The Brewster Central School District music teachers belong to the Putnam County Music Educators Association, and Putnam County belongs to NYSSMA Zone 10 (Columbia, Dutchess, and Putnam Counties).
Students and educators are divided up by County and Zone for evaluation and festival participation. There are approximately 5,000 music educators who are members of this organization which serves over 100,000 students statewide. NYSSMA is the acronym for the New York State School Music Association, the state-level affiliate of the National Association for Music Education. My answers may not reflect the official position of the New York State School Music Association. The answers to the frequently asked questions are derived from my own experience, what I’ve learned from my colleagues, and what I’ve observed at festival locations.
One of the questions I’ve been asked most frequently since I began teaching is “What is NYSSMA?” I talk about NYSSMA a lot in my classes and with my private students, and so I took the time to try to address this question more fully in today’s post.
