Festival '19 may have been the very best MAMTG Student Music Festival to date. MAMTG's Student Music Festival is a weekend-long event held annually, that takes an entire year to produce. It's a lot of moving parts and nothing is prepared lightly or without significant thought and thorough steps. Since acquiring MAMTG in 2015, my goal was to offer an exciting event that was produced well, that was fair for all participating students and attending music schools, and that offered music parents something structured and legitimate. Aiming to keep it affordable for a family to attend, while hosting the Festival at an attractive and upscale hotel. We have been doing that, these last four years and Festival '19 sure felt like the very best Festival.

To do all this well requires a village of dedicated people. Professional and committed people. Thank you to Theater Steps, Elisa Girlando Studios, Raritan Music Center and Music Notes Academy for being involved throughout the year. These school owners, directors and staff teachers all provide their expertise, insights and time to help improve each upcoming Festival for all the attending schools and students. These are our Leading Member Schools. As always, the invitation is open for more schools to become a Leading Member School. 

Thank you to all the adjudicators/judges and room captains. It takes tremendous amounts of time seeking, interviewing and securing the very best, dedicated, degreed and experienced adjudicators who share a similar vision and are committed to an event such as MAMTG. This year, I do believe we had the very best group of adjudicators ever. I'm very proud of Festival '19's group of adjudicators and room captains. Thank you Lisa from Theater Steps, for taking the reins and leading all the adjudicators in our Festival meeting and orientation, while being there additionally for everyone throughout the weekend. 

Thank You to the sponsors, who provide their resources to help make MAMTG what it is today. PianoPiano NYC, Music Notes Academy, State Theatre NJ, Theater Steps, Elisa Girlando Studios and Idol Time Vocal Academy. Thank you Paiste Cymbals for sending swag for the performing percussion students.

Thank you PianoPiano NYC for being very prepared, dedicated and simply wonderful. Thank you for the Young Chang baby grand piano for the Awards Show. All the pianos were excellent.

Thank You to the attending exhibitors who attended with vendor booths. State Theatre NJ, G Star Creations, Tune Your Piano!, PianoPiano NYC, Musically Inclined, David Enterprises, Cornerstone Music Studios, Freehold Music Center, AoPS Academy of Princeton, VisoVita Media and KiDzHub. This fine group of small businesses and professionals help make the weekend brighter for everyone in attendance. Having exhibitors brings more professionals together and helps the the music education community network and become a bit stronger because of it. 

Thank You Stephanie Tsai, our assistant program director. Stephanie helps me throughout the year administratively and throughout the entire five days we are at the venue. From assisting with event scheduling, adjudicator schedules, room captain schedules, banquets/catering and more.

Thank You Victor Tsai, our computer guru who designed a new system and process for additional accuracy in scorecard calculations and computations which helps produce the Awards Show more efficiently.

Thank you attending member schools and private teachers. It's been my hope that you see MAMTG's Student Music Festival as a value-add for your music school, studio, students and parents. Having an exciting event for your students, that offers constructive feedback from specialist adjudicators on scorecards that align to a specific event, hopefully helps you as a music teacher and your students improve with insight from another professional who cares about music education while promoting the musical arts for students. 

Finally, thank you students and parents for performing and attending. ​I really do hope the weekend was enjoyable, educational and musical for you and your family. 

-Brandon
Program Director

Practice your MAMTG performance music in NYC at PianoPiano. Sunday, March 24, 2019 at 2:30 pm. 

PianoPiano is our piano sponsor for Festival '19 and they have a great opportunity for all MAMTG students, especially piano students.

Use the link below to sign-up. Perform your MAMTG competition, evaluation or Talent Showcase song in NYC at PianoPiano's midtown Manhattan, NY Recital Hall.

Sign-Up Here
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Piano Masterclass w/ Alessandra Tiraterra
Alessandra Tiraterra, veteran adjudicator and judge with MAMTG, will present a special piano masterclass and workshop at Festival '19. Piano students, teachers and parents should plan to attend. This will be a very special event.

Updated Piano Standards w/ Additional Standards Levels
The piano standards music was updated and refreshed. We added additional Standards Levels for piano students. 

Updated Guitar & Strings Standards Music
The guitar standards music was updated and refreshed, mixing in different styles this year. For strings, all the music was updated and refreshed. 

Updated Woodwinds & Brass Standards Levels
We consolidated the woodwinds and brass standards and levels. Now students can see themselves move through Accelerando, Maestro and Virtuoso performance levels. 

New Piano Standard Jazz/Blues Levels & Music
Now we have Piano Standards Jazz/Blues. A much needed addition. Jazz/Ragtime Open is still available. We now have it all - Jazz, Ragtime and Blues. 

Musical Theatre Duets
Yes, finally. Musical Theatre Duet competitions. 

Voice Pop Duets
Yes, Voice Pop Duets. We are looking forward to this for voice students singing popular music together. 

New Talent Showcase Originals
We still have Talent Showcase, which is now Talent Showcase Covers. Talent Showcase Original is for our singers and vocalists who also play an instrument and compose their own music. 

Customized Registration Forms for Schools & Teachers
Schools asked. We said yes. Music Schools and private music teachers can customize the registration forms. We will do it, just let us know what you want or need on the forms for your students, teachers and parents. 

Lucky 7 Savings for Schools & Teachers
The larger MAMTG is, the more we can offer and accomplish. Want higher cash awards? We need more sponsors and more attending schools and students. To get your Lucky 7 Savings, spread the great word on MAMTG's Student Music Festival and begin your savings. See the Lucky 7 form for information and details. 

Additional Sponsorship Opportunities 
Be an Audience Sponsor. Go backstage. Or be a Rockstar. MAMTG does not just ask for money. We give the sponsor a lot of great stuff. See the Media Kit for sponsorship levels and information. Finally, yes - if you just want to give money and get something, let us know. We'll customize as much as we can for you.

This is one of our favorite testimonials from parents, from Festival '17. 

What we are aiming to achieve with MAMTG's Student Music Festival is value with a community of professionals. The music teaching and music education community needs its teachers, music schools, students and parents to come together and embrace the value of a music education. 

MAMTG's Student Music Festival provides a weekend filled with music competitions, evaluations or assessments, talent showcases and ensemble showcases. It's a weekend where a family can stay at the hotel, participate in several events, watch other performance events and support students in their performance, have meals together, go for a swim and end the weekend at the Sunday Awards Show. 

Bringing music schools, their teachers, students and parents together for a weekend is an enriching opportunity. The value students gain by performing for an evaluation or in a competition is far beyond simply playing and practicing in a classroom. Being with a community of others offers students insight and inspiration to go back home and keep improving, practicing and aiming for the next level in their own playing. 

Parents can rest easy, in that the adjudicators judging the events and providing feedback on the scorecards are honestly the very best we can find and secure for the weekend. We turn away several applicant adjudicators who simply are not qualified for our Festival. New adjudicators are oriented by staff prior to the Festival beginning. The standards are set high for the adjudicators.

For private music teachers and music schools. The quote above says it all. Being with MAMTG adds value to your school, studio, music store or organization. There are many competitions and offerings out there, we receive a lot of them here in East Brunswick. However, MAMTG offers an experience and an event like no other. We put far too much time and energy on producing the very best student music festival we can. We work all year long on a 3-day event.

Consider elevating your music education experience, either for your students, your child or your organization. It's easy to participate and the weekend offers a nice Spring break away. 

Here's how a music school or private teacher can get started with MAMTG's Student Music Festival... 

Donald Guillaume was the drummer for the Grammy Award winning band The Fugees. This led to playing with many other artists such as Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, BB King, Earth Wind & Fire and other award-winning artists. Recording credits include Willie Nelson, Wyclef Jean and Eric Andersen among others. Don has worked as a producer and recording engineer in recording studios and is owner of Guillaume's Music Academy in Hillsborough, NJ. 

Festival 2018 Drum Clinic with Donald Guillaume
Day | Saturday 
Time | 7:30 pm
Free for all participating MAMTG drum and percussion students

The State Theatre of New Jersey has something special for MAMTG members and their students. Today through Saturday, 11/1 at 5pm - Submit anything with payment for Festival '18 and be automatically entered to win 2 FREE tickets to see the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ on Sunday 11/12/17 at 3pm. 

We have several sets of tickets. Thank you State Theatre of New Jersey! 

Submit something for Festival '18. It could be the...

• Member Registration
• Vendor
• Program Book Ad
• Hotel Pack
• Sponsor
• Logo on Awards Backdrop
• VIP Sponsor
• Enter your students or a student in...
  • Competition
  • Evaluation
  • Talent Showcase
  • Open Mic Night
  • Virtuoso Showcase
  • Ensembles Showcase

Submit at least one item with payment and be automatically entered to win 2 FREE tickets. 

How to redeem tickets? Brandon will meet you on Sunday, 11/12/17 at 2pm in New Brunswick. Location to be determined. 

Terms... Something has to be submitted and received by MAMTG with proper payment and registration form by 11/11 at 5pm. You may drive your payment and registration from to Music Notes Academy in East Brunswick during normal operating hours, no later than 11/11 at 5pm. Winners will be announced 11/11 at 6pm via Facebook and our email system(s). Instructions on where to meet Brandon will be revealed to winners. 

Let's show the State Theatre of New Jersey how much MAMTG loves live music!