GRANTS - Eleven New Mexico high and middle schools will send vocalists to the Central New Mexico Choir Solo and Ensemble Music Festival to be hosted by Grants High School on Saturday, Oct. 17, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

    Each soloist or small group will have six minutes to make their presentations to qualified adjudicators, who have many years of experience in New Mexico schools and are well qualified to help students improve their musical skills, according GHS Music Director Bill Griner.

    More than 350 performances are scheduled and events are open to the public and will be located in classrooms in the main campus building as well as in the new Performing Arts Building.

Because music events in the region, which includes Sandoval, Cibola, Valencia, Socorro and Torrence Counties, are rotated among the sites, this year is Cibola County's turn to host the event.

Griner described the festival as an assessment event, which means that the focus is for students to prepare a performance and then receive an evaluation of it. Student performances are rated as good, excellent or superior. Students who receive a superior rating from the judge are awarded a medal.

Students will also receive verbal and written comments intended to help them with future performances. Judges are selected based on their ability and experience as music teachers.

Griner expects 35 Grants High School and 30 Los Alamitos Middle School student musicians to participate. In all, there will be 11 schools and 400 students taking part in the festival.

    He explained that, similar to the New Mexico Activities Association, the New Mexico Music Educators Association has divided the state into regions, but there is no distinction for school size as there is in sports programs. “Music festivals are organized by the music teachers in each district,” he said.

    While each student receives a rating, there are no awards given for first, second or third place.     “Students only compete against themselves in an effort to give their best performances and there is no limit to the number of superior ratings that can be given throughout the day,” Griner explained. “The educational purpose of the event is for students to use the skills they learned in the classroom in a performance setting and to receive an evaluation of that performance.”

    Schools participating this year are Rio Rancho High School, Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, Rio Rancho Middle School, Lincoln Middle School, Mountain View Middle School, Eagle Ridge Middle School, Belen High School, Moriarty High School, Edgewood Middle School, Gallup High School, Grants High School and Los Alamitos Middle School.

    “The festival is a great opportunity for us to showcase our music program,” Griner concluded. For more information call Griner at 285-2651 or visit grantstuba@yahoo.com.