Denton ISD has been honored with the Best Communities for Music Education designation from The NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education. This honor is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students. To qualify for the Best Communities designation, DISD answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, and local support for the music programs. Responses were verified with school officials and reviewed by The Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas.

This award recognizes that Denton ISD is leading the way with learning opportunities as outlined in the Every Student Succeeds Act. The ESSA recommends music and the arts as important elements of a well-rounded education for all children. Research in music education continues to demonstrate educational/cognitive and social skill benefits for children who make music. After two years of music education, research found that participants showed more substantial improvements in how the brain processes speech and reading scores that their less-involved peers and that students who are involved in music are not only more likely to graduate high school, but also to attend college as well. Everyday listening skills are stronger in musically-trained children that in those without music training. Significantly, listening skills are closely tied to the ability to: perceive speech in a noisy background, pay attention, and keep sounds in memory. Later in life, individuals who took music lessons as children show stronger neural processing of sound; young adults and even older adults who have not played an instrument for up to 50 years show enhanced neural processing compared to their peers. Not to mention, social benefits include conflict resolution, teamwork skills, and how to give and receive constructive criticism.

A 2015 study supported by The NAMM Foundation, “Striking A Chord,” also outlines the overwhelming desire by teachers and parents for music education opportunities for all children.

The 2019 Denton ISD Art Show, "Outside the Box", will be May 2-9 at UNT On the Square, 109 N. Elm St. in Downtown Denton. The show features K-12 student artwork representing every DISD school and art teacher. The 8-day exhibit will begin on Thursday, May 2 with a reception 5:00-7:00pm. The exhibit and reception are open to the public. Come see the amazing creativity and artistic talents at work in Denton ISD's Fine Arts programs.

Each Denton ISD campus selects one of its most outstanding faculty members as "Teacher of the Year". These teachers are honored by Denton ISD for their hard work and dedication to their students and they are presented an award recognizing their special contribution to their campus. We are very proud to have these four Fine Arts teachers selected by their respective campus as "Teacher of the Year". Congratulations and thank you for your commitment to your students!

15 high school art students from Denton ISD have qualified for the state Visual Art Scholastic Event to be held at San Marcos HS, April 26-27. Congratulations to these outstanding student artists and their teachers from Braswell and Guyer HS. The Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE) recognizes exemplary student achievement in the Visual Arts by providing art students and programs a standard of excellence in which to achieve. January 2019 marks the Texas High School VASE 25th season. The first VASE event was held in 1994 with just over 400 student entries; in 2018, over 35,000 artworks were entered in VASE. Students create artworks, write about their creative processes and understanding of visual art, and articulate information about their artwork during an interview with a VASE juror, who evaluates their work using a standards-based rubric.

Denton ISD's secondary music programs perform their UIL Concert and Sight-reading Assessments during the 2nd semester. This performance is an academic state assessment for our music programs in a similar way that the STAAR measures student understanding and mastery in other academic subjects in which written tests are more appropriate. Our bands, choirs, and orchestras have a specific date where they must give two performances for three-person panels of UIL adjudicators evaluating the performances according to the UIL music rubrics. The first performance is a concert performance of three prepared pieces from the UIL Prescribed Music List. The second performance is a sight-reading performance of a piece of music the students and director have never seen before. Each level of music group reads a specified level of sight-reading piece that has been composed specifically for this school year's sight-reading assessments. Groups are assigned a division rating 1 through 5 according to the UIL rubric. Groups that earn a Division 1 in concert or sight-reading receive an award. Those that are rated Division 1 in both Concert and Sight-reading receive the UIL Sweepstakes Award.

We are extremely proud of the outstanding UIL performances by our bands, choirs, and orchestras. In 2018-19, DISD music programs have earned 105 Division 1 ratings, with 20 of those groups receiving Sweepstakes Awards. Click these links below to see a list of DISD's music groups that have received Division 1 ratings.

High School Concert Band UIL Results

High School Marching Band UIL Results

High School Choir UIL Results

HS and MS Orchestra UIL Results

Middle School Band UIL Results

Middle School Choir UIL Results

The UIL One-Act Play contest is a competition where similarly sized Texas schools present an 18-40 minute play and may be adjudicated by a panel of three judges or a single judge. There are six possible levels of competition: Zone, District, Bi-Distrct, Area, Region, and State. At each level, a judge awards individual acting awards as well as selecting three productions to advance to the next level of competition up to the Regional Level where only two will advance to the State Level.

At the District contests, Guyer HS advanced to 6A Bi-District and both Denton HS and Ryan HS advanced to 5A Bi-District. Braswell HS was named the alternate to advance in 5A. Denton HS continued to advance from Bi-District to compete at the 5A Area contest. At Area, DHS was selected as the alternate for the Region level but did not advance. We are extremely proud of all four of our theatre programs for their outstanding performances in UIL OAP Contests. Click on the links below to see the students that earned individual acting awards from UIL.

Braswell HS, Women of Lockerbie, Alternate to 5A Bi-District

Directors: Michelle Greene and Ben Parker

Denton HS, Lend Me a Tenor, Advanced to 5A Bi-District and Area. Alternate to Region.

Directors: Thomas Stratton and Kerri Peters

Guyer HS, Sweat, Advanced to 6A Bi-District

Directors: Elisha Crotwell and Chris Crotwell

Ryan HS, The Crucible, Advanced to 5A Bi-District

Directors: Jeannene Abney, Michael Thompson, Scott Thompson

Our winter guards in Denton ISD have had one of their most successful seasons of competition ever. Congratulations to each of these groups of student performers and their directors for their hard work, creative shows, and achievements in contests regionally and nationally. Click the links below to read more about their award-winning final contests of the season.

Denton High School's Mariachi Los Broncos performed in their first ever competition at the beautiful Grand Prairie Uptown Theater in the Grand Prairie Mariachi Invitational. It was a wonderful experience for the group. They received a 1st Division "Superior" rating for their performance. The final portion of the competition was in the 1000 seat theater followed by a clinic with Marcos Zarate. Congratulations to the Mariachi Los Broncos and their director Julianne Booth!

Blanton Elementary student Amelia Coker traveled to Columbus, Ohio to perform at the OAKE National Honor Children’s Choir concert on Saturday, March 23. Selected through an intense audition process, Amelia was the only elementary student in Denton ISD selected in the top honor of participating in the OAKE National Honor Children’s Choir.

468 students from 184 cities representing 35 US states and one international school convened in Columbus as members of the 45th Organization of American Kodály Educators (OAKE) National Conference Choirs. These students rehearsed with nationally and internationally-recognized conductors Nyssa Brown, Julia Shaw, Andrea Solya, and Peter Erdei as part of the elite honor choirs. The experience culminated in a concert at the Mershon Auditorium on the campus of the Ohio State University.

Amelia and other selected students from around the nation performed pieces by G.F. Handel, Zoltán Kodály, and many other master composers. Additionally, she, along with ensemble members, sang the world premiere of a new choral work by American composer Douglas Beam.

OAKE is a national leader in the field of music education and teacher training whose mission is “to support music education of the highest quality, promote universal music literacy and lifelong music making, and preserve the musical heritage of the people of the United States of America through education, artistic performance, advocacy and research.”

Check out the calendars for each Fine Arts area on the Denton ISD Fine Arts website and go witness the amazing work of Denton ISD students!

Band

Choir

Dance

Elementary Music

Mariachi

Orchestra

Theatre

Visual Art

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