Organised by the Waverley Music Eisteddfod Inc. Committee
2026 Festival Dates:
Solos: 1 - 22 August 2026
Venues: St John's Uniting Church and Salvation Army Waverley Temple
Mini Recitals Day: 1 August 2026
Ensembles Day: TBC
Choral Day: TBC
Festival Schedule
The Monash Youth Music Festival offers both competitive and non-competitive performance opportunities. If you have little or no eisteddfod experience, we highly recommend that you enter the non-competitive Mini Recitals instead of, or as well as, the competitive sections.
Download our complete Schedule by clicking on the image to the right. 👉
The entrant's age is calculated to be as of 1 August as calculated from their date of birth.
Decide which disciplines and sections you wish to enter, read the Rules & Conditions of Entry, and, then (when entries have opened), go to Stardom and register.
For more details, go to the How to Enter page.
Non-Competitive Disciplines
VCE සංගීතය - වාද්‍ය සහ වාචික ඒකල
හඬ ඇතුළුව ඕනෑම උපකරණයක් ! මෙම කොටසේදී, ඔබ ඔබේම සහායකයා සැපයිය යුතුය.
මෙම කොටස් තරඟකාරී නොවන අතර තරඟකාරී පීඩනයකින් තොරව eisteddfod කාර්ය සාධනය සඳහා පරිපූර්ණ හැඳින්වීමක් ලබා දෙයි . සහභාගිවන්නන් උණුසුම් සහ අගය කරන ප්‍රේක්ෂක පිරිසක් ඉදිරියේ වටිනා කාර්ය සාධන අත්දැකීමක් ලබා ගනී. සියලුම සහභාගිවන්නන්ට ඉදිරි සංගීත විභාග සඳහා මෙම කොටස් පරිපූර්ණ කිරීමට සහාය වීම සඳහා ඔවුන්ගේ කෑල්ලේ ප්‍රමිතිය මත පදනම්ව සවිස්තරාත්මක විනිශ්චයකරුගේ වාර්තාවක් ලැබේ. විනිශ්චයකරු සෑම අංශයක්ම විනෝදාත්මක කුඩා මාස්ටර් පන්තියකින් අවසන් කරයි.
මෙම අත්දැකීම සහභාගිවන්නන්ට අනාගත සංගීත උත්සව සහ eisteddfods මෙන්ම සංගීත විභාග, පාසල් ප්‍රසංග සහ ඔබේ සංගීතය බෙදා ගත හැකි ඕනෑම අවස්ථාවක් සඳහා සූදානම් වීමට බෙහෙවින් උපකාර කරයි.
VCE Music Recitals - not running in 2025
We need a registrar! Would you like to become one? Please let us know!
VCE 01 - VCE Music Performance - Any piece from the current VCE syllabus or another work of equivalent standard. The total performance time is 8 minutes.
This section is open to students currently enrolled in VCE Music subjects only.
This section is non-competitive and offers the VCE student an opportunity to gain valuable performance experience, and to assist them in perfecting their music for VCE music exams.
The Adjudicator gives every participant a detailed Adjudicator’s report and conducts a short master class at the end of the section to provide musical insights, feedback and practice techniques.
VCE Students wishing to enter a duo were warmly welcome to do so.
Please note that VCE Music Recitals are not running in 2025 as we need an extra committee member to act as registrar for this discipline. Please let us know if you would like to join us!
Competitive Choral and Ensemble Disciplines
Choirs
C01 Primary School Choirs - limit 50 voices - 6 minutes total
C02 Secondary School Chamber Choirs - limit 30 voices - 8 minutes total
Performers may appear in more than one group in a section, but there must not be more than a 40% overlap between groups.
Instrumental Ensembles
This discipline welcomes orchestras, concert bands, jazz bands, percussion groups , chimes and bell ringers, string orchestras, brass bands, wind ensembles and single instrument groups such as guitar ensembles, oboe choirs and recorder consorts.
We warmly welcome music groups of all kinds!
E01 Junior Large Ensembles 13 – 50 players - 6 minutes total
E02 Junior Small Ensembles 3 – 12 players - 6 minutes total
E03 Senior Large Ensembles 13 – 50 players - 8 minutes total
E04 Senior Chamber Music Groups 3 – 12 players - 8 minutes total
These sections are for acoustic ensembles. One or two instruments within a large group may be amplified, but this should be kept to a minimum and should not dominate the sound. For example, one might use an electric bass in a concert band, or include an electronic keyboard in an orchestra to cover missing instruments. Ensemble pianist MUST be within the age group specified for the section entered.
Music chosen for these sections may be two contrasting pieces.
A stage sketch plan must be submitted to the Registrar at least 1 week before Ensembles Day.
Performers may take part in more than one ensemble, but Large Ensembles must not interchange more than 40% of players to another group competing in the same section.
Small Ensembles – a performer cannot participate in more than three ensembles using the same instrument in a given section.
Provided: Full drum kit with cymbals, bass drum and 2 timpani will be provided, so please refrain from bringing your own. Approximately 30 music stands will also be provided.
Not provided: keyboard percussion, traps, idiomatic instruments, sticks, mallets or beaters.
Competitive Solo Disciplines
Guzheng Solos
G01 Guzheng Solo, 12 years & under - 3 minutes total
G02 Guzheng Solo, 16 years & under - 5 minutes total
The guzheng is a Chinese traditional instrument that uses a different form of sheet music notation; it is called cypher, or jiǎnpǔ notation. The guzheng also uses pitch- bending and other musical techniques not normally found in western music.
Entrants must provide a photocopy of their sheet music in cypher/jiǎnpǔ notation for the adjudicator.
If this is your first music competition, we suggest that you also enter one of the Mini Recital sections N04, N05 or N06.
Piano Solos
P01 Piano Solos – 8 years & under - 2 minutes total
P02 Piano Solos – 10 years & under - 3 minutes total
P03 Piano Solos – 12 years & under - 3 minutes total
P04 Piano Solos – 14 years & under - 4 minutes total
P05 Piano Solos – 12 to 14 years - Baroque or Classical - 5 minutes total
P06 Piano Solos – 16 years & under - 5 minutes total
P07 Piano Solos – 18 years & under - 6 minutes total
P08 Piano Solos – 21 years & under - 8 minutes total
P09 Piano Solos – AMEB Preliminary to Grade 2 or equivalent† - 2 minutes total
P10 Piano Solos – AMEB Grades 3 – 4 or equivalent† - 3 minutes total
P11 Piano Solos – AMEB Grades 5 – 6 or equivalent† - 4 minutes total
Please note that the standard for the age limited sections is quite high, so if this is your first music competition, we recommend that you enter one of the Mini Recital sections N01, N02 or N03, as well as P09, P10 or P11.
String Solos
S01 String Solos – 8 years & under - 2 minutes total
S02 String Solos – 10 years & under - 3 minutes total
S03 String Solos – 12 years & under - 3 minutes total
S04 String Solos – 14 years & under - 4 minutes total
S05 String Solos – 16 years & under - 5 minutes total
S06 String Solos – 18 years & under - 6 minutes total
S07 String Solos – 21 years & under - 8 minutes total
Please note that the standard for the age limited sections is quite high, so if this is your first music competition, we recommend that you also enter one of the Mini Recital sections N04, N05 or N06.
Vocal Solos
V01 Junior Vocal Solos – 12 years & under - 3 minutes total
V02 Junior Vocal Solos – 14 years & under - 3 minutes total
V03 Vocal Solos – 15 to 18 years - 4 minutes total
V04 Senior Vocal Solos – Contemporary or Theatre Music – 18 to 25 years - 4 minutes total
V05 Senior Vocal Solos – Art Song Classical Solo – 15 to 25 years - 5 minutes total
If this is your first music competition, we recommend that you also enter one of the Mini Recital sections N04, N05 or N06.
Woodwind & Brass Solos
B01 Brass Solo - 12 years & under - 3 minutes total
B02 Brass Solo - 14 years & under - 4 minutes total
B03 Brass Solo - 16 years & under - 5 minutes total
B04 Brass Solo - 18 years & under - 6 minutes total
W01 Woodwind Solo - 12 years & under - 3 minutes total
W02 Woodwind Solo - 14 years & under - 4 minutes total
W03 Woodwind Solo - 16 years & under - 5 minutes total
W04 Woodwind Solo - 18 years & under - 6 minutes total
W05 Woodwind Solo - 21 years & under - 8 minutes total
W06 Woodwind & Brass Solo, AMEB Grade Prelim – 2 or equivalent† - 3 minutes total
W07 Woodwind & Brass Solo, AMEB Grade 3 – 4 or equivalent† - 4 minutes total
If this is your first music competition, we recommend that you also enter one of the Mini Recital sections N04, N05 or N06.
PLEASE NOTE! Pre-recorded accompaniment is not accepted in any section.
† While entry is open to all music students learning AMEB, ABRSM, Trinity College, Suzuki, Yamaha and all other music education systems, the AMEB Grade or equivalent is the level at which the entrant is studying at time of competition.
Please verify with your music teacher that the grade or level of the piece you want to perform is equivalent to the specified AMEB grade of the section to be entered to ensure fairness of competition.
PLEASE NOTE! The Adjudicator may choose to disqualify you from a placing if they consider that the music you perform is not within the standard prescribed.