Ten Conductors Lead PUSD Students in Annual Instrumental Music Festival

Ten conductors will lead bands and orchestras from across the Pasadena Unified School District in the annual All District Secondary Instrumental Music Festival on Wednesday at the Pasadena High School Auditorium.

The concert brings together student musicians from PUSD’s middle and high schools — spanning Pasadena, Altadena, and Sierra Madre — for a single evening of band and orchestral performance. The festival begins at 6 p.m. at the auditorium, 2925 E. Sierra Madre Blvd.

The festival is directed by PUSD faculty, who also serve as the conductors. Student musicians from each school are invited to perform together, with participation geared toward those playing at an intermediate level or higher, according to the PUSD Arts Education department.

PUSD’s instrumental music program begins with whole-class violin instruction in third grade, with band and orchestra options in fourth and fifth grades. By middle and high school, students can choose from orchestra, band, jazz band, and choral electives. The annual festival is designed to give those students performance experience beyond their individual school campuses.

In prior years, the festival has drawn hundreds to more than 1,000 student musicians. The district’s arts participation rate has been well above the statewide average, according to the Pasadena Educational Foundation, which has helped support the event.

“We do have really thriving performing arts and visual arts in our schools and I would love for the community to celebrate that and know that it is happening,” Jen Olson, then the PUSD arts education coordinator, said in 2017 regarding the festival.

PUSD middle schools with instrumental music programs include Eliot Arts Magnet, Octavia E. Butler Magnet, Sierra Madre Middle School, McKinley School, and Blair School. High schools include Pasadena High School, John Muir High School, Blair School, and Marshall Fundamental Secondary School.

The festival takes place Wednesday, March 4, at 6 p.m. in the Pasadena High School Auditorium, 2925 E. Sierra Madre Blvd., Pasadena. Admission has been free in prior years.

“Music in our schools is a vital and essential part of a child’s educational experience,” Patrick Conyers, executive director of the Pasadena Educational Foundation, said of the annual festival.