The four day schedule is packed with hours of rehearsal.  On the first day, students arrive and they are sorted into holding rooms (classrooms) based on what singing part they are.  These students will then take turns in auditioning to move onto Regional Chorus, which will be held in March from the 10th to the 13th.  From “Regions”, singers will auditions for “States”, and could eventually move on to the national level.  After the Auditions, students are introduced to their host families that they will be housing with for the duration of the event.  Thursday and Friday are then strict rehearsal days, where the Guest Conductor (usually from a University) will go over the music and try to convey how he wants the pieces to sound.  Friday night usually consists of a concert followed by a “social event”, or it could just be a “social event”.  The final concert is then the next day.

As for the other events, there is District Jazz.  District Jazz is an event where high school musicians travel to a centrally located area within the region and they audition for one of the Jazz Bands in the event.  This year there are four bands, consisting off horns, piano, bass, drums, and guitar.  They will be playing four to six songs from different Jazz eras, with pieces made famous by artists like Duke Ellington, a well known Jazz Artist from the “roaring twenties”.  The four bands are named The Pisano Band, the Herndon Band, The Halquist Band, and the Demspey Band.  Each band is ranked one through four based on where the musicians placed out of the numerous that auditioned, and only the top four musicians in each category were chosen for this years event.  The dates this year were February 4th through February 6th (Thursday through Saturday).  The Concert was recorded by The Irish Valley Recording Company, and offered two cd’s of two bands for eighteen dollars.  Each band played a twenty to thirty minute set and the entire concert lasted about two hours with the factor of time used between sets taken into consideration.

Finally we have District Band.  District band is more like an orchestral event consisting of instruments like horns and strings, and other percussion.  District Band ran from February 10th through February 12th, ending on Friday rather than Saturday this year.  The event was held at Edinboro University, and again, included Students from the entire District 2 area, ranging from Conneaut Valley to Coudersport.  The Guest Conductor was (name) from (college).  Aside from that Students will audition for Region Band, and will also be able to move onto the States level.  This year is also an All-East Conference Year.  All-East is an event where students from every state on this side of the Mississippi River all eligible to attend the highest level of band performance.  The reason that makes such an event so special is that it only occurs every other year.  So any sophomores that are attending wil be able to audition and possibly make it either this year or their senior year, and that would be very special.

In conclusion, there are lots of great opportunities for musical students in this area.  The PMEA is an organization supporting Music Education, and excellence in music.