By Julie Fay
Contributing Writer

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“I really love making music,” says Moulton, 65, “and the Music Festival is a way to continue to encourage young people to develop that same love.”
Music is a performing art, and the Festival offers students a chance to bring their artistry out of the practice room. The Festival is open to any musician in middle or high school who lives, attends school or studies in Milton. Auditions are held each spring at Milton Academy. Each instrument, including voice, has audition requirements, which are organized into levels of difficulty, from elementary to advanced. This leveling of repertoire allows for participation by a broad range of students.
“Anyone can enter the Milton Young Musicians’ Festival if they are prepared with the requirements,” says Moulton.
Students perform for judges who are hired for their musical expertise and interest in working with young people. Those who audition are evaluated on criteria including accuracy, interpretation, musicianship and stage presence. With points allotted for each category, the final score is calculated based on the totals for each aspect of the performance. After the numbers are added (and the math double-checked by Festival volunteers) there is an awards presentation where gold and silver medals are bestowed on the top scorers.
But the music doesn’t stop on Festival day. Those who audition with superior scores are invited to perform at the gold-medal winners’ concert. In addition to this opportunity for public performance, the students receive a trophy as a reminder of their achievement.
“It’s wonderful for these musicians to have a music trophy, which represents a lot of practicing, a lot of work,” says Moulton.
Beginning with 30 participants in its first season, the Milton Young Musicians’ Festival now receives applications from approximately 100 students each year. Moulton attributes that growth to the welcoming and supportive atmosphere of the Festival, something of a rarity in the competitive musical world.
Moulton remembers her own performance anxiety as a student musician. “I was in music festivals
[as a child in Illinois] and I threw up on the way,”
she says.
She didn’t want to foster that kind of angst for the music students of Milton. So instead of one gold medal for the top scorer, and one silver for the runner-up, medals are awarded based on point ranges alone.
“I wanted it to be encouraging for everybody,” she says, “[so] we have as many gold [medals] as people who earn the points.”
Although the Festival is a lot of administrative work each year, from processing applications to organizing the audition schedule to hiring judges, Moulton looks forward to hearing so many student performances.
“I love to hear students as they progress through their elementary work and grow in their musical development,” she says. “Even though it’s a lot of work initially, at the end of the season, I’m thrilled.”
Moulton is a busy musician in her own right. She maintains an extensive private piano studio, teaches lessons in the after-school program at Milton Academy, and has served as artistic director for Milton Performing Arts. Since 1986, she has been the organist and choir director of First Parish in Milton, and it is this role that has recently led her in a surprising direction.
“I’m taking some jazz piano lessons,” says the classical pianist and organist, with an impish smile. “The music at church is changing; we’re broadening, modernizing. And so I would like to be able to add some little [jazz] flourishes here or there and make it sound like more than a nice arpeggio.”
Moulton has been a Milton resident since 1968. She and her husband, Donald, raised their four children here, and now welcome their six grandchildren for visits. And while she describes Donald as “a good audience person” and her children as “not what I would call musical,” she holds out hope for the next generation. Her six-year-old granddaughter, Rose, practices on Moulton’s piano daily before heading off to school at St. Mary of the Hills.
“Every morning before school she brings her book over (and says), ‘I want to play the piano!’” says the proud grandmother.
When asked how families could support their own young musicians, Moulton has a ready answer.
“Sit down and listen to them when they play,” she says. “Be an audience. And don’t have the piano in the basement!”