I regard the Smoky Mountain Music Festival as one of the most organized and efficiently managed music festival for instrumental and vocal ensembles. The performance venue is spectacular and the attention to details provided by the administrators of the event is extraordinary.
Dr. Stanley F. Michalski, Jr.
Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Music and Conductor
of Bands at Clarion University of Pennsylvania
The Smoky Mountain Music Festival is my favorite spring trip to take with my band. I like to go every four years so all of my students can enjoy the experience. Highlights include the tremendous adjudicators and their constructive comments, the tour of the Smokies and the fun the students have exploring the town. I also appreciate the wonderful staff who help with the organization and running of the festival as well as set up our accommodations in town.
Michael Luley
High School Band Director
Lake Braddock Secondary School
Our lives in the world of music education are to assist our students, helping them to gain cultural benefits in their existence to aid them while becoming great contributors to our moral and cultural society. Our children as music students are impacted in many ways by their experiences in their school bands, orchestras and choirs. In my four-plus decades of teaching students about the art of music-making, I have never witnessed a more beneficial outcome than that gained by participation in the exchange of musical performances at a major music festival.
Of all national festivals of which I have adjudicated and performed as clinician, I believe that the Smoky Mountain Music Festival in Gatlinburg, Tennessee adheres most closely to the goals and ideals of music educators throughout America. Not only do music educators/conductors receive real-time positive reinforcement, but participating students also have the opportunity to work with the greatest conductors and clinicians of the age.
This truly is America’s finest and most positive musical festival experience for the contemporary school music ensemble and I recommend it without hesitation or reservation.
Thomas G. Leslie
75th President, American Bandmasters Association
I took my middle school concert band and jazz band to the Smoky Mountain Music Festival in 2003 after it was highly recommended by another band director. We have been nearly every year since, and plan on going again this year. It is a very organized and well-run festival with a friendly and accommodating staff. The adjudicators/clinicians are absolutely top-notch. Gatlinburg is the perfect location for a music festival. The convention center is beautiful and huge. There are so many attractions, restaurants, and hotels. Everything is walkable! We always enjoy the complimentary tours of the Great Smoky Mountains. Every year, our chaperones and students talk about what a great trip this is. Do your band program, your students, and yourself a favor, and take your group to the Smoky Mountain Music Festival this year!
Bobby Hinson
Band Director
Salem Middle School
Sonja Sepulveda, DMA
Director of Choral Activities
Professor of Music Theory Activities
Salem College
