As the date of the PMEA District band draws closer, musicians within District 4 are growing anxious while the expectations continue to stack up for each one of them. This year, something special is happening in Penns Valley – two PMEA festivals will be hosted at the school. The District and Region festivals will be held at the school this year. 

Districts are the first round of the festivals. Musicians from the district will come to Penns Valley for two days (a Friday and Saturday) for the festival. On the first day of the festival, musicians will be asked to perform an audition consisting of various sections from their 5 pieces of music for blinded judges. This audition will allow them to accumulate points so that they have the chance to move onto the next round of the festivals – Regions. On the second day of the festival, the musicians will perform their music for their families, friends, and spectators at a formal concert. Once the District festival is over and scores from auditions are reviewed and the musicians await their Regions placements in the following 2 weeks. 

The next tier of the festivals is Regions, which occurs only 2 weeks after Districts. Of all musicians who were involved in Districts, only the top musicians of that group will be given the opportunity to audition for a chance to compete at the Region’s festival. Once more, musicians will audition for blinded judges with a new set of music they were given for this concert. These scores will determine whether the musicians will advance to States, the highest level of the festivals. As with Districts, the second day of the festival will consist of a formal concert where the musicians will accent their talents with difficult musical pieces. 

Penns Valley has 8 talented musicians hoping to make their mark by making it to the States festival where only a few Penns Valley alumni have competed.