MUSIC FOR ALL NATIONAL FESTIVAL

The Music for All National Festival, presented by Yamaha, celebrates outstanding music-making by the nation’s finest high school and middle school scholastic ensembles. The Music for All National Festival is an integral part of Music for All’s mission to create, provide, and expand positively life-changing experiences through music for all.

All applying ensembles receive feedback on their audition recording from a panel of Music for All National Festival evaluators.

For invited ensembles, directors select their own programs; there is no required repertoire. There are no ratings or rankings, so directors and their ensembles are free to stretch themselves, reach for new heights, and strive for innovation, growth, and excellence, rather than focusing on a rating or placement.

The non-competitive atmosphere of the Music for All National Festival provides a place for growth, cooperative encouragement, and mutual respect among music programs, students, parents, boosters, and administrators. To receive an invitation by audition is to be recognized as one of the finest scholastic music ensembles in America.

Concert bands have been part of the Music for All National Festival since its debut in 1992. The National Concert Band Festival offers three performance stage opportunities for high school concert bands:

• The campus of Butler University offers two performance venues – Clowes Memorial Hall and Schrott Center for the Arts where bands will perform their concert for a knowledgeable audience and then transition to the music building nearby for an in-depth post-concert educational clinic experience. All high school concert bands will submit the same audition and then will be offered one of the two performance venues.
• Small School Stage – Music for All estimates that about 68% of America’s high schools with music programs have school enrollment of less than 1,400 in grades 9-12. This is a vast number of schools serving students through music that have resources and situations that may be different than those in larger enrollment schools. We applaud the music educators providing arts education to students in schools of all sizes.In 2023, Music for All is presenting a stage at the Music for All National Festival for ensembles from schools with enrollment of 1,400 or fewer in grades 9-12. Applying ensembles may select consideration for this Small School Stage or select to be considered for the Featured or Invited Ensemble stages with schools of all sizes.

Founded in 1975, Music for All is one of the nation’s largest and most influential organizations in support of active music-making through educational and performance programs and advocacy. From roots in marching band championships as Bands of America, the organization launched the National Concert Band Festival in 1992. Today, the Music for All National Festival provides a world-class educational performance experience for outstanding bands, orchestras, percussion ensembles, and chamber ensembles.