Honor Society

Back for the Next Round

A Minnesota high school orchestra impressed by The Disney Honors experience is already preparing for a 2011 return.
by Matt Robinson

For over 80 years, the Walt Disney Company has actively encouraged musical achievement. For the last six years, it's been doing so through an exciting program called The Disney Honors. At this prestigious gathering of musicians and music educators, high school (and, for the first time in 2011, middle school) students from around the world come to Walt Disney World Resort to play, learn and share the gift of music.

"The Disney Honors is endorsed by MENC [the National Association for Music Education]," notes Jon Larson, director of orchestras at Moorhead High School in Moorhead, Minn., who last participated in The Disney Honors in 2007. "That impressed me!"

Larson was so impressed by the setting and standards of Disney's festival that he applied to return in 2011 soon after heading home three years ago. "I had performed in several other festivals and competitions with our orchestra," he recalls, "but I was not satisfied with the quality of adjudication, the venue, and most important, the educational value to my students. The Disney Honors provided all that and more."

With a panel of evaluators drawn from the top of the music education world (the 2011 panel will include renowned educator Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser, among others), The Disney Honors gives participants not only professional perspectives, but also inspiration to practice diligently and strive for even greater achievements.

To attend the multi-day, non-competitive festival, potential participants must register at www.thedisneyhonors.com. Selected groups are then invited to the festival, which opens with a welcome party at a Disney Theme Park and ends with a semi-formal gala. In between these events, participants get an evaluated performance experience with written and recorded feedback from the expert panel of evaluators, as well as a personalized 30-minute clinic. They also get to make use of multi-day admission passes to all the Walt Disney World Theme Parks.

For his triumphant return in 2011, Larson plans to bring 80 members of the Moorhead High School Orchestra, many of whom have already begun preparing for the March event. "The students are so excited to participate in 2011," Larson says. "And of course I am thrilled to take my students back to Florida and have them experience The Disney Honors."