Aug 24, 2026

Greetings!

I hope you all have had a relaxing summer and are having a great start to your school year!  

All directors should register on our district website at www.nwmmea.net.  This will allow us to communicate with you and it will allow you to register your students for All-District Ensemble Auditions.

Here is the process for registration:

  1. Go to www.nwmmea.net at the top of the page click on the “Teachers: Register” link.
  2. Complete the information.  You will need to remember your password and login.  WE NEED ALL TEACHERS TO UPDATE THEIR INFORMATION AGAIN THIS YEAR!!!
  3. Once you have registered, you can then register students by clicking on the link for the desired group:  High School Band, High School Choir, Junior High Band or Jazz Band.
  4. Fill out the google form for each student.
  5. All Band entries (concert and jazz) must be submitted by October 30, 2026.

If you have a band student who has a potential conflict with a state level MSHSAA event (or a national event of musical merit) for November 7, 2026, you must complete and submit the Alternative Audition form with a postmark date by October 16, 2026.  The form and information is available on the website.

Please take time to download and read the Vice President Letter for each of the ensembles for which your students will be auditioning.  Each letter will have pertinent information such as audition fees, payment methods, and processes that are specific to that particular group.  These letters can be found on the respective pages of the website.  Junior High Choir -Angie Viebrock, High School Choir – Dustin McKinney, Junior High Band – Connor McNair, High School Band – Dalton Haberman, and High School Jazz Band – James Cookinham.  Also on the website, you will find a District Signature Sheet that MUST be read and signed by the student and parent(s) prior to the audition.  Please collect these from your students and bring them to the audition.  

Last, I am asking that each teacher do a search on the district directory and please delete teachers who are no longer teaching in our district.  Any teachers listed for your school district who no longer teach there, should be reported to me via e-mail IMMEDIATELY!  This will allow us to continue to update our NWMMEA Directory on our website.  My e-mail address is heilc@ksdr1.net.

Congratulations to these outstanding directors and their schools for being selected to perform at the 89th Annual In-Service Workshop/Conference, January 26th-30th:  Tiffany Ketterman and the Sunset Singers from Horizon Elementary School in Smithville; Daniel Long and the Norborne High School Band; and Katy Strickland and the Northwest Missouri State University Wind Symphony.

Have a great school year!

All the best,

Chris Heil

MMEA Northwest District #1 President and Kearney Middle School