Week Three (IMEC)

This week was very exciting for me because it was IMEC weekend! IMEC is the Illinois Music Education Conference. It is where music educators (band and choir directors) from all over the state come together to this huge conference held in Peoria. Music education students who are still in college are encouraged to attend as well. It is held from a Thursday through a Saturday. 

Throughout that time people attend all of these clinics. The amount of clinics held is insane. You get to pick and choose which ones you go to based off what interests you. There is also a huge open area where there is an exhibit hall. The exhibit hall has vendors who sell instruments, music, and all lot of tables for colleges. There is a lot to do and occupy yourself with. On the last day, it is the ILMEA band and orchestra performances which are the all state performers. They are high schoolers who are the best in the state. As a future music educator, this experience is super neat.

For my experience, I drove with some friends in the late morning on Friday all the way to Peoria. Once we got there, we found parking and headed on in. The place was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be and there were so many people. It was really cool to see so many music educators in one place. Throughout my time on Friday, I went to two clinics, which were very informational. One was about tonguing and different techniques for that sort of thing. The other clinic I went to was about choosing music for beginning band. I also spent some time in the exhibit hall walking around and learning about things. That evening, I saw some of the ILMEA jazz ensembles. Saturday morning, my friends and I got there early and watched a high school performance. We then spent a lot of time in the exhibit hall and ran the North Central College booth for a while until the ILMEA performances started. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and I loved going to the clinics.