By: Emily Wu, News Editor
From April 25th to the 26th, Mills High School music had an exciting and rewarding experience of participating at the California Music Educators Association (CMEA). In addition to competing for awards, students also had the opportunity to perform at two local schools and California’s Great America.
CMEA is an organization that encourages music education and brings together music programs from schools across California. “It’s kind of a foundational group of all the music teachers in California,” explained Mr. Gregoric, Mills’ band director. “It’s held throughout the year and supports and promotes music education.”
This year, Mills participated in the jazz, band, and orchestra CMEA events, and all three ensembles earned united superior ratings, the highest score possible. “It went really well. I mean, you know, we were tired,” said Mr. Gregoric, referring to the group’s packed schedule. “We were doing a lot of things because the day before, we did concerts at Taylor Middle School and Spring Valley.”
Performing for younger students turned out to be one of the most memorable parts of the trip. “…the highlight for us was the Spring Valley kids,” Mr, Gregoric said, “…they were so engaged, and it was a time where the audience was really involved and they were so cute and so fun.”
After the school concerts, Mills musicians headed to Great America for their final performance. In total, they brought home six awards, four first-place trophies, two sweepstakes awards, and a special jazz soloist award earned by sophomore Daniel Grimkov. These awards reflected not only the talent but also the countless hours of preparation.
While most of the competitors were from California, some came from further away. “There was one school from Washington state and then just whoever, it’s kind of random,” Mr. Gregoric mentioned. The variety of schools made the competition both exciting and significant.
Despite the impressive results, Mr. Gregoric emphasized that awards aren’t the main goal. “And the competitions are not exactly why we play music, of course,” he said, “but we’ll just be preparing to be the best musicians we can.”
His advice for future performances and competitions? “Practice, practice, practice.”
