2024 IMEA ELEMENTARY and MIDDLE SCHOOL/JUNIOR HIGH 

ALL-STATE HONOR CHOIR INFORMATION 

Since 1990, IMEA has sponsored an elementary and a middle school honor choir. Selected students who are participating in Circle the State with Song Area Festivals will have the opportunity to audition for these All-State Honor Choirs. These choirs are select groups of approximately 150 singers chosen by teacher recommendation and audition. Our goal is to choose singers from each of the 12 area CSWS Festivals to fill balanced parts. 

Honor Choir Auditions are Closed.  Final selections will be made in early November.

2024 Honor Choir Audition Packet

Please review the honor choir audition packet thoroughly. Auditions will be recorded along with the audition tracks provided, and submitted online through this site. Audition instructions must be followed exactly to ensure auditions will be accepted.

Dates: January 11-12, 2024

Performance: January 12, 2024

Performance Location: Fort Wayne Embassy Theater, Fort Wayne, IN

 

2024 Elementary Honor Choir Audition Track

Elementary

 

 

2024 Middle School Honor Choir Audition Tracks

Soprano Alto Tenor Bass

 

Honor Choir Auditions are Closed.  Final selections will be made in early November.

Honor Choir Selection

Final selection will be made by the CSWS Committee during the second week of November 2023. Students and teachers will be notified of the decision at that time. Rehearsal recordings for honor choir will be available on the web-site for each participating singer along with the honor choir repertoire. Please read carefully, follow the instructions, and meet the deadlines as stated in the audition process. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL DISQUALIFY THE AUDITION. It is our pleasure to offer your students this quality opportunity to learn and grow musically. Thank you for your continued interest in and support of IMEA and its programs.

Fees/Scholarships

The 2023 fee for this choral experience will be $195 for students in both the Elementary Choir and Middle School Choir. This fee includes four meals, All-State music, on-line rehearsal recordings, and an overnight stay in downtown Ft. Wayne. A limited number of partial scholarships are available and will be made available after placement. Please make sure that any student whose teacher submits a Scholarship Form on their behalf understands that they are responsible for the balance of the cost, and that the full fee is to be sent pending approval of scholarship. If the scholarship is approved, a reimbursement will be provided from the IMEA office. 

 2024 Honor Choir Scholarship Application: CLICK HERE

 


 

CLINICIANS

Elementary Honor Choir Clinician: Brent Gault; Accompanist: Lisa McMillen-Malott

 

Brent Gault is professor of music education at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He has taught elementary and early childhood music courses in Texas, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. He specializes in elementary general music education, early childhood music education, and Kodály-inspired methodology. He also has training in both the Orff and Dalcroze approaches to music education.

Gault has presented sessions and research at conferences of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association, Dalcroze Society of America, International Kodály Society, International Society for Music Education, Organization of American Kodály Educators, and National Association for Music Education. In addition, he has served as a presenter and guest lecturer for colleges and music education organizations in the United States, Canada, China, Ireland, and Singapore.

Articles by Gault have been published in various music education periodicals, including the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education,  the Journal of Research in Music Education, Music Educators Journal, General Music Today, Kodály Envoy, Orff Echo, and American Dalcroze Journal. He is the co-editor (with Carlos Abril) of Teaching General Music (2016, Oxford University Press) and General Music: Dimensions of Practice (2022, Oxford University Press) and author of Listen Up! Fostering Musicianship Through Active Listening (2016, Oxford University Press).

In addition to his duties with the Music Education Department, Gault serves as the program director for the Indiana University Children's Choir, where he conducts the Allegro Choir. He is a past president of the Organization of American Kodály Educators.


 

Middle School Honor Choir Clinician: Brandon Williams; Accompanist: Betty Martens

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brandon Williams is an Associate Professor and Interim Director of Choral Activities at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He conducts the Rutgers Kirkpatrick Choir, the Rutgers Glee Club, and the Rutgers Voorhees Choir (Carnegie Hall 2019, Eastern ACDA 2020, 2024). Dr. Williams also appears internationally as a guest conductor, clinician, and presenter. 

Dr. Williams amassed a decade of middle and high school teaching experience in St. Louis, Missouri, where he also served on the voice faculty at Maryville University and as a conductor with the St. Louis Symphony IN UNISON Chorus and the St. Louis Children’s Choirs. His school ensembles received invitations to perform at the 2010 and 2013 Missouri Music Educators Association conventions, and his middle school ensemble was featured on GIA’s DVD entitled “How to Make a Good Choir Sound Great!” Dr. Williams has won numerous awards, including the 2009 Missouri Choral Directors Association Prelude Award, an Outstanding Teacher Award from the University of Missouri-Columbia Honors College, the 2020-21 Rutgers Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching Innovations, the Mason Gross Inclusive Community Faculty Award, and the 2021-22 Rutgers Presidential Fellowship for Teaching Excellence Award. 

Dr. Williams holds degrees from Western Illinois University, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Michigan State University, where he earned the prestigious University Enrichment Graduate Fellowship Award. He also completed an Artist Teacher Diploma from the Choral Music Experience–Institute for Choral Teacher Education. Dr. Williams is the editor of Choral Reflections: Insights from American Choral Conductor-Teachers, and his writing appears in the Choral Journal, Music Educators Journal, and Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education. Many of his choral compositions and arrangements are published with Hal Leonard, G. Schirmer, Mark Foster, Colla Voce, and MusicSpoke. Dr. Williams is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, the Collegiate Choral Organization, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and the National Association for Music Education.