WILLMAR — Fifty ensembles gathered at Bethel Lutheran Church on Sunday, Nov. 5, for the the annual Minnesota Music Teachers Association (MMTA) Ensemble Festival for the Willmar area.

MMTA had 10 sites throughout the state where students can participate in this event, which provides students with the opportunity to make music as part of an ensemble. An ensemble consists of at least two keyboard players, voice, and or instrumental students.

The Willmar site saw 50 ensembles participate in three recitals over the course of the afternoon. Recitals were held at 2, 3:15 and 4:30 p.m.

Teachers who prepared students were Loni Eid, of Montevideo, and Megan Gilles, of Willmar.

Performers were:

• Belgrade: Whitney Anderson, Heidi Anderson
• Benson: Agnes Yost, John Yost, Louise Yost
• Blomkest: Steve Litchy
• Clara City: Graysen Dirksen, Emily Dirksen, Lilyanne Pauling, Ella Pauling, Jackson Pauling
• Dawson: Thomas Felton, David Felton, Chad Felton
• Kandiyohi: Tristan Boehme, Madison Olson
• Maynard: Brynna Janssen
• Montevideo: Dania Baukol, Thea Baukol, Hayden Blom, Loni Eid, Karl Krueger, Sawyer Landmark, Julia Mages, Nora Mages, Alexandra Osbon, Sophie Sonstegard, Adam VanBinsbergen, Madi VanBinsbergen
• Murdock: Isaiah Hatfield, Cooper Hatfield
• Raymond: Lindsey Setrum, Maggie Setrum
• Spicer: Finley Hebrink, Keisha Frauendienst, Caiden Rheaume
• Willmar: Macy Anderson, Sammy Anderson, Rochelle Anderson, Olive Baker, Crosby Geiger, Allison Geiger, Asher Gilbertson, Arianna Gilles, Zoe Gilles, Megan Gilles, Rowan Glein-Erickson, Hailey Jurgenson, Natalie Jurgenson, Dave Lady, Chris Reimer, Carson Stone, Jaitvik Verma, Paityn Wolf, Gracyn Wolf, Annaliese Wood, Rosalyn Wood

The judge for the event was Jennifer Parker, who teaches in St. Michael. She is a nationally certified teacher of music, and regularly adjudicates for many MMTA events.

The majority of ensembles were for piano, and included duets, trios, and quartets. The quartets were played on two pianos. There was one piano and violin duet.

Ensembles are great fun for the students as they get to team up with other students or family members to make music together. Ensemble music sometimes includes snapping of fingers, clapping, switching places on the piano bench, and one piece this year even had (planned) dialogue between the performers as they tried to figure out what the other performer was going to do.