PMEA All-District Orchestra happened on Nov. 24 at the Williamsport Area High School. PMEA—Pennsylvania Music Educators Association—is an organization that holds yearly auditions for a festival for orchestra, band, and choir. The goal of PMEA is to promote the expansion of music and music development. 

Students audition by preparing two excerpts from a selected piece to play for the judges. The students also prepare multiple scales, in which two are picked at random for those auditioning to play, along with a chromatic scale. The judges score these criteria on their musicality, rhythm, and tone. 

Seventeen orchestra students from the Williamsport Area High School auditioned for PMEA All-District Orchestra, all of them qualifying for the festival. Three members of the band also qualified to partake in District Orchestra. Caroline Pelly, a sophomore at Williamsport Area High School, said, “It’s a good opportunity to show your skills in a higher level and to meet people from other schools who are also passionate about music.”