Students from Minisink Valley’s Middle School, Intermediate School, and Otisville School had an outstanding showing at the NYSSMA festival on April 5-6, at Monroe-Woodbury Middle School. Several students will also take part in additional festivals later in the season.

Each spring, the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) hosts festivals across the state where students perform prepared solos and scales before a judge and receive a score. Students don’t compete against other students, but rather against themselves as they try to achieve the highest score possible while improving their musicianship.

Congratulations to all Minisink Valley participants for their hard work and the teachers—Mrs. Fenfert, Mr. Hulle, Mrs. Hulle, Ms. Shafer, and Ms. Ventre—who helped prepare them for their festival performances.

Otisville NYSSMA participants

Fifth Grade Band members Emily Hager and Olivia Norwood received perfect

scores for their performances.

“I was nervous at first but I was excited to find out my score!” Emily said.

“NYSSMA helped me figure out that hard work pays off!” Olivia added.

At NYSSMA’s June 1 festival, Otisville’s representation will include William Burretto, Heather Day, Madeline Huggins, Malunga Kinzonzi, Mikia Nash, and Gabriel Simpson.

“NYSSMA is a great opportunity for me to learn a challenging piece of music,” Malunga Kinzonzi said.

“NYSSMA is the perfect opportunity for kids to know how well they perform,” said Heather Day.