On Friday and Saturday, May 29-30, 2026, over 175 students in the Rocky Point School District performed in the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Solo/Ensemble Evaluation Festival held at Eastport-South Manor Junior/Senior High School. The purpose of the NYSSMA Solo/Ensemble Festival is to provide the students the opportunity to perform for a certified Music Educator/Adjudicator so they may receive an objective evaluation of their musical proficiency and aptitude. This evaluation not only reinforces the positive aspects of a student’s performance, but also offers helpful suggestions for improvement. Students receive an evaluation sheet that includes written comments and an assessment on their performance. Students are evaluated in several categories including: accuracy of notes/rhythms, tone, technique, intonation, scales and sight-reading. Students learn what they did well and also what they can do to further their musical growth and development.

Students prepared solo and small ensemble pieces of music from the NYSSMA approved manual of repertoire in difficulty levels I-VI, where VI is the most advanced. Additionally, 24 students prepared a Level VI All-State solo, with the hopes of receiving an invitation to participate with one of the NYSSMA All-State performing ensembles at the NYSSMA Winter Conference in Rochester, NY in December 2026.

Levels I-IV are evaluated on a rating scale of 1-28 and Levels V-VI are evaluated on a scale of 1-100. The evaluation categories for NYSSMA Levels I-IV are:
26-28 Outstanding; 21-25 Excellent; 16-20 Good; 11-15 Satisfactory. An Outstanding Rating is given only to a performer who displays a distinguished level of accomplishment.

The evaluation categories for NYSSMA Levels V-VI are:
A+ 97-100, A 93-96, A- 90-92, B+ 87-89, B 83-86, B- 80-82

The Rocky Point Music Department is proud to announce that 89 students received an “OUTSTANDING” rating and 42 students received an “EXCELLENT” rating for Levels I-IV, while 21 students received an “A+” rating and 18 students received an “A” rating for Levels V-VI. This includes 25 perfect scores!\

A congratulatory message from Rocky Point Music Department chairpersons Mr. Craig Knapp and Ms. Amy Schecher read: “We are incredibly proud of all of the students that performed at the NYSSMA Solo/Ensemble Festival. Their hard work, dedication and ability contribute to making our music program successful in Rocky Point. It is our intention that this evaluation festival not only reinforced the positive aspects of the students' performances, but also offered helpful suggestions for the students to strive for improvement. We also hope that this experience helped to build the confidence levels in our student musicians, as performing in front of a single adjudicator requires a deep level of preparation, focus and concentration. Navigating the natural nerves that come with this experience can be transferred not only to the music classroom, but it also helps the students grow in a variety of areas to increase important life skills. We would like to thank our dedicated music faculty for helping to prepare the students for this annual festival. Thank you to all of the families of these student musicians and thank you to the district administrators and Board of Education members in Rocky Point for their continued support of our music programs. It was a wonderful weekend of music making! The students are to be acknowledged and celebrated for their stellar achievements!”