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THE ALL-STATE AUDITION
CHAIRPERSON GUIDE
In order to complete the Maine All-State auditions as
painlessly as possible, the following steps are recommended.
PREPARATION
By the end of July:
- Obtain the MMEA tax number and some starter cash ($100) from
the MMEA treasurer or previous audition chair and set up a
checking account to cover expenses. All audition income is
expected to cover expenses. You will be working with a budget over
$20000, so be well organized and plan ahead.
- Obtain a copy of the previous year's handbook, and review the
following carefully. Much of the information you need is there,
and many teachers know these details better than you will your
first time. Be prepared for someone to call you on a technicality
you are expected to have an answer for:
- All-State Audition rules
- All-State Festival rules
- The Beginner's Guide To Auditions
- Forms and Fees Description
- Required scales, patterns, and ranges
- Application/scheduling form
- Acceptance form
- Obtain the current list of audition pieces and what sections
are to be performed from the appropriate committies.
- Contact schools to set the audition sites.
- Set the postmark deadlines for application.
- The above are continually under revision. Check with the
previous auditions chair and the MMEA president for recent changes
Get the names and phone numbers of the committee chairs. It is
considered your job to be sure correct information gets out to
people at the right time, which means being sure any new material
gets to the bulletin editor. Contact the bulletin editor to find
out what their deadline is and be sure anyone else chairing a
revision committee knows it, too.
By the end of August:
- Obtain a copy of each of the audition pieces (check library
for pieces already owned) and be sure they are still available for
purchase from the publisher.
- Make "courtesy reductions" for the judges, yourself, and a few
extras. Someone WILL contact you with a question such as "is that
supposed to be a B-flat or a B-natural in measure 23 of the oboe
piece?". You will be expected to respond intelligently, even if it
is to say "I see what you mean, it is confusing...I'll contact the
judges and the publisher and get back to you."
- Be sure you have ample copies of the judging forms on hand,
even if you are planning on using the computer judging program.
Have paper forms and pencils on hand for emergencies.
- Call all publishers to be sure all audition pieces are
currently in print in the correct editions. People will call you
and tell you that a given piece is out of print (whether it is or
not!). Be prepared to respond with first hand information.
- Contract judges
- You will need 2 judges per room who can make all three
sights.
- There are four vocal rooms
- There are three woodwind rooms (flutes, clarinets, all the
rest)
- There are two brass rooms (trumpets/Fhorns, all the rest)
- There is one percussion room
- There is an area to record string auditions
- Coordinate with the Orchestra VP to contract qualified
judges to review the strings tapes
By the end of September:
- Send host school responsibilities to all host schools. Double
check all details with your hosts on a regular basis ... if
something doesn't go the way it was supposed to, it is ultimately
your responsibility, not the hosts.
- Be sure you know what will be used for sight reading (and rote
singing for vocals) in all judging rooms.
- Arrange for four high quality CD players for the vocal rooms.
You should use the same player in the same room at all three
sites.
- Find out if any judges will be listening to anything different
than the published cuts (sometimes the published cuts are
considered to be too long for the time allotted in the audition
room). Be sure all schools receive this information before the
audition.
- Arrange housing for judges who need it at each site.
- Be sure someone is placed in charge of meals for judges at
each site.
- Arrange group transportation for judges to any site for which
it would be economically feasable.
For each of the sites, the procedure runs pretty much
the same way ... there will be some overlap between sites (you may be
doing the end process for one site while at the same time doing the
beginning process for the next site)
- As the application forms arrive, enter all the information
(including date received) in the appropriate database. From the
previous auditions chair you should have a database containing
school contact info.
- Double check all school contact information to be sure it is
current.
- Enter the amount due, any monies received, and date received.
- Assign a code to each school as the application arrives (you
may want to use the already assigned MMEA institutional code).
This code can be anything you want that helps you identify schools
without being obvious to others who see it.
- In a separate file, enter the students name, instrument,
orchestra consideration, school code, approximate drive time, and
requested time of audition. Standard abbreviations are:
- TIMES
- Friday afternoon: FPM
- Friday evening:FEV
- Saturday morning:SAM
- Saturday afternoon:SPM
- Saturday evening:SEV
- VOCALS
- Soprano1:S1
- Soprano2:S2
- Alto1:A1
- Alto2:A2
- Tenor1:T1
- Tenor2:T2
- Bass1:B1
- Bass2:B2
- WINDS 1
- WINDS 2
- Clarinet:CLA
- Alto Clarinet:ACL
- Contra Alto Clarinet:CAC
- Bass Clarinet:BCL
- WINDS 3
- Soprano Sax:SSX
- Alto Sax:ASX
- Tenor Sax:TSX
- Bari Sax:BSX
- Oboe:OBO
- Bassoon:BSN
- BRASS 1
- Trumpet:TRP
- French Horn:FHN
- BRASS 2
- Trombone:TRB
- Bass Trombone:BTR
- Baritone Horn (Euphonium):BHN
- Tuba:TBA
- STRINGS
- Violin:VLN
- Viola:VLA
- Cello:CEL
- String Bass (Bass Violin): STB
- PERCUSSION
- If there is no check or completed purchase order included with
the application, call the contact person immediately and explain
that you will not schedule the students until one or the other is
in your hands. In the past, hundreds of dollars have been lost
with schools that never paid, or underpaid for their auditions.
Schools must pay for the students who are scheduled to audition,
not just those who actually show up.
- For all schools that send a PO: immediately make a copy of the
scheduling application form(s) and write "please remit payment
ASAP" across it and send it to the business manager of the school
district. Many districts will not cut a check until they get a
"bill".
- As soon as all information has been obtained from the
scheduling form, file it in such a way that you can put your hands
on it immediately if you need to. Keep all correspondence dealing
with a school together.
- Officially, if the application is not postmarked on or before
the postmark deadline as published, the students from that school
CANNOT audition. For the sake of the kids, however, I suggest
bending the rules in the following way: The Monday after the
postmark deadline, call all directors at home who's school
normally auditions at that site and who's application has not been
received. Tell them to give you a list of names and instruments
ASAP (voice, fax, e-mail, carrier pigeon) and you will put their
students at the end of the schedule after the rest of the schools
for that site are done, with the understanding that the official
application and check or PO will be in the mail as soon as
possible.
- Check with the host school to be sure how early you can start
and how late you can go. It is usually best to begin scheduling
with vocals, who go at 8-minute intervals, as they are the largest
group. Winds are scheduled in 12 minute intervals and
percussion/strings in 15 minute intervals. You will need to
combine two voice parts in each vocal room. It makes sense to
combine the largest with the smallest to even out the room sizes.
As the number of students in any given voice part vary from year
to year and site to site and you won't know until you're finished,
your guess is as good as anybody else's. For example, in 1998, I
decided to combine A1B2 - A2B1 - S1T2 - S2T1. The actual number
who auditioned were A1:171 A2:124 B1:87 B2:61 S1:154 S2:142 T1:47
T2:62. The best combination for time would have been A1T1 - S1B2 -
S2T2 - A2B1. My guess added about 20 minutes to each day, but kept
high and low voices together. Keeping drive times, special
circumstances, and requested times in mind, try to schedule the
schools to keep the "time spread" between rooms as low as possible
(sorting in a database can really help here). Remember you have to
pay your judges even if they're just sitting and waiting. Be sure
to leave a 30 min space for each judge to have meals at
appropriate times.
- As soon as you have the complete schedule together, make
copies and mail them to all schools auditioning at that site, all
the judges, and all the board members.
- According to the rules, as soon as the schedule is published,
that is that. However, teachers will contact you with changes.
Even though you are not required to make these changes, it is in
the best interest of the students to try to accomodate any
reasonable requests. It is up to you how you handle this
financially, but I suggest there be no refunds for dropped
students and additional students be required to pay the audition
fee.
Plan to be on site at least two hours early to set
up, and plan on staying two hours late to tear down.
- Upon arrival, your first task is to set up the registration
area.
- The host should provide you with 3 long tables.
- On the first long table, keep everything you need: spare
copies of music, master schedule, a box for results mailers,
the computer and printer, power strip, envelopes, pencils,
tape, paperclips, file folders, judging forms, computer disks,
printer ribbons, manila tagboard and markers for signs, and any
other sundry office supplies you think you will need.
- On the second long table, set up information for directors:
Mailing list to check for correct addresses, list of schools
and their codes, map of the school and audition rooms, and
master schedule taped down to the table. As directors enter,
they should check off their school on the mailing list to show
they have arrived, draw a line through any "no show" students
(do not scribble out so it is unreadable), and drop off their
results mailer. In the past, many directors have forgotten
their mailer. You may want to provide stamps and manila
envelopes for sale.
- On the third long table, set up information for student
escorts. They will need ample copies of the room schedules,
clipboards, and pencils. They should bring one student to the
audition room at a time, and stop by the registration desk to
check off the student as having gone. In the past, the escorts
have scribbled out names after taking them down. Try to avoid
this, as occasionally you need to read a name, maybe even weeks
after the audition for some reason, and a checkmark will work
just as well. Also keep after the escorts to continually check
off students. Some want to wait until they've taken down five,
then check off a batch. This makes it hard for you to keep a
pulse on how things are going.
- Your second task is to set up signs. You should clearly label
all tables: your's with a sign that says "no one at this table
except the chairperson", the second with a sign that says "no one
at this table except directors and escorts", and the third one
with a sign that says "no one at this table except escorts". If
you allow students or directors to get somewhere they shouldn't
be, you'd be surprised what they will get into or walk off with.
The entire area should be headed with a sign that says "All-State
Auditions Registration". You should have signs on music stands in
front of the tables directing students to their warm-up areas. The
clearer you keep the registration area, the saner you will be when
done. If you are using paper forms, have them in stacks outside
the warm-up rooms and clearly labeled with who takes them, what
they should fill out, and how many copies they should have. In the
warm-up rooms, you should have copies of the room schedules
posted. This will help keep students from hanging around the
registration desk. In advance of the audition rooms, you should
have signs on music stands saying "Quiet Zone" and "No one beyond
this point except auditioners, escorts, and judges". Be sure the
audition rooms are well labeled.
- Your third task is to inspect the audition rooms. Be sure each
audition room has a music stand, desks (and computers if using
them) for the judges, CD players for the vocal rooms, and
recording equipment in the string room. Be sure each room has two
copies of the room schedule for the judges. Have judges write down
their total score for each student on this sheet so in case an
audition sheet gets lost, you will still have their score.
- Your fourth task is to greet your judges and set up your
judges meeting if it is the first day. It is a good idea to run a
mock audition with a volunteer student and all the vocal judges as
a warm-up so they can discuss criteria. The instrumental judges
can pretty much meet on their own, as they do not have to be as
concerned about scoring consistency between rooms.
- Your fifth task is to be sure that food orders are being
handled by someone. Have coffee, soda, and high energy snacks
available for your judges at all times. Keeping your judges happy
will make the entire process run smoothly.
- Your sixth task is to distribute judges pay forms, the next
site's schedule, and check on who will need overnight housing for
the next site. You may want to provide a van for transportation to
the next site.
- After that, all you need to do is keep the pulse of the
process, try to be pro-active in heading off any trouble, smile
and say "thank you" when you get compliments, and smile and say
"I'll see what I can do" when people scream at you.
- At the end of the site, collect all judges materials as they
check out. Keep them with you in an organized fashion so you do
not have to worry about anything being lost. Collect and save the
master schedule showing which students were taken to audition and
which students were no-shows ... this has been valuable
information in the past. Collect all signs for re-use. Collect all
pay forms and housing requests from judges. Collect all paper
auditions from judges. Collect all totals sheets from judges.
Collect bills from the host. The auditions account is responsible
for all costs incurred including security, janitorial, food, etc.
- ASAP after the audition (if not immediately at the site),
write and mail checks to your judges and to your host.
- After the auditions are complete, all paper score sheets
written by hand will need to be re-added and checked for accuracy.
It is not uncommon to find a 20 point error in human addition, and
you need to know this before you publish results and make cuts.
Make copies of all score sheets, and keep them with your totals
sheets. Do not get rid of them until the festival in May is
actually over.
- Make a list of all the scores sorted by instrument, highest
score to lowest score. Send this list to the chorus, band, and
orchestra managers ASAP for them to make cuts. The band and
orchestra manager may want to have access to score sheets
themselves to check individual scoresheets.
- When the managers are through making cuts, pack them up and
send them off.
- Keep track of acceptance forms as they appear. Officially, if
you do not get an acceptance form from a student by the deadline
you can replace them. However, I suggest the following: Once the
deadline hits, call all accepted students at home that you have
not heard from, and ask them if they plan to attend. If they say
yes, set up a reasonable time frame in which they will get the
acceptance form to you before you replace them.
- Contact the managers about any students who did not accept.
Contact any alternates as directed by the managers, and collect
their acceptance forms.
- Send all acceptance forms to the All-State Festival Manager
for housing.
- Prepare a financial report of income, disbursements, and
balance to be reported to the board. You are officially done.
- During the process, and immediately after, write in a notebook
about ideas you have for improving the process, things you would
like to change, and ideas from others.
- At the All-State Festival, host workshop rooms where you can
share your ideas with interested others, and get suggestions from
them. No idea is a bad idea.
- Publish your notes and send copies to all schools that
audition, asking for opinions.
- Approach the board with motions to change the process in those
ways that seemed the most popular and most functional
- Do All-State Auditions at least twice. You need the first time
just to get your feet under you. You need the second time to feel
like you've really done a good job.
- Actively recruit new judges at the All-State Festival
- Update this manual, all materials, and send revision to the
bulletin editor.
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