ASMTA Regional Festival Preparation

This is a past event for 2026. However, key dates for most years are similar.

Festival Date: Saturday, April 18, 2026

In 2026, the aural portion of the written theory test will be scheduled in groups versus taking place during the individual keyboard skills portion. This is the final sheet that is attached to the written theory test for Levels 1 to 11.

Adults may now participate in this festival non-competitively, which is officially called for comments only. The rules are similar to how kids missing the cut-off ages participate. Everything is the same, except that you will not be competitively ranked among with the top-performing school-aged children selected for the state finals.

Important Dates for 2026

This section is updated frequently during festival season. This list includes official and studio events.

• Preparation Begins: January
• Decision Week: March 10-14; Official deadline is March 22
• Late Patrick’s Day Piano Party in Choir Room at Central UMC Rogers: Saturday, March 7 at 2 p.m. for Playing (Games at 1:30 p.m.)
• Pre-Recitals
  • Fayetteville (Steinway Gallery): Friday, April 10 and Saturday, April 11
  • Rogers (First Presbyterian): Sunday, April 12
• Festival at Music Building, University of Arkansas – Fayetteville: Saturday, April 18
  • Registration opens at 7:30 a.m., but choose your arrival time based on your first required event. Arrive at least 15 minutes early.
• State Finals at Music Building, University of Arkansas – Fayetteville: Saturday morning, June 6

Selecting Repertoire

Participating in a leveled festival is trickier than participating in Sonatina Celebration. The pieces selected must be in the official Repertoire Database. You must select two pieces that are from contrasting historical periods at Level 2 through 11.

Besides taking the time to select pieces that work for a student, I also believe in not letting festivals becoming more important than they should be. For that reason, we don’t actively start preparation until just three months beforehand. However, the student may already have learned repertoire pieces that we can use, cutting down the active preparation time.

Deciding to Go Forward

Your pieces should be on their way to being learned and starting to be memorized by decision week, and ready to play by the warm-up events in early April. Memorizing a piece takes time and can’t be put off to the last minute. Remember the Law of the Farm.

Warm-Up Recitals

You should participate in one of these events. However, in the event you can’t participate in either of these, you must create your own performance opportunity that will simulate playing under a bit of pressure. Find your own venue, preferably with a grand piano, and invite family and friends on your own.

Start Here

We switched to the curriculum of the Oklahoma Music Teacher’s Association (OMTA) in 2024. Make sure to bookmark the Theory and Ear Training web page, since there are several items for you on this page. I will print out the curriculum for your level and a sample test, and direct you to supplemental resources below.

Curriculum and Sample Tests

The new curriculum is titled Written Music Theory and Aural Awareness Study Guide; it’s an 18-page document covering all of the levels. You can download it from the Theory and Ear Training web page. However, I have separated these by level and printed them for you.

There are also sample tests offered lower on this page titled ASMTA Sample Written Theory Tests that I’ve printed. If you want to do a final review, I invite you to reprint your level and do the test to make sure you’ve learned all of the concepts.

Always Read the Instructions

Although most of this testing is straightforward, make sure to read the instructions in order not to lose points unnecessarily. In one case, a student incorrectly drew the stems on quarter notes, but whole notes were requested. In other cases, the instructions mentioned to use (or not) enharmonic equivalents, and the student did the opposite.

At the lower levels, the directions are simple and straightforward. At the higher levels, I’ve seen some trick questions. Or, they may be viewed that way if you didn’t read the instructions. Don’t give away points.

Theory Practice Worksheets

On the same page mentioned above, you will find Theory Practice Worksheets that correspond to the new OMTA curriculum. They are quite long, so decide what you want to print and don’t feel like you have to complete everything. If you understand the concept after doing a few examples, move on.

There are no commercially available books that map directly to our curriculum, unlike national exam systems throughout the world, including Canada’s Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM). However, most student who spend the time with these home-grown resources do well.

Same Test – Different Delivery

Ear training has been part of our curriculum since before adopting the OMTA curricum. However, we’ve decided to make it easier to deliver this testing by doing it by group. Previously, we administered these tests one-on-one as part of the keyboard skills/musicianship.

You will find the ear training sheet attached at the end of the written theory sample test, since it’s scored as part of that test. More information about the written theory test and links are in the section above.

Curriculum and Sample Tests

Much of this testing is part of the new curriculum we are licensing from OMTA. The main link is the same offered above: Theory and Ear Training. The link Keyboard Theory and Musicianship Overview gives a summary of the skills to be tested. You can print this out if desired; I integrate these requirements into your lesson notes.

There are individual sample tests below in the section ASMTA Sample Keyboard Teststhat I am using in lessons to make sure you are ready.

Sight Reading

There are no sight reading examples on the ASMTA website, but the PDF below shows the types of difficulty you’ll face at each level. Sight reading accounts for a large point total, so I focus on it, particularly for my intermediate students through the use of the books RCM Four Star Sight Reading and Ear Tests. Since the exam uses one of the exercises from each level, it’s good to know the difficulty you will face.

For my beginner students, I use other resources including the Piano Safari Sight Reading Cards.

Recommended Recordings

Please listen to other people playing your pieces for ideas and learn how to be a better critical listener. The recordings I place in the Recommended Recordings are ones I have found to be good models. You can search for other recordings on YouTube, SoundCloud, and subscription sites to which you may have access.

Manuscript Paper (Old School)

If you need to practice writing on a music staff, which means you need some music manuscript paper, download it free online. Be careful when searching for anything free online; that goes without saying! I found a site that offers several different types of music manuscript paper.

Music Composition Web-based Software

If you ever want to practice writing music online, versus using paid desktop software like Sibelius or Finale, check out the two freemium sites Noteflight and MuseScore.

Extra Feedback

If you miss a lesson, or just want me to check out something before your lesson, you can send me a video. You can also send me written theory via email.