This past weekend more than 1,000 students visited Shoreham-Wading River High School to perform as soloists in one of the many New York State School Music Association Festivals held throughout the state. These festivals allow students to perform for an impartial adjudicator and receive scores and feedback on their performance. This process has long been held up as one of the finest examples of authentic assessment and is designed to help students to improve their musical abilities.
SWR was proud to host the students playing solos on brass, woodwind, string and percussion instruments as well as vocal solos. These students from 25 neighboring districts were greeted by members of the High School Tri-M Music Honor Society who assisted NYSSMA soloists in collecting the correct forms the judges would need and helped them locate the correct room for their performance. Over 60 student volunteers from Tri-M, National Honor Society and the music ensembles came out to assist in the festival.
“This was a massive undertaking,” said Dennis Creighton, High School choir teacher and music department coordinator. “Our Tri-M, led by Mrs. O’Connor, was a huge help in not only running registration but in setting up rooms with chairs, stands and pianos. Mr. O’Brien did a yeoman’s job in setting up the large amount of musical instruments and equipment that host schools need to provide. The entire department turned up to assist with the entire weekend, making sure that everything went smoothly.”
“It should also be noted,” he continued, “that many visitors spoke very highly of the condition of our building and the grounds around it. Our grounds crew and custodial staff really do go above and beyond to make our campus beautiful. Security did a spectacular job handling the large amount of traffic outside and greeted everyone with a happy ‘Welcome to NYSSMA.’”
“Events like this show why we are consistently selected as a Best Community for Music Education. From our administration, to our teachers, students and staff, everyone worked together to create this success. I am truly #SWRPROUD of everyone’s efforts on behalf of these young musicians,” Mr. Creighton said.
Date Added: 5/25/2023