On November 21st, 2024, music students from throughout the Winooski Valley gathered at Harwood High School to participate in an annual music festival.
Throughout Vermont, music education has managed to stay very deeply rooted in our schools, teeming with outstanding teachers and students with a passion for music. When brought together, some pretty amazing things happen.
Every year on the third Thursday of November, High School Music Students from throughout the Winooski Valley come together at Harwood for the Winooski Valley Music Festival. Participating schools consist of Harwood, U-32, Montpelier, Spaulding, Northfield, Oxbow, White River Valley, and Randolph. The festival consists of a concert band, chorus, and string orchestra, all preparing for a final performance on Friday. 
(2024 Festival Chorus Dress Rehearsal)
Students who would like to participate are selected through an audition process. Zoe Blackman who has participated in the festival for three years said “The festival was a great way for me to build up my confidence while auditioning for other festivals”. According to Molly Clark, president of the Winooski Valley Music Festival organization, this process was disrupted by COVID, resulting in a nomination selection process the following two years after COVID, but this year there was an incentive to “raise the bar” and return the old audition process.
“It is a good stepping stone for students who want to audition for the All State and New England music festivals in the future”, says Harwood senior Elsie Pawul.
On Thursday Morning, students will arrive at Harwood, and go their separate ways to chorus, string orchestra, or concert band. Most of the time on Thursday was spent getting used to playing the music together as a group and adjusting to each other. Groups will also spend this time to make sure that everyone’s sounds are balanced, blended and in tune with each other. “Rhythm and articulation is only a small part of playing in a band,” said Alex Rivera, a clarinet player from Harwood. “You could play an entire song with perfect rhythm and articulation, and still sound like a 5th grader.”
Friday will consist of more fine tuning and perfecting the music, and sometimes experimenting with different ideas, such as performing in a circle, and sitting in different positions than normal to become more adjusted to hearing everyone’s part. Dress rehearsals start at approximately 3:00, so that each group can become adjusted to playing in the Harwood Auditorium, as everything will sound quite different than it does in Harwood’s acoustic treated music rooms. The concert that starts at 7:00 pm consists of three performances, concert band, chorus, and orchestra, each lasting approximately fifteen minutes.
(2024 Orchestra Dress Rehearsal)
There is also a Winooski Valley Jazz festival every February. This festival is highly selective with only about a quarter of the amount of students who attend the fall festival selected every year. Anyone wishing to attend the festival’s Jazz band must go through an audition process similar to the initial festival’s except at a higher level of difficulty. For the jazz chorus there is no separate audition required. Instead, the top scoring students from the initial Winooski Valley Fall Festival auditions are invited to attend the jazz festival.
Any high school musicians curious about attending district music festivals should definitely consider attending the Winooski Valley Music Festivals, as it is a great opportunity to step up your musical talents to the next level, as well as prepare for higher level festivals such as the All-State Music Festival. Anyone wishing to see an amazing performance that has many hours dedicated to perfecting, is welcome to attend at Harwood on the third Friday of November at 7:00 to support your local high school musicians.
