Harrison Mabon attended the PMEA Central Region Orchestra festival, where he ranked the 10th best violinist in the region.

The festival was hosted on Feb.27  by Warwick High School in Lititz, PA. 

There are a multitude of reasons why Mabon put in the effort to qualify for this festival.

“I attended the PMEA Central Region Orchestra, after advancing through the district level, to compete with some of the finest student musicians within a three hour radius,” Mabon said. “We developed our skill and musicianship, performing repertoire considered difficult at a professional level. Its both an incredibly valuable and fulfilling experience.”

Andrew Jones, orchestra teacher and former member of PMEA, sees how PMEA can help younger students.

“It’s a wonderful outlet where students from all over the state can get together and

perform,” Jones said. “The students who participate have a passion for music, and the whole festival is about producing music. In our high school orchestra, we play wonderful music, but in these festivals, you play harder music and can also experience different music that you might not experience in school.”

Beginning as a small group of band directors in 1933, PMEA met in Reading and formed the Pennsylvania Bandmasters Association. They would later rename the association to the Pennsylvania School Band Association, and again to the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association in 1947. The PMEA would expand, growing into a larger organization for teaching students about music.