Fayette Students Perform in U.S. Army All-American Bowl

Four Fayette Band students were in San Antonio, TX over the weekend to perform at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl at the Alamodome.

Iessah Watson (piccolo), Fayette County High; Tristin Thompson (mellophone), Fayette County High; Phillip Hayes (marching baritone), Fayette County High; and Ryan Alli (sousaphone), Starr’s Mill High, were selected to be part of 125-member All-American Marching Band from hundreds of nominations received across the nation.

The students experienced an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity rehearsing and performing alongside the finest high school marching musicians in the nation for four days. The U.S. Army All-American Bowl, produced by All American Games, features the nation’s top high school senior football players and marching musicians.

The selection process is twofold. Music teachers nominate students who exhibit exceptional musicianship, marching achievement, character, and leadership. Nominees are then invited to submit an application and audition materials to the National Association of Music Education for selection.

Selected students have all of their expenses paid to participate, perform, and be recognized for their exceptional music accomplishments.

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Fayette County Musicians Honored with Induction

Two Fayette County School System band faculty members have been inducted into Phi Beta Mu, International Band Master’s Fraternity.

Bill Melton, band director at Whitewater Middle, and Andrew Poor, associate director of bands at Starr’s Mill High, both learned that they had received the honor during the Georgia Music Educators Association (GMEA) State In-Service Conference. The fraternity selects its members based on their service to the profession, overall record of musical excellence and success as a music educator.

“The honor was a pleasant surprise for me, as I am sure it was for Bill, and a significant honor for us both to be selected by our peers for this recognition,” Poor says.

Both Melton and Poor also presented workshops at the GMEA conference. Melton’s clinic was about developing a successful middle school band program; Poor’s focused on topics designed to help educators become more effective adjudicators and apply those skills to their classroom.

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Forde Selected to Participate in McDuffie Labor Day Festival in Macon

High school student Drew Forde of Peachtree City joins 15 other highly talented high school strings musicians from around the country in the Fifth Annual Robert McDuffie and Friends Labor Day Festival for Strings held in Macon September 3-7. Other Georgia students selected for this honor are Lily Handley-Taylor of Atlanta, Ray Kim of Powder Springs, Benjamin Lo of Norcross, and Mary Motschman of Marietta.

Sixteen exceptionally talented high school strings musicians from 10 states have been selected to participate in the Fifth Annual Robert McDuffie and Friends Labor Day Festival for Strings. The intensive five-day festival and musical-learning extravaganza takes place Sept. 3-7 at the Mercer University Townsend School of Music in Macon. The festival provides the students an opportunity to study at Mercer with world-renowned violinist and Distinguished University Professor of Music Robert McDuffie, as well as some of the nation’s foremost concert artists who serve as distinguished artists of the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer.

The festival provides a preview of the academic offerings of the McDuffie Center, a highly selective program within Mercer’s Townsend School of Music that prepares strings students for success in the real world through an innovative approach to music training. While the center students study with some of the nation’s renowned string musicians, receiving music instruction of conservatory quality, they also earn an academically well-rounded education from a comprehensive, nationally recognized university.

In addition to McDuffie, the following Distinguished Artists of the McDuffie Center will serve as faculty for the Festival: Amy Schwartz Moretti, director of the McDuffie Center and former concertmaster of the Oregon Symphony; Julie Albers, renowned soloist and chamber musician; David Halen, concertmaster, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; Christopher Rex, principal cellist, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; Sabina Thatcher, principal violist, The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; and Paul Murphy, associate principal violist, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

The application process required students to provide an audition CD and letters of recommendation. All students accepted to the festival receive a full scholarship, covering tuition, housing and meals.

Opening Concert by Faculty
The Artists Concert, scheduled for 6 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 3, will feature the Festival faculty performing a variety of chamber music selections. The concert will be in Neva Langley Fickling Hall of the McCorkle Music Building on Mercer’s Macon campus. Tickets are $10 for general admission, free to Mercer faculty, staff and students. Tickets can be purchased through Mercer Ticket Sales at (478) 301-5470.

Festival Offers Free Concert
The Festival Concert, scheduled for 3 p.m., Monday, Sept. 7, will feature the students performing classical chamber music selections in small ensembles and also performing alongside their master teachers in a string orchestra led by David Halen. The concert will be in Neva Langley Fickling Hall of the McCorkle Music Building on Mercer’s Macon campus. Seating is limited and tickets are required for admission. Free tickets are available through Mercer Ticket Sales at (478) 301-5470.

Master Classes Open to the Public
The master classes will be free and open to the public for viewing. Students participating in the Festival perform solo pieces and receive instruction on stage in front of other class attendees from the distinguished artists and faculty leading the classes. Family, friends and the public are invited to attend these classes to watch the one-on-one training.

The master class schedule is as follows:
Friday, Sept. 4, 7-9 p.m.
Violin Master Class with Robert McDuffie, Fickling Hall
Cello Master Class with Julie Albers and Christopher Rex, McCorkle Room 120
Viola Master Class with Sabina Thatcher and Paul Murphy, McCorkle Room 110

Saturday, Sept. 5, 7-9 p.m.
Violin Master Class with Robert McDuffie and Amy Schwartz Moretti, Fickling Hall
(All master classes take place in the McCorkle Music Building on Mercer’s Macon campus.)

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Fayette County Students Learn Music and Leadership at All Girls Summer Camp

A total of 13 students from Fayette’s middle and high schools participated in the first Athena Music and Leadership Camp designed to encourage females to become leaders in their band programs.

Young musicians from five of Fayette County's middle and high schools were a part of history in the making this summer as they attended the first ever music leadership camp just for girls.

The Athena Music and Leadership Camp, sponsored by Music Essentials, was created by Fayette County High School band director Myra Rhoden in an effort to encourage girls to become leaders in their school band programs. Men have long dominated the music field at the high school level, and although women are starting to enter the field, Rhoden says attitudes take time to catch up. That’s why she spent a year organizing the camp that is named after the Greek goddess of the arts and wisdom. The camp is the only band camp in the state serving just girls, according to Rhoden.

At total of 44 students from nine metro-Atlanta counties, including 13 from Fayette, attended the first all female music camp June 9-13 on the campus of the University of West Georgia. Fayette students included Katherine Burke, Bennett’s Mill Middle; Callie Burks, Flat Rock Middle; Ashley Carter, Fayette County High; Emily Gomes, Fayette Middle; Gabrielle Illg, Rising Starr Middle; Alexis Johnson, Fayette County High; Tori Melton, Rising Starr Middle; Sarah Mendes, Rising Starr Middle; Mallory Northrop, Fayette County High; Elisabeth Pagan, Fayette Middle; Sara Preiss, Flat Rock Middle; Omone Tokurah, Fayette Middle and Marisa Winter, Rising Starr Middle.

The girls spent the week in music and leadership classes and concluded the camp by showing off what they had learned during a concert performance on the final day.

An all female staff of professional musicians and teachers from around the state lead the camp including Leslie Minor, assistant director at Flat Rock Middle, who served as the clarinet and music theory instructor and Rhoden, who served as the camp’s director and conductor of the all girl symphonic band.

The camp is open to all female 7th-12th grade musicians who play woodwind, brass or percussion instruments. Due to the success of the first camp, a second has been planned for next summer, June 8-12, 2010 at the University of West Georgia.

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