SCVA Newsletter (on-line version) - December 2008
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Message from the President - Sheri Nelson
Lifelong Learners
Those of you who have taught in a school that has undergone a WASC
accreditation in the last decade will be familiar with E.S.L.R. (Expected
School Wide Learning Results). At
Alta Loma High School one of our expectations is that students will become
“Life Long Learners”. I believe we
cannot expect that of our students if we don’t have the same expectation of
ourselves. It is so
important that we continue to grow and learn and musicians.
There are so many wonderful choral and vocal programs in Southern California
taught by colleagues who are willing to share their expertise that you don’t
have to attend a national ACDA convention. SCVA began its 08-09 season with a wonderful Fall In-Service
organized by our Past President Mark Henson. Karen Garrett shared her knowledge of sigh singing, Ruth
Freeman shared her experience of fundraising with singing telegrams, and Mark
introduced us to new literature, both new publications and those available free
from the choral public domain library website. We also had an adjudication workshop led by Scott
Hedgecock featuring the Manhattan Beach Middle School Madrigals Singers and
Bonita High School Chamber Singers, and Heather Gold led a session on preparing
your students for honor choir auditions.
Thanks to both Mark Henson who organized the day and our colleagues who
presented at the Fall In-service.
Another local opportunity we had to become a “Life Long Learner” was the new
ACDA Regional Fall Conference which was held the same day as the SCVA High
School Honor Choir rehearsal. In
addition to numerous reading sessions, including one led by Dr. Jo-Michael
Scheibe (USC), Dr. Christopher Peterson (CSU Fullerton) presented ideas for
Keeping Your Singers on Task which focused on replacing the unwanted behavior
with a wanted behavior. During The
Choir Director as the Voice Teacher
session, Desiree LaVertu gave us some observations she has made in her
experiences as both a voice teacher and choir director and reminded us that it
all come back to basics.
If you have not attended a workshop or conference this Fall I hope that as
you make your New Year’s Resolutions to attend one in 2009. It is a great opportunity to gather
with old friends, meet some new directors, learn some new techniques, or remind
us of some old tried and true techniques we have just forgotten about. Thank you again to those who give of
their time to organize these rewarding activities and to those who share your
expertise so that we can all continue to learn.
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Vocal Solo Competition - Colleen Kennedy, VP of Vocal Solo Competition
I cannot stress strongly enough the value to your students, and to your
choirs, of participation in the SCVA Vocal Solo Competition. It’s so much more
than a competition. The process of preparing and performing a solo for
adjudication, in and of itself, provides singers with a tremendous opportunity
for growth as musicians. Add to that watching and listening to their peers and
receiving guidance by leaders in the field, and you’ve got one powerful
experience. The educational masterclass aspect of the competition is emphasized
throughout the process, so that everyone, novices to veterans, can benefit from
participation. Some choral directors have found the solo competition experience
so valuable that they require members of their ensembles to participate.
Change in Requirements
The SCVA Board recently voted to revise the vocal solo competition policies
so that the choral requirement for the vocal solo competition it is now in line
with the honor choirs. Specifically, applicants for the solo competition are
now required to be active members in their school choral program. As with the
honor choirs, exceptions may be considered for students who are home-schooled
or whose schools do not have choral programs. The Board feels that this revised
requirement will maintain consistency among the various SCVA events, and it
will also better serve the stated goal of the SCVA to promote choral music in
the schools.
Sites
Once again, we have a wide selection of preliminary round sites to choose
from this year. Many thanks to our colleagues who have volunteered their time
and facilities. Special thanks to first-time hosts Joyann Gongaware of West
Valley High School, Stan Nickel of Chaparral High School and Tiffany Tarleton
of San Juan Hills High School.
NEW! Chaparral High School,
Temecula Stan
Nickel
Fullerton Union High School, Fullerton Scott
Hedgecock
Harvard-Westlake School, North Hollywood Rodger
Guerrero
Mark Keppel High School, Alhambra Tony
Azeltine
Matilija Jr. High School, Ojai Don
Orser
Oak Park High School, Oak Park Heidi
Cissell
San Juan Hills High School, San Juan Capistrano Tiffany
Tarleton
Segerstrom High School, Santa Ana Mark
Henson
West Valley High School, Hemet Joyann
Gongaware
Whittier Christian High School, Whittier Allison
Harned
Online Application
As with the other SCVA events this year, the vocal solo competition
application will go completely digital this year. The online application is up
and running on the SCVA web site at www.scvachoral.net. A link is the front
page, as well as on the Events calendar.
Suggested Repertoire
A list of suggested repertoire and song books, compiled by Heidi Cissell at
Oak Park High School, is available online in the event details information.
Application Information
- Please remind participants
to make sure that they are available for all dates and times before completing
the application. The competition is a significant time commitment.
- Participation is open to students in jr. high/middle school (grades 6 – 8)
and high school (grades 9 – 12).
- Participants must be active members of a school choral program. (Note: This
requirement has been revised from previous years.)
- Chorus membership must be confirmed by the choral director.
- The non-refundable application fee remains $20.
- Applications must be accompanied by a school check or money order, payable to
SCVA, or an SCVA e-Payments receipt. Please, no personal checks or cash.
- Directors or sponsors must be current members of SCVA, having paid their
2008-09 dues, in order for their students to participate.
Performance Information
- Each participant will sing one classical piece (art song or aria).
- Selections should be appropriate to the singer’s age and experience level.
- Participants have a total of 8 minutes to perform and work with the
adjudicator.
- Singers must provide their own skilled accompanists for the preliminary and
final rounds.
- More than just a competition, the preliminary and final rounds are in
masterclass format, lasting approximately 3 to 4 hours, including breaks.
- Participants are expected to check in before the masterclass starts and
remain until the end to receive their certificates and adjudication forms.
- Depending on the number of finalists, there may be two sessions for the final
round (as happened last year). If so, participants will only need to attend one
of the sessions.
- Scholarships will be awarded, and final placement of the high school
finalists will be announced, at the Jr. High/Middle School Honor Choir concert.
Dates to Remember
- Saturday December 6, 2008: Application deadline
- Saturday January 10, 2009: Preliminary round
- Saturday March 14, 2009: Final round
- Sunday May 3, 2009: Final performances at the Jr. High/Middle School Honor
Choir concert
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JUNIOR HIGH/MIDDLE SCHOOL HONOR CHOIR - Tony Azeltine, VP of
Junior High/Middle School Honor Choir
Dear Colleagues,
The registration web page for
auditions and membership in the Honor Choir will be open Monday, Dec. 8,
through Tuesday, January 8, 2009. This will give directors adequate time
to “talk it up” with your students.
Remember, the larger the audition base, the better a group we can cull,
and the larger a group we can field.
We’d like to get as many students involved, in some way, as we can. This will assist all of your programs
further down the line. High School
Directors … Please encourage your 9th grade males to audition. Their presence makes the difference!! All
registrations must be done on-line at http://www.scvachoral.org.
The following sites have been
confirmed for auditions.
MORE SITES WILL BE ADDED BY DECEMBER 1.
CHECK THE SCVA WEBSITE FOR UPDATES!!!
Jan. 24 Jan.
31
Mark Keppel, Alhambra Arlington
HS, Riverside
Segerstrom HS, Santa Ana La
Habra HS, La Habra
Mesa
Robles MS, Hacienda Heights
Manhattan
Beach MS, Manhattan Beach
Please notify me of any student in
financial need. Some scholarship
money may be available.
When placing voice parts, please
have student indicate ALL parts the student currently sings in his/her
ensemble.
WE NEED ADJUDICATORS and HOSTS for
January 24 and 31, 2009.
Why not consider hosting or
adjudicating Junior High/9th Grade Honor Choir auditions? Please e-mail me at tazeltine@yahoo.com,
or phone me at (626) 572-2267 ASAP!!
Because of construction at various
pre-selected sites, we are seeking a performance venue. It must be acoustically appropriate,
with a good piano worthy of the vocal solo finalists and an honor choir. Rehearsals will be staggered around the
southland, to ease the travel burden on all for at least one week.
Thank you for all your support in
making this a very special event for our students.
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Young Women’s and Young Men’s Harmony Festivals - Mark
Freedkin, VP of Barbershop Harmony Festivals
There is still room for additional
singers at this year’s Barbershop Harmony Festivals. The 2009 “Diva Day” will be held on Saturday, February 7,
and the “Young Men’s Harmony Festival” will be held on Saturday, February 21.
Both of these events will held at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.
You can download and print the
appropriate application forms from the SCVA website. Complete and return the
applications and forms, along with payment of $25 per singer by cash, check or
money order payable to Harborlites (for Diva Day) or Masters of Harmony (for
the Young Men’s Festival). Each
event is limited to a maximum of 250 participants, so be sure to submit your
applications as soon as possible.
Please note that these festivals are separate events, and you must send
the appropriate forms and payments to the proper recipient.
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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Calling All Choral Festival Adjudicators - Chris Hall,
Executive Vice President
Due to the hard work of our
positive and encouraging choral adjudicators in past years, the Board has
approved an increase in the fee for your assistance. We will be paying $175 to the choral festival adjudicators
for the upcoming 2009 festivals.
Festival dates are in this newsletter and also on the website and I’ll
be contacting all of you in January.
I look forward to working with you.
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TO GO TO THE FESTIVAL!
~ SCVA CHORAL FESTIVALS
by Jennifer Stanley, VP
of High School Festivals, and Maria Fritts, VP of Middle School/Junior High
Festivals
As music educators, we are in a
very unique position for assessment because of festivals. No other discipline allows teachers to
have their students assessed by experts in their field and receive instant
feedback. Choral directors who
attend festivals have positive experiences with adjudicators who understand
their teaching situations, and the adjudicators actively work to reinforce
their teaching. Attending
festivals is an excellent way to expose your students to great choral
literature, and for them to see other students working on the same choral concepts
you are teaching. Since it is a
positive experience for everyone involved, make sure that you ATTEND A CHORAL
FESTIVAL THIS YEAR!
Thank you to all the directors who
are hosting festivals! With our festival hosts, we have been able to schedule
40 festivals in many different locations throughout March, April, and May. The
festival application follows this article. Applying early will increase your chances of being accepted
to your first choice festival. As
a courtesy to others, please do not bring more than two choirs to one
festival. The application deadline
is March 2, 2009, and
late applications will not be accepted.
Please check your school’s testing schedule and spring break when
scheduling your festival. Please
be aware of the location of your festival so you can begin planning for transportation.
The SCVA website has information to
assist you and your students in your festival preparation. The schedule of festivals, festival
application form, PayPal payment system, festival adjudication form, adjudication
scoring scale, festival code of conduct, festival listening guide, festival
host guide, and list of recommended choral literature are there for your use.
Please let us know if we can post other useful information for you. For more information or questions,
please contact Maria Fritts at MFRITTS@temeculaprep.com
or (951) 926-6776; contact Jennifer Stanley at jstanley@emuhsd.k12.ca.us or (626)
258-5292.
Festival
Listings
Festival Code of Conduct
Festival Application
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Vocal Jazz - Christine Enns, VP-Jazz Choir
SCVA Vocal Jazz Festival Tuesday March 10th, 2009 with Christine
Helferich-Guter and Kerry Marsh
We finally have our date set for
our SCVA Vocal Jazz Festival! We are pleased to announce that Christine
Helferich-Guter, director of Cal State Long Beach Vocal Jazz and Kerry Marsh,
director of Cal State Sacramento Vocal Jazz will be our adjudicator/ clinicians.
Cal State Long Beach will close the evening with a performance by their
wonderful jazz group, Pacific Standard Time! After receiving your emails, many
of you suggested we do a festival around February/March as it would help
students prepare for competition and spring performances. On Tuesday March 10th, 2009 we will be
hosting our festival/clinic with an added “vocal solo” portion. Please mark
your calendars as this will be a great gathering of vocal jazz students and
teachers throughout Southern California.
For those participating in competition, students will also get great
exposure and coaching from our very experienced clinicians. Early applications
are being accepted now, space is limited so do not delay! If you have any
questions please email me at cenns@hartdistrict.org Please put this date on
your calendar!!! The festival is
open to all levels, novice through advanced. The fee is only $150 per group plus an additional $5 per
student participant for the concert.
Location: Valencia High School, 27801 N. Dickason Dr. Valencia, Ca. 91355
Time: 12:30pm – 6:30pm with concert beginning at 7pm (may
change slightly based on the number of groups attending)
Equipment: 16 microphones
Provided: Piano, Bass Amp (drum set may be
provided if requested)
Cost: $150 per group
Please note: No cash or personal
checks accepted. Payment may be
made by school or booster club check, money order, or PayPal. If using PayPal, please include your confirmation
slip with your application.
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Other Important Information
On-Line SCVA Membership Application