The Association for Music in International Schools, best known as AMIS, is an organization that brings together students from schools worldwide who excel in musical achievements for days of music practice and then conclude with a concert. The Association also provides professional development through an annual Music Educators' Conference.
Acronym
The association's acronym AMIS is also the French word amis, which means friends. The founders of AMIS chose this name with the purpose of the association in mind. Amis symbolizes friendships established by children all over the world who attend AMIS Festivals. Although the association AMIS is based in the United Kingdom, the association chose a French (as opposed to an English) name to represent the numerous nationalities that participate in and contribute to AMIS festivals all over the world.[citation needed]
Mission statement
Two girls captured wearing the 2013 European Middle School Honor Girls’ Festival Shirt.
“The Association is an international, non-profit, non-sectarian, politically neutral organization dedicated to the promotion of excellence at all levels of music education. Its objectives are to advance the education of school pupils and teachers throughout the world by developing their understanding, knowledge and appreciation of music; to advance the education of young people and their teachers in global issues and cultural diversity through the performance and study of music; to promote high standards of musical performance in school pupils of all ages and abilities throughout the world; to promote furtherance of educationally valuable music repertoire.”[1]
AMIS festivals
Once a year, there is a festival for each of the different categories. (See Festival Categories for list). Each festival is hosted by an AMIS Membership school, rotating between them yearly. To qualify for band, strings, and all High School auditions, students must audition by recordings, which are judged by a blind panel of music educators. Middle School Choir auditions are conducted by each participating school's teacher. The successful students travel to the host school and participate in the practice days and the final concert. The format is usually: travel Wednesday, rehearse Thursday-Saturday, concert Saturday evening, travel home Sunday.
Three girls attending the 2013 European Middle School Honor Girls’ Choir in Waterloo, Belgium.
AMIS' member schools mainly lie in Europe and Asia, although there have been festivals added in both Africa and Latin America in the past five years and those regions are thriving. Founded in London, AMIS slowly grew across Western Europe and now has many festivals reserved only for Asian schools. Festivals are conducted in English, though due to the participants coming from within international school populations, most students (and many teachers) speak multiple languages. Concert repertoires always include multiple languages; and concert speeches and introductions are usually held in the (festival's) host country's language in addition to English. (For example: The 2014 European Middle School Honor Girls’ Choir, hosted in Stavanger, Norway, had concert services conducted in Norwegian as well as English.)
Conductors
AMIS selects a different conductor for each festival. Often, conductors are teachers in international schools who are well respected and recommended by their peers.[citation needed] At the high school level, the Association contracts premiere conductors from around the world.[citation needed]
Music
The repertoire style depends on the AMIS festival and the songs that the conductor wants to perform. Many times, AMIS has commissioned works by composers, making the band/choir present world-premiere songs. Such composers include Philip Sparke, David Brunner, Dr. Richard Prior, Christopher Marshall, and more.
Festival categories
AMIS presents a multitude of different yearly festivals focused on different music, instrumentation, and musicians. These are:
