Golden Hill fifth-grade chorus receives gold rating at NYSSMA Majors

Golden Hill fifth grade students sat on the bus after performing at the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Major Organization Festival on May 14, eagerly awaiting the results from their music teacher, Kristin Risedorph.

“The best part of the day was when she got on the bus and told us the judges gave us a gold rating!” shared performer Ryleigh House.

This is the fourth year in a row that Golden Hill fifth graders have achieved this rating at the NYSSMA festival. The festival is an opportunity for ensembles to perform in front of two specially trained adjudicators and receive a gold, silver, or bronze rating. Judges also give feedback to the ensemble and ways to improve.

NYSSMA states that gold ratings are awarded to organizations that have demonstrated an “outstanding level of technical and artistic skill in each of the evaluative categories, for all three selections.”

The pieces the chorus performed were “Manx Lullaby,” “Dormi, Dormi,” and “My Cat Skittle.” Risedorph explained, “We don’t meet the judges beforehand, nor do the judges get scores of our music until right when we get there, so it’s a great authentic assessment of our abilities based on our performance.”

“My favorite part was singing and swaying side to side during the performance of ‘Dormi, Dormi,’” added performer Winter Garcia.

Liam Rand shared that his parents gave him a motivational speech before he left for NYSSMA which gave him confidence going into the event. “I’m proud of how we sang and I felt good about the feedback,” Rand said.

“I hope that the kids feel proud and motivated that they can do anything if they put in effort and work as a group, and that they keep singing!” said Risedorph.