2026 September Music Journal

NFHS Music Journal Association Report: Montana

Teaching Music under the Big Sky in Montana

By Dusty Molyneaux

Montana High School Association Music Committee Chair

Montana is the fourth largest state in the nation by area, but we are one of the smallest in population, ranking No. 44. Teaching in general in this state can be an isolated experience, and teaching a specialty like music might mean that the closest colleague you have and can speak the same instructional language as you could be more than a hundred miles away. Trips to other towns for festivals and events could take several hours just one way, and there could be many more cows in the pastures you pass on the way there then people in the audience.

And yet, we have strong music programs across the state, and students  succeed here and move on and sometimes carve out successful careers in the Arts. How does that happen?

It is a big state (147,000 miles in total square area)—so we need a Big Tent to get everyone under.

The Montana High School Association (MHSA) and the Montana Music Educators Association (MMEA) have a unique partnership that serves our communities and teachers across the region to keep everyone moving along.

MHSA is the rules-making organization for athletics and other education-based activities in Montana. Within that framework, they govern the District Music Festivals in 11 regions across the state which are held in April. Students who earn a Superior rating at District Festival are eligible to attend State Music Festival in May, which is split into an Eastern and Western event to help with travel distance. The MHSA also governs the All-State Music Festival, which occurs in the fall of each school year.

The MHSA has a Music Advisory Committee that is selected from Member Schools to represent big cities and small towns, as well as band, choir, and orchestra concerns to form policy and handle issues that come up with the Festivals during the year. This is a volunteer group that meets once in person each year, with video conferences as needed. The committee is made up of five teachers from Member Schools, a liaison from MHSA staff, and the current MMEA president. Our overriding priority is to make sure students have access to high-quality events and make sure those events stay afloat with budget cuts, teacher shortages, and the ever-changing landscape of navigating public and private education in our nation.

The Montana Music Educators Association is a member of the National Association for Music Education and promotes the mission and vision of that association throughout the state.  One of the biggest events that MMEA sponsors is the annual Music Teachers Conference, which is held every October.

A unique aspect of teaching in Montana is that the state legislature designates two days each fall in October for teacher professional development, and schools are closed across the state for in-services and training. When this was passed into law, the MHSA and MMEA decided to merge the Teacher Conference and the MHSA All-State into the same time frame. This allows music teachers that have students selected for All-State to travel with their kids and attend a professional development conference at the same time.  MMEA sessions are designed and run by the affiliate organizations within the group, representing Band, Choir, Orchestra, General Music and Collegiate tracks within the conference, as well as general interest sessions that can appeal to anyone. Being a member of MMEA means you can attend any of the sessions at the conference, which is highly valuable to teachers who are in small schools that teach in a k-12 setting and they are the lone music expert in their school system.

MMEA and MHSA partner together to make sure the students have a great experience, and we also make sure the teachers have robust professional development that is tailored for their unique needs. It also is a great chance to network and catch up with colleagues, so the teacher conference always feels like a big family reunion when everyone is together.

This model has worked well in Montana over the years. We have the sanctioning of the MHSA for major music events, which makes administrators pay attention for funds and scheduling, and also gives their teachers quality professional development that they don’t have to design themselves for specialized areas. With the two days off from school, there are no substitute teachers to worry about as well.

There are clouds on the horizon, though. Teacher shortages and lack of state funding have made keeping programs in smaller schools difficult, and even the bigger programs in the state have lost music staff because of  funding formulas. More home-school participation has made a dent in programs, and laws passed that allow home school students to participate in public school extra-curricular activities makes it difficult to define how that works with co-curricular activities such as Band, Choir and Orchestra, as well as eligibility for District, State, and All-State events.

The MHSA Music Committee and the MMEA continue to walk down this road together to solve problems for our music teachers and their students. Sometimes we prop up the Big Tent with a new pole, sometimes we patch a leak with a wad of chewing gum, but we continue to work hard for Music Education in Big Sky Country.

Visit the NFHS Music Journal Archive