CJMEA High School Honors Orchestra provides an exciting opportunity for your advanced music students to perform with a large ensemble of other students from around the Central Jersey area. This is a low-pressure event, as there are no auditions, and only requires one day of time commitment for you and your students. This ensemble is available to all high school orchestra students in grades 9-12.

Director Responsibilities

• Directors must be members of CJMEA. If you need to renew your NAfME membership please visit https://nafme.org/membership/join/. 

• Directors are expected to rehearse with and prepare their students for the event.

• Directors are not required to attend the event for students to participate, but are encouraged to sign up for different responsibilities during the day. There is no manager for the group, so the success of the day hinges on director participation.

Due Dates

• Nominations and NAfME cards are due Wednesday May 1, 2024. Nominations submitted late will not be accepted.

• Registration fees ($20 per student) in one check made payable to CJMEA are due Monday May 6, 2024. 

Schedule

Arrival time: 8:30am to register. 

Rehearsal: 9-12pm

Lunch: 12-12:45pm

Rehearsal: 1-3:30 (Sectionals will take place during this time as well)

Concert: 3:45pm

Fees

• There is a nominal participation fee of $20.00 per student. This will cover the music and administrative / production costs. This fee will be due after you receive your list of students that have been accepted. Please send only one director’s check made out to “CJMEA” (parent checks or cash will not be accepted). 

• Checks should be mailed to:               Arvin Gopal 1 Peace Street, Edison, NJ 08820

• *CJMEA believes that region ensembles should be available to all qualified Region II students. We are able to offer financial assistance, in the form of fee waivers, to students in need. If a director has a student that will need assistance, they should reach out directly to the CJMEA Treasurer, Susan Meuse, at treasurer.cjmea@gmail.com, to discuss obtaining a fee waiver.

How to Nominate Students

You should discuss the details of the event with your students and their families. You are welcome to use this nomination letter as a guide. After receiving confirmation of their participation, input your nominated students on this form and collect their $20 participation fee.

Directors may nominate up to 10 students, and a maximum of 5 violins.  

The goal of this event is to provide an outside of school ensemble experience for your hardest working and most dedicated orchestra students who have not had the opportunity to make it into a CJMEA ensemble through the audition process. There will be a wide range of ability levels, and our conductors (Jennifer Meckler from West Morris Regional High School District, and Craig Stanton from Westfield High School), have been working hard to choose music that will challenge everyone. All students will be placed into one of two ensembles of equal ability level. 

Translations

CJMEA strives to make all activities and events linguistically accessible to our stakeholders. If a family could benefit from translation services, please contact CJMEA Diversity & Inclusion Chair, Isaiah C. Mason at diversity.inclusion.cjmea@gmail.com, to discuss receiving translated documents in that target language.

Contacts