For Midfest and Janfest information, please choose from the menu on the left. The University of Georgia Bands hosts two of the largest and finest festivals of their kind: Midfest in December and Janfest in January (always the weekend before the GMEA Convention). These festivals provide exciting musical enrichment for students from Georgia and throughout the Southeast and include performance in an honor band or clinic band, concerts by our UGA Ensembles and guest bands selected through a competitive audition process, masterclasses by the stellar UGA applied instrumental faculty, and clinics by nationally renown guest artists. During the summer, the Hugh Hodgson School of Music hosts four summer experiences. The Summer Music Camp provides musical enrichment through large ensemble performance, private lessons, and daily masterclasses with the UGA faculty. The Summer Music Institute is intended to provide a taste of what being a music major at a large school of music is like with a week of immersion. The broad array of activities include performance in a select wind ensemble, chamber orchestra or chamber choir, performance in a chamber ensemble, history and theory, music electives such as conducting and composition, and roundtable panel discussions on topics such as applying to and auditioning to become a music major and career opportunities. Acceptance is highly competitive through recorded audition. The Summer Marching Band Camp is an intensive experience where students can choose to focus on the areas of drum major, marching percussion, color guard or band leadership. The camp is staged with award-winning specialists in each area including instructional staff from The University of Georgia Redcoat Band and from DCI. UGA Clarinet Professor D. Ray McClellan co-hosts the Clarinet Academy of America. Admission is open to college-age clarinetists, professionals, teachers and a limited number of advanced high school students.
