AREA ELEMENTARY MUSIC STUDENTS SELECTED FOR PARTICIPATION IN

WHEN:                         January 14, 2016

WHERE:                       Tampa, Florida

WHAT:                         Area students selected to perform in Florida All-State Elementary Music Ensembles

• Over 800 students auditioned for a spot in two ensembles
• 200 students were selected to perform in the All-State Elementary Chorus
• 100 students were selected to perform in the All-State Orff Ensemble
• All-State performances will be held as part of the Florida Music Educators Professional Development Conference at the Tampa Convention Center, January 13-16, 2016. Over 8,000 music educators, music students, music exhibitors, and music advocates from Florida and beyond will attend over 250 clinic sessions, concerts, and exhibits.

Music education is strong and thriving in Santa Rosa County.  Of the 800 students who auditioned from across the state, Alayna Dean, a fifth grade student from Bennett C. Russell Elementary School in Santa Rosa County, was chosen to perform with the FMEA All-State Elementary Chorus in Tampa, January 14, 2016 at the Tampa Convention Center.  Alayna was chosen for this prestigious honor through a competitive audition process.  Congratulations to Alayna.  The student’s teacher, Mrs. Alicia Coon, is a member of the Florida Music Educators Association and the Florida Elementary Music Educators Association.

The FMEA All-State Elementary Chorus is a unique music education opportunity for Florida students. Elementary school students with unchanged voices in 4th and 5th grades are eligible to audition. The Seventeenth FMEA All-State Elementary Chorus will be under the direction of Dr. Don Ester.  Dr. Ester is a professor of music education at Ball State University.  He is a frequent guest conductor and clinician for choirs of all ages.  He has conducted All-State Children’s Choirs in Indiana, South Dakota, and Colorado.  Since 1990 he has presented over 150 clinics throughout the nation and served as guest conductor for over 100 festival choirs.  Two hundred elementary singers will perform with the FMEA All-State Elementary Chorus at the Tampa Convention Center January 14, 2016 at 1:45 PM.  Robert Todd, the All-State Elementary Chorus Coordinator noted that, “Dr. Ester has selected a rigorous program certain to appeal to varied musical tastes.  In addition, FEMEA has commissioned composer/arranger Mark Patterson to write a piece specifically to be premiered at the concert in honor of this year’s singers.”

The FEMEA President, Marie Radloff, said, “I am so proud of the achievements of these outstanding students and their dedicated music teachers.  The FMEA All-State experience brings these young musicians together in one place, and affords them the opportunity to work and perform with each other in a very rarified, artistic environment,