If you want to see where some of the biggest and most varied growth has been happening within ILMEA over the past few years, you’d need to take a look at the Junior/Senior General Music (JSGM) division! With new festivals, album streaming releases and an expanded Composition Contest there’s lots to catch up on to see how you and your students can get involved!
2024 Spring JSGM Festivals
Last April, ILMEA District 1 hosted a Modern Band-Music Production Festival at Oak Lawn Community High School. It was a wonderful day of performances, collaboration and learning! Thank you to Bob Halberstat, Paul Levy and the community of Oak Lawn for hosting our first ever Modern Band-Music Production Festival. The day was full of amazing performances, professional development and the opportunity to grow as composers.
Districts 2 and 3 held an exciting Soundtrack Workshop for middle and high school students interested in making music for movies, short films, and video games. Students composed soundtrack music for an animated film. Dr. Lynnsey Lambrecht, professor of composition at Bradley University, led students through their compositions, and students showed off their music creations at a showcase in Bradley's Marty theater.
2023 Composition Contest Albums
ILMEA is excited to release the following albums of student work. We are committed to promoting student performance and composition. These albums represent student work that was not released previously on a school or independent artist label. Check out the new Albums on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music. Released in May 2024, JSGM has the following albums now streaming: Avant Garde, Traditional Composition, Popular/Commercial Music, and Remix.
2024 Composition Contest Updates
The last ten years has seen a steady increase in the number of entries to the ILMEA Student Composition Contest! This past year saw close to 300 original compositions, arrangements and remixes coming from student musicians across the state. To give our students even more specific and targeted feedback, the categories will be expanded and updated for the 2024-2025 contest!
The Junior Composition categories have been updated to mirror the Senior Composition categories. Computer based music is now three categories: Avant Garde, EDM and Rap/Hip-Hop. We have also redesigned the judges feedback sheets with a rubric for more thorough and consistent feedback. The composition rules and guidelines have been updated for clarity.
For more information on the Composition Contest, visit www.ilmea.org/composition - it is a fantastic way for student composers in Illinois to get high-quality feedback and be recognized for their work!
2024 Remix Contest
Each year, we highlight a composer/artist with an Illinois connection as a basis for the Remix Contest. This year the honor goes to one of our 2023 ILMEA Composition Contest honorees. Congratulations to Downers Grove North Senior, Sophia Halmeka, whose Singer-Songwriter piece from this past year’s contest, Failed Relationship, was selected for the 2024 Remix competition. For more information on the 2024 Remix contest, including stems and chops, please visit ilmea.org/remix.
Have ideas for new JSGM programming or professional development? Interested in getting your students involved in the Composition or Remix Contests? Want to get involved yourself? Reach out to Bill Rank, JSGM Division President, at jsgm@ilmea.org!