The Foundation for Music Education is pleased to announce the results of the 2019 Mark of Excellence Project. Three hundred and twenty of the finest high school and middle school musical ensembles in the United States entered the project, a record number! The Mark of Excellence consists of the National Wind Band Honors, National Choral Honors, National Orchestra Honors, National Jazz Honors, and National Percussion Ensemble Honors. It is a competition, entered by recordings, in which the top quarter are selected as national Winners and the second quarter receive Commended Honors. Over the past 13 years, the project has received entries from thirty-eight states. Mason High School Wind Symphony, directed by Edward Protzman, has been selected as a Commended Winner in the Mark of Excellence/National Wind Band Honors Project.
All the groups receive trophies, recorded and written comments from the adjudicators, and a compilation recording of the National Winners. This compilation recording is featured on the MarkCustom.com website, and is available for download. This creates a permanent archive of the achievement, as well as a valuable educational reference and resource for music ensemble directors worldwide.
According to Managing Director Rick Yancey "The adjudicators were so pleased with the amazing level of performance, and the difficulty of the literature that was performed. These students perform incredibly well, mature beyond their years, and that is a tribute to their talent, their training, and their wonderful teachers."
