SCVA Newsletter (on-line version) - November 2009
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Message from the President - Sheri Nelson
Formative and Summative Assessment
At Alta Loma High School we are in the process of preparing for a midterm
WASC revisit. As I sat in my WASC
focus group meeting reviewing our action plans and the WASC committee’s areas
of recommendation, I realized that the Arts classes can be the model for the
other content areas. One of our
areas of recommendations praised the school for its increase in department and
district-wide benchmark tests but recommended we create an emphasis on school
wide use of formative assessment to guide instruction.
Summative assessment (assessment OF learning) would include activities such
as chapter tests, quarter bench mark tests, final exams, and our CA
standardized tests. Formative
assessment (assessment FOR learning) would include assessments, both formal and
informal, that a teacher uses to determine what material the students have
mastered and thus inform the teacher when the class is ready to move
forward. We all know classes where
the teacher has a pacing guide that includes the day or week they will give a
chapter test and regardless of the results of that test the class will move
onto the next chapter in the book.
Many subject areas are sequential.
If a student did not master solving a one-step equation in Algebra how
successful will they be at solving a two-step equation? If a large portion of the math class
failed the test why would you move onto the next concept or chapter?
The Arts Department is a model on the use of formative assessment. The Arts use formative assessment
DAILY. While rehearsing the “B”
section of a piece we assess our students’ rhythmic accuracy, pitch accuracy,
diction, tone quality, dynamics or balance. During the rehearsal we must determine if the focus of
today’s lesson has been achieved and the students are ready to move on to a new
section or a new area of focus. If
we did not achieve our goal for the day we will return to the same section and
re-teach the concept. We will
determine if the students need more time and practice or if we need to re-teach
the same concept from a different approach? We use formative assessment EVERYDAY in our rehearsals.
In an educational climate that is focused on standardized testing and API scores we must be advocates for the Arts. During our WASC focus group I took the opportunity to speak on behalf of choral music, and all of the Arts, and our daily use of formative assessment. We focus on student learning. Our curriculum pacing is not determined by a calendar, rather on student mastery. We must take every opportunity to remind our colleagues, administrators, school board members, and parents that music is essential and we are a core class according to No Child Left Behind. Our class can even be the model for education practice such as formative assessment.
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The Southern Regional Honor Choirs Are Here! - Tammi Alderman -
VP, High School Honor Choirs
Two years ago this month,
during his first year as the SCVA VP in charge of the Honor Choirs, Rodger
Guerrero wrote an article concerning maybe our toughest job as choral
educators: playing the role of counselor to students faced with recent
disappointment or failure. I would
like to include an excerpt from it here in the hopes that it might assist any
colleague in helping singers to find solace after failing to audition
successfully into the Honor Choirs.
Please feel free to contact me if you need a perspective from another
source.
The Highs and Lows of the Audition Results
The auditions have been
completed and the Honor Choir lists have been posted. Packets containing music to be performed, practice CD’s,
instructions, directions, and congratulatory letters have been mailed out and
received. Directors, brimming with
pride at the achievements of their singers, have perhaps publicized their
students’ success via school newspaper articles, bulletin announcements and
assemblies. Singers are excitedly
learning the music as fast as they can, bursting with anticipation of that
first rehearsal (October 24th at Point Loma Nazarene University)!
On the other side of the aisle,
letters to those who did not audition successfully were also mailed out and
have been received. For these
singers, the endless practice of scales, sight-reading, tonal memory, and
Italian arias was only met with disappointment and “failure.” These singers are perhaps sluggish to
get back to work, seeking new goals and new sources of self-confidence. Those who teach these singers must dig
deeply into their bags of motivational tricks to help them cope, sometimes
seeking miracles to aid them in this restorative process. It is the part of the choral teaching
job that no music school can ever prepare one for and for which no amount of
money is sufficient repayment.
It’s Always about the Journey
John Jay once said, “Experience
is a severe preceptor, but it teaches useful truths, and however harsh, is
always honest. Be calm and
dispassionate, and listen to what it tells you.” In time of disappointment, it is easy to complain or
rationalize away negative results as being the fault of others. It’s much harder to look failure in the
face, compose oneself and calmly say “Alright, maybe I had a bad day. Maybe I did not perform as well as I
had hoped. I can and will do
better the next time.” All
successful journeys contain at least one breakdown along the way. For as Robert Shaw once wrote, “There
is no easy-on, easy-off button for Truth.
There is no landscaped approach to Beauty.” Teachers can more effectively aid
students in quickly returning to the path by daring to share with them failures
they have personally experienced and recovered from. Share with them obstacles that you have overcome. Enable them to see that failure should
never result in a fear of trying.
Help them to gain a healthy perspective about this experience by
revealing to them personal examples which exemplified your ability to maintain
balance when something in your life didn’t go as planned. Be honest with them about your
life, and they will respond in kind.
Honor Choirs by the Numbers
Having looked at the score
sheets of every singer who auditioned, I began to see how well-prepared our
singers seemed to be this year. I
attribute this to two important factors: First, SCVA High School Directors did
a phenomenal job of teaching! We
already know that some of the finest directors of high school programs in the
country exist here in Southern California. Secondly, our students are talented, intelligent, dedicated,
and determined. Most importantly,
they care about choral music. Take
a look:
SCVA
Women’s Choir 2009
SCVA Mixed Choir 2009 Soprano
Average: 85.8
Soprano Average: 87.3 Alto
Average: 81.2
Alto Average: 79.9 High/Low
Score: 98/71
Tenor Average: 86.7
Bass Average: 86.8 SCVA
Men’s Choir 2009
High Score (Women/Men): 99/100 Tenor
Average: 73.1
Low Score (Women/Men): 71/80 Bass
Average: 74.5
High/Low
Score: 80/66
Final Thoughts About the Numbers
There is one negative result
from the audition numbers this year.
According to our statistics, 495 singers actually showed up to audition out of 599 who registered online. While the total amount is a good one, I am concerned about
the large percentage (17.4%) who sign up but do not show up. I’m sure there are many legitimate
reasons for this, but it’s still a problem in my mind. I would love hearing from SCVA members
about possible solutions, so feel free to contact me if you have any.
We Need Your Help!
The weekend of November 20th
and 21st is quickly approaching.
Please consider volunteering to help us with something during that
weekend. Consider that while we
love being able to provide a phenomenal music experience for such a large group
of singers (268!), it is extremely tough to manage that many teenagers when the
singer to teacher ratio is somewhere between 50:1 and 100:1. So many of you have already given so
much by hosting or adjudicating during the auditions, and we are immensely
thankful for this! It must be
noted that Dan Jackson (Point Loma) and Jeffe Huls (Santa Monica High School) are
going way beyond the call in hosting the rehearsal day and concert
weekend. THANKS TO BOTH OF YOU!!
All directors with multiple
students in the choirs should seriously consider helping. Help is needed conducting sectionals,
setting up chairs, picking up food, taking attendance, with riser and seating
deportment, acting as “the ears” in on-stage rehearsals, running errands, ushering
during the concert, cleaning up after the concert, helping to move equipment on
and off of the stage, acting as a personal assistant to one of the conductors,
and MUCH, MUCH MORE! We need help
at the October 24th rehearsal as well as during the Honor Choir Weekend on
November 20th and 21st.
Please contact Tammi Alderman at talderman@falconchoir.org or John
Hendricks at jhendricks@buckleyla.org
ASAP and offer to help out!
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2009 SCVA FESTIVAL SCORE SUMMARY AND EVALUATION SUMMARY - Jennifer Stanley, VP of HS Festivals
I love the choral festival
experience for many reasons: seeing and hearing the great work of my
colleagues, having my students exposed to so many high quality performances
(and good audience etiquette!), and feeling inspired to keep working by
encouragement from the adjudicators.
Now that I’m in my tenth year of teaching, I started wondering what I
would learn from analyzing my festival scores. And then I became curious about festival scores in general,
so I decided to investigate the festival scores to see what results would
emerge.
RATING EARNED # GROUPS % OF TOTAL
SUPERIOR 173 68%
EXCELLENT 82 32%
GOOD 1 0%
TOTAL 256 100%
Here are the ratings earned by
choirs at SCVA festivals in Spring 2009. A total of 478 score sheets were
received, and the ratings of 256 choirs were calculated from this data. Score
data was received from 35 of 39 festivals, about 90%. (Complete score sheets were received from 33 festivals, and
partial score data was received from 2 festivals.) No score sheets were
returned with a director request for comments only. Please note the directions
for calculating festival ratings below.
A = 4.0 100% AVG
SCORE RATING % Equiv
A- = 3.7 92.50% 3.65
– 4.0 SUPERIOR 91.25%
B+ = 3.6 90% 3.0
– 3.64 EXCELLENT 75%
B = 3.3 82.50% 2.0
– 2.99 GOOD 50%
B- = 3.0 75% 0
– 1.99 FAIR 47.5%
C+ = 2.9 72.50%
C = 2.5 62.50%
C- = 2.0 50%
D = 1.9 47.50%
Calculating Festival Ratings - Each
choir is rated by two SCVA certified adjudicators. Choirs earn letter grades from A to D in nine categories
(below). Letter grades are converted to points and averaged. There is a total
of 16 grades for each choir (excluding scores for Repertoire). Average score
determines the rating. Percentage equivalents included for reference only.
CATEGORIES AVG
SCORE
TONE 3.639
INTONATION 3.586
INTERPRETATION 3.691
DICTION 3.723
ACCURACY 3.688
BALANCE 3.692
BLEND 3.703
PRESENTATION 3.816
REPERTOIRE 3.900
TOTAL AVG 3.693
Here are the 2009 average festival
scores as calculated from 478 score sheets. There were 24 adjudicators who
judged at SCVA festivals in 2009, and approximately 140 directors who attended
festivals. Together, this is about 70% (about 160 members) of the total
membership of SCVA who participated in the festival process. There were 204
high school choirs directed by 93 high school directors that attended SCVA
festivals. There were an estimated
105 junior high and middle school choirs directed by an estimated 45 junior
high and middle school directors that attended SCVA festivals. Assuming an
average ensemble size of 30, there were over 9,000 choral music students who
had the festival experience through SCVA festivals. (Wow! That’s a lot!)
Compiling and calculating this data has been a very involved
process. Many thanks go to:
- The 30 SCVA Festival Hosts
– hosting a festival is a very big job and the evaluation responses show that
you are all organized and running great festivals, THANK YOU!
- Our SCVA Adjudicators – THANK YOU for your continued service, and for your
consistent high quality judging that encourages both choral directors and
choral music students.
- Chris Hall, Executive VP – for the past 5 years Chris has scheduled
adjudicators for every festival, and distributed and collected all the forms
and documents needed to run the festivals. She collected all the judging forms and sent them to me so I
could begin analysis for this report, so this could not have been written
without her! THANK YOU, CHRIS, and Happy Retirement!!
- Maria Fritts and Mark Freedkin – THANK YOU for your tireless work!
Below is a summary of the responses
from the Online Festival Evaluation for Directors. THANK YOU to those who responded to the evaluation, we do
read your responses and comments carefully. There were 56 responses to the
evaluation, 52 from high school directors and 4 from middle school
directors. This is only about 40%
of the directors who participated in festivals, and we would like to have a
higher percentage of directors respond to get a more complete understanding of
the festival experience. If you
did not complete the evaluation for 2009, please complete it for 2010.
It is encouraging to me as a festival
coordinator that the high proportion of YES answers compared to NO seems to
indicate that directors are satisfied with their SCVA festival experience.
YES NO N/A ONLINE FESTIVAL
EVALUATION FOR DIRECTORS
4 100 The
adjudicator gave ratings that were too high. §
7 97 The
adjudicator gave ratings that were too low. §
94 10 The
adjudicator gave ratings that were fair/accurate. §
99 5
Comments
for improvement were constructive and helpful. §
1 103 Comments
were condescending or sarcastic. §
98 6
Comments
related specifically to items checked (+) or (-). §
38 6 60* Subjective
comments, if used, were minimal/labeled as such. §
23 41 40* The 2
adjudicators were in major disagreement in these areas: §
56 0
Prior
to the festival, did you receive info from the host?
55 1
Was
the piano in good condition and tuned?
54 2
Was
the facility appropriate for this event?
42 14 Were
your adjudication tapes complete and audible?
55 1
Were
the participating choirs appropriately classified? (novice/adv./etc.)
55 1
Were
your forms returned promptly at the end of the festival?
54 2
Were
your student guides helpful?
49 7
Did
the festival begin on time?
56 0
Would
you attend this festival again or recommend it to others?
34 1 22** Did you use the SCVA website
for festival planning? If yes, was
it helpful?
11† 25 15** Is there a festival
adjudication system that you think would be more effective than the SCVA letter
grade system?
§ Each responder is rating the two
adjudicators from their festival so the total response number is doubled.
* Responder selected “N/A” as their answer.
** Responder gave no answer to this question.
† Of the 11 YES responses, 6 suggested a point system, and 2 suggested a rubric
based system.
THANK YOU to the Choral Directors who attend SCVA festivals! SCVA could not continue to host and
organize festivals without your interest and continued support and
participation!
A special welcome to Brian Holm,
the new Executive VP!
As far as I know, this is the first
time SCVA has tried to analyze its festival score data. What does the data
mean? We are still in the process of interpreting this data. We value your input and insight, so please
email your thoughts and questions on this report to me at jstanley@emuhsd.k12.ca.us.
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Young Women’s and Young Men’s Harmony Festivals - Mark Freedkin,
VP - Barbershop Harmony Festivals
We are pleased to invite you
to this year’s Barbershop Harmony Festivals for Young Women and Young Men. Both events will be held at the Robert
B. Moore Theater on the campus of Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. The 5th annual “Diva Day” Young Women in Harmony Festival, sponsored by the Harborlites
Chorus, will be held on
Saturday, February 6, and the 10th annual “Young Men’s Harmony Festival” will be held on Saturday, February 20, sponsored
by the Masters of Harmony.
Both of these events will provide a unique musical opportunity for your singers
and will provide a positive boost to your choral music program.
Each event will consist of morning
and afternoon clinics and rehearsals, followed by a public performance in the
evening with the respective adult choruses. There will also be a clinic for music educators who would
like to participate in a hands-on demonstration of how the barbershop style is
taught and how it can be used to attract more young men and women into your
program.
The early application fee is only
$20 per singer for applications that are submitted by November 13. After
November 13, the application is fee $25 per singer. The sponsoring choruses will cover the remaining costs for
all sheet music, practice CDs, rehearsal facilities, guest clinicians and
performance costumes. Each singer will receive a commemorative t-shirt. We will
also provide lunch and dinner for the singers, choral directors and any adult
chaperones accompanying the singers.
Please download and print the
appropriate application forms from the SCVA website. Complete and return the
applications and forms, along with payment by cash, check or money order
payable to Harborlites
(for Diva Day) or Masters of Harmony (for the Young Men’s Festival). Each event will be limited to a maximum
of 250 participants, so be sure to submit your applications early. Note that these festivals are separate
events, and you must send the appropriate forms and payments to the proper
recipient.
Young Women’s Festival Only:
In order to accommodate more schools,
we are limiting the number of singers per school to twelve (12). Ideally we
suggest 1-2 tenors, 3-4 leads, 2-3 baritones and 3-4 basses. This will allow
you to perform the music as a group and use this group to help your other
students learn the joy of singing four-part harmony, barbershop style. Send
applications for all students you wish to participate, indicating those
students beyond the initial 12 that you wish to put on the Waiting List. We
will try to accommodate as many as we can.
Young Men’s Festival Only
There is no limit to the number of
singers from your school who wish to participate, but please submit your
applications early to ensure that all of your singers can be accommodated.
We look forward to receiving your
applications. Please contact us if you have any questions about our festivals.
Diva
Day (Young Women’s Festival) Young
Men’s Harmony Festival
Karen
Ridout Mark
Freedkin
Harborlites
Chorus Masters
of Harmony
Home:
(714) 847-0787 Home:
(949) 559-9621
Cell:
(714) 319-2325 Cell:
(714) 357-1187
Email:
kridout@socal.rr.com Email:
mfreedkin@yahoo.com
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Junior High Honor Choir - Debbie Montpas, VP, Junior High Honor
Choir
SAVE THE DATE!!! JUNIOR HIGH HONOR CHOIR PERFORMANCE IS MAY 1st,
2010
Tony Azeltine has decided to step
down as VP for the Junior High Honor Choir. I want to take this opportunity to thank Tony for taking the
helm for this choir for the past four years. He has done an outstanding job and his leadership will be
greatly missed! In the
meantime, I will be stepping back into the role of VP for the Junior High Honor
Choir and will be aided by Cecile Blanchard and Vanessa Ventre.
This year all Honor Choir members
will be required to attend ONE REGIONAL REHEARSAL to receive and read
through their music. Those regions
will be comprised of the Santa Monica, San Gabriel Valley, and Riverside
areas. The specific dates and
sites are still to be determined. On SATURDAY, MAY 1st we will combine all of the students for ONE
ALL-DAY REHEARSAL WITH A PERFORMANCE THAT EVENING. We
also plan to reduce the participation fee to make it easier for more students
to participate in the Honor Choir during these difficult economic times. It is our sincere hope that these new
procedures will help you to encourage your students to audition for the Honor
Choir.
If you value the Junior High Honor
Choir, it is time for YOU to step forward and start helping out. If YOU don't, who do you think
will? For those of you who teach
middle/junior high schools, you know how incredible these students can be. If you are a high school director,
encourage your 9th grade BOYS to audition so we can give our singers an SATB
experience. As directors, we
validate our students' efforts by participating in the Honor Choir auditions
and rehearsals ourselves. Organize
a car pool, help with sectional rehearsals. It's time that YOU get INVOLVED in the Junior High Honor
Choir THIS year!!!!
E-mail me about VOLUNTEERING for
any of the following opportunities:
1. HOSTING an audition site on
EITHER January 30 or February 6
2. ADJUDICATING auditions on
either or both of the above dates
3. HOSTING a REGIONAL rehearsal in
the RIVERSIDE area
4. Leading a SECTIONAL REHEARSAL
at one of the Regional rehearsals
5. Assisting with the ALL-DAY
REHEARSAL and the PERFORMANCE on SATURDAY, MAY 1 (site is still to be
determined)
I hope I can count on you to help
me create a wonderful musical experience for these eager young singers.
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Vocal Solo Competition - Colleen Kennedy, VP, Vocal Solo
Competition
- Saturday, December 5, 2009:
Online application and payment deadline
- Saturday, January 16, 2010: Preliminary round
- Saturday, April 10, 2010: Final round
- Final performances/scholarships awarded at the Jr. High/Middle School Honor
Choir concert on May 1, 2010 (site TBD)
Please contact me at
colleenbkennedy AT gmail DOT com with any questions.
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Other Important Information
On-Line SCVA Membership Application (not
required for Honor Choir audition or participation)
On-Line Festival Host Application