NYSSMA Solo Festival

NYSSMA is an acronym that stands for New York State School Music Association. This is New York's professional music educator association. Their website homepage is www.nyssma.org. Please visit NYSSMA’s website and click on “Information” and then “About Us” to read their mission statement and learn about what they do.

NYSSMA sponsors approximately 145 solo & small ensemble and major ensemble festivals in New York State each spring. At solo and small ensemble festivals, students are given a performance evaluation that involves playing a graded solo from the NYSSMA Manual, playing scales and sight reading. At major ensemble festivals, school bands, choruses and orchestras are evaluated.

Students are assessed by a NYSSMA certified adjudicator on solo or ensemble music they have prepared. The purpose of this assessment is to provide the student(s) with positive feedback and constructive criticism in an effort to help improve musicianship.

Preparing any piece of music has a variety of aesthetic rewards and technical benefits. Students who practice diligently and do well will experience a wonderful sense of satisfaction while becoming better overall musicians on his or her instrument/voice. Adjudicators are trained to provide not only positive feedback but also constructive criticism designed to help students become better musicians.

The NYSSMA rating scale for all solos and ensembles starts at level 1 (easiest) up to level 6 (hardest). All-State soloists must perform literature selected from the level 6 category.

Students who desire a rating must choose a graded solo from the NYSSMA Manual and perform this along with scales and sight reading. Students who desire comments only can perform any music and are not required to play scales or sight read.

All music teachers at all Harrison schools have a copy of the NYSSMA manual. The manual contains rules and regulations as well as the extensive solo lists. It should be noted, however, that the manual is designed for use by music teachers and is not intended as a student or parent publication.

Typically, the students’ teacher or private teacher will help them select the appropriate music to prepare, based on the ability of the student or students performing it. The music must be listed in the current NYSSMA manual in order to be evaluated. Every teacher in the school district and most music stores have access to this manual. Presently, the manual is not offered online. 

NYSSMA festivals (other than for All-State) are evaluations, not competitions. Students may compete with themselves from year to year, but NYSSMA does not view festivals as competitive.

• Students are only eligible to audition for all state in grades 10 and 11.

• To be considered for All State ensembles, students should select to perform an "All State" audition

• All State auditions require the performer to prepare a level 6 solo with accompaniment, perform scales, and perform challenging sight reading excerpts

• All state performers will need to perform their solo with piano accompaniment (performing along with a recording is fine!)

• All state performers will be responsible for finding a recording of the piano part. Mrs. Loertscher will help search for piano accompaniment recordings, although ultimately, the responsibility is on the student. If the student prefers to perform with live accompaniment, the responsibility of seeking out, hiring, coordinating with and covering the cost of hiring a pianist to perform is the  student and their family.

All NYSSMA registration is done through the student’s school music program during a communicated enrollment window. Students cannot register through private teachers or other outside of school entities.  Important NYSSMA solo festival registration information and deadlines will be communicated via the NYSSMA google classroom and students are responsible for reviewing the information shared. Information regarding scheduling times and appropriate materials will be received from the school music teacher. 

Each solo or ensemble time slot must be reserved through payment to be submitted by the specified deadline. The current fees are as follows:

Regular solo/ensemble level 1-4 - $16.00

Regular solo/ensemble level 5-6 - $24.00

Piano solo/ensemble level 1-4 - $22.00

Piano solo/ensemble level 5-6 - $30.00

Any All-State solo - $30.00

NOTE: Fees are as of Spring 2022 and subject to change as per NYSSMA. Fees are Non-Refundable for any reason.

Vocalists of all levels and All State performers require piano accompaniment. Pianos are available for accompanists in All-State rooms and vocal rooms only. Pianos are not available in regular level 1-6 brass, string, woodwind and percussion adjudication rooms since those participants will not perform with piano accompaniment. All-State soloists must provide accompaniment if the literature they are performing has an accompaniment part.  When providing a recorded or computerized accompaniment, the student must also provide his/her own audio playback equipment. Students may use a live or recorded accompaniment. 

• In addition to the above fees, students must also pay for any piano accompanist fee (for All State performers choosing to use a pianist). All State performers choosing to use recording of the accompaniment will need to purchase the recording and a speaker.

• Students and families will need to purchase two original copies of the music being performed.

• Also note that the district does NOT provide any transportation to the NYSSMA Solo Festival. 

Preparing a NYSSMA solo or ensemble properly requires a lot of time and practice. It is up to each individual student to practice diligently and to prepare his/her music. The repertoire is above and beyond the regular in-school lesson program requirement. One-on-one tutoring is highly effective and may be necessary in preparing for the adjudication. Depending on availability and scheduling, the school music teacher may or may not have time to assist in the preparation of the music. For Level VI and All-State Auditions, it is advisable and beneficial to secure a private instructor for this purpose if financially possible. If private instruction is not feasible our music staff will do all they can to help our students as long as the student fulfills their end of diligent and regular home practice.

NYSSMA adjudicators are professional teachers/musicians who have received instruction on the NYSSMA adjudication system.

The soloist or ensemble enters a specified room to perform for an individual adjudicator. In addition to the prepared literature, soloists performing for a grade will be asked to perform a specified number of major scales (see NYSSMA manual or speak to your teacher) and a short (approximately 8 measures) sight-reading example. Ensembles are only required to perform the prepared literature.

The entire process takes approximately ten (10) minutes for a level 1-4 adjudication and fifteen (15) minutes for a level 5-6 or All-State adjudication.

No, NYSSMA does not allow any audio or video recording devices in the adjudication room.

Level 1-4 music is rated as “Outstanding”, “Excellent”, “Good”, etc. on a scale of 1-28 with 28 being a perfect score. Level 5-6 music is rated as A+, A, A-, B+, B, etc. on a scale of 1- 100 with 100 being a perfect score. Points are given in major categories such as tone, intonation, technique, accuracy, interpretation, scales and sight-reading. Narrative comments are also written by the adjudicator to provide positive feedback, constructive criticism and to explain any point deductions.

When a student or teacher requests a “Comments Only” rating, the performer(s) will receive the same narrative comments from the adjudicator, without any numerical grades or score.

There are several reasons why a student may choose to go “Comments Only”:

    1. High school seniors who are graduating and no longer eligible for the All-State program often opt to go “Festival”, as the grades are no longer relevant but they still wish to receive narrative comments from an adjudicator.

     2. Students who did not prepare the music well enough may also request a “Comments Only” rating to avoid a poor grade.

    3. Students who have accidentally prepared a piece of literature that is not listed in the NYSSMA manual cannot be adjudicated for a grade but are allowed to go ”Comments Only” for narrative comments only.

A solo is an individual performance. An ensemble can be anywhere from two (duet) up to sixteen (16) musicians, depending on the requirement of the repertoire. Anything above sixteen (16) players is considered a “major ensemble” and must perform at a NYSSMA “Majors” Ensemble Festival.

Yes, if a student has a disability that requires more time or has impaired vision and needs the sight-reading materials enlarged or any other type of disability, your school music teacher can provide a “Student with Disabilities” form to be filled out and signed by the teacher, parent and school principal. This form will be kept confidential and given to the adjudicator prior to the adjudication. 

Within approximately 2-3 weeks of the festival, each participating student will receive the original adjudication form back, completed by the adjudicator.

Yes, but it is not advisable due to the rigor and commitment involved in preparing for an adjudication. However, students are not allowed to perform the same solo twice in the same year on the same instrument or voice.

NO! Absolutely not. Photocopied music is illegal. Students who arrive with photocopied music will be asked to leave the site.

It is advisable, but not mandatory to have a legal copy (original) for the adjudicator to look at during the performance and one for the piano accompanist (if applicable). If only one legal copy is available, the adjudicator may have to look over the shoulder of the performer.

Yes, providing the student also has a receipt from the website the music was purchased from.

Yes and No. The registration form asks for time preferences, but there is no guarantee a specific time request can be granted. Students should make the NYSSMA festival a priority by making themselves available for the duration of the festival until a time confirmation is received.=

Finalized schedules are confirmed and distributed to teachers approximately 7-10 school days before the festival.

Students must attend the festival that is assigned to Harrison. NYSSMA does not provide a means of scheduling students elsewhere. Under extenuating circumstances, we can attempt to schedule a student at another festival at the discretion of the site host. Consequently, there are no guarantees. All-State adjudications must receive a site variance approval letter from NYSSMA before being scheduled elsewhere, and only under extreme, extenuating circumstances will this be done.

Please talk with your music teacher to learn about your scales / rudiment requirement for your level and instrument.