4-8 - LLMEA Adjudication Festival - Millersville University

April 5-6 - LLMEA County MS Band North Festival - Lebanon MS

April 18 - LLMEA Honors Banquet - Eden Resort

April 23- LLMEA MS County Chorus Fest - Columbia

May 1 - LLMEA Executive Board Meeting - Bulls Head Pub