Opportunities for All Music Students
MMTA Ensemble Festival is a wonderful opportunity for student musicians to collaborate with each other to make music. The MMTA Ensemble Festival is open to piano, instrumental and voice students studying with a MMTA teacher.
Student musicians who collaborate:
- Learn to listen to each other.
- Count carefully.
- Create balance between melody and harmony.
- Play pieces that can be more interesting and sound more advanced than solo repertoire at their level (especially a benefit for adult students).
- Have a less stressful performance experience because they are performing with others.
- Learn to accompany other instrumentalists.
MMTA Ensemble Festival students receive:
- Constructive and encouraging written comments from a MMTA judge.
- A certificate of participation.
- Each studetn in an ensemble is awarded 100 Challenge Award points (200 point limit per school year)
MMTA Ensemble Festival rules and procedures:
- For the year 2025-26, the registration fee for each ensemble is $30.
- Any number of student musicians may play in an ensemble.
- MMTA Ensemble Festivals are held throughout the year. This year MMTA is sponsoring 11 Ensemble Festivals, four in the Twin Cities and six in outstate Minnesota as well as a virtual Ensemble Festival.
- There is no theory requirement for students registering for this event.
- A MMTA ensemble is defined as two or more performers. A parent, sibling or teacher counts as one of the performers.
- MMTA now offers a virtual Ensemble Festival. Ensembles are pre-recorded and uploaded to YouTube for judging.
- All instrumentalists, including piano, strings, woodwinds, and voice, are invited to perform in an ensemble.
- Ensemble Festivals are open to students of all ages, including adults.
- Student performers must play the instrument currently being studied with a MMTA teacher