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Pres Elect Report for 10/30/05
* Movement made on a significant item from the summer retreat: recording and broadcasting of All State BOC Festival. Sam has
taken the lead on this and has set up a preliminary meeting with potential video people. Ed likely has more to share on this,
but this is an FYI pertinent to the summer work we did.
* All-State Festival
a) Initial contacts complete and paramaters set up with all the folks up at U Maine. Most of the blanks remain to be filled
in, but the wheels are in motion.
b) EVENING SCHEDULES may be flip flopped with Banquet on Thurs PM with "entertainment" afterwards for both teachers and students
and then a Fri Directors Orch performance and Ice Cream social for the cherubim and seraphim.
c) A reminder that we are looking at three SEPARATE BOC concerts (one for each ensemble), beginning at 2:00, 3:30 and 5:00
at MCA.
* Directors Orchestra - all appears to be a "go" after initial concerns regarding rehearsal space and BSO
* Maine Learning Results Review committee... Barb and I are participating in this beginning on Halloween. MUCH pre-meeting
correspondence has taken place between some vets of the MMEA Exec Board (involved in original rounds) as well as with representatives
of the other VPA areas represented on the committee (dance, theater, vis art). We'll see what happens but it appears initially
that the state does not want to do the "overhaul" that we are so adamant about doing.
* Dean has more to report towards this, but the state Jazz Fest appears to be successfully moving from its original date that
now conflicts with SATs... kudos to him for facilitating this with plenty of time to spare.
-Rob
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Choral Co-VP Report
The All State Choral Conductor for May 2006 is Dr. Jerry Blackstone from the University of Michigan. The accompanist will
be Rick Dustin from Yarmouth High School. Both contracts have been received. Dale Perkins has recommended to me that bids
for All State music go out now, and not in January as has been the practice. There is concern that there could be a delay
in getting the Mozart choral piece delivered in a timely fashion. I would appreciate it if the board could address this issue
at the meeting, and vote to move on the music bids asap.
I attended the Fall ACDA workshop and presented a brief overview of the proposed changes to the MMEA board. The membership
there is in support of having a liason on the MMEA board. There was also a suggestion that the person who manages the All
State Choir be the person to choose the conductor as that is the person who ultimately works the closest with the conductor.
At the ACDA Fall meeting, Erin Lowell presented the suggested changes to the All State Vocal Audition procedure. Her proposal
was met with enthusiasm. A group of interested persons will be meeting between Nov - Jan to fine tune the proposal so that
it can be voted on at the State May meeting. If you would like to be on this committee, contact Erin Lowell.
On a personal note, I will not be able to attend the Oct. 30th meeting as I am singing the Vivaldi: Gloria at a concert in
Camden that afternoon.
Report Submitted by
Kim Murphy
Choral Co-VP
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ORCHESTRA REPORT
This year’s All-State conductor is Federico Cortese. He conducts the senior orchestra for the Greater Boston Youth Symphony
Orchestra, and guest conducts all over the world. He is reputed to be a very charismatic and dynamic conductor, and should
provide our students with an excellent experience. He has not yet submitted a tentative program.
In spite of concern over the masses of confused "newbies," there seems to be a healthy roster of string players auditioning
for All-State. String auditions will once again be held at all three sites, on Saturdays only.
A new strings scoresheet was drafted out this summer. Due to delays in approving it, (it was sent to the entire ASTA membership
for comments), it may not be used this year! The biggest issue was: Should students be expected to play the piece as literally
printed, including all fingerings and bowings? This causes some confusion, as many say absolutely, but others do not agree.
There is also a committee starting to look at the strings audition to consider changes. The audition pieces may need to undergo
an overhaul. There is also talk of adding in an orchestral excerpt or two. This is far from final.
Clinics are shaping up. We have tentative arrangements with Winifred Crock on incorporating the Suzuki method into public
school teaching, Andy Dabczynski on advocacy, strings teaching/survival techniques for non-string players, and multi-cultural
experiences for strings, and Robert W. Smith on expression in HS orchestra. Many thanks to Nancy Cash-Cobb for finding clinicians
with companies willing to help sponsor!
This is the year for Directors Orchestra. Peter Martin, who needs no introduction, will be conducting. (Dr. Martin was last
seen in front of an orchestra in 1994 when he conducted the Maine All-State Orchestra... it seemed time to bring him back.)
The string teachers are enthused to be playing, and the hope is for a full orchestra–winds and percussion will be needed
as well. Margaret Hopkins has been acting as manager thus far, but this is a responsibility we will want to pass off to someone
else, knowing how busy All-State gets. There was some ASTA concern about the long days for All-State students ending with
a concert; many teachers felt the students should be able to do an activity that might be more social. ASTA has volunteered
to contribute funds for an activity like this. Right now the orchestra concert is slated for FRIDAY night (change in normal
schedule), followed by the ice cream social. Could another activity be scheduled for Thursday?
Respectfully Submitted this Beautiful October Sunday (1st one that has not rained...),
Linda Vaillancourt
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Auditions Report
Auditions start next weekend and by the sounds of it,
registration-wise, anything can happen. There will
probably be a number of on-site registrations, for a
variety of reasons, especially at Gorham. Check the
schedule every day for slight variations in time.
There are two new judges this year. One vocal, Sue Cyr
who studies with Ellen Chickering and teaches in Bath.
The other is Tracy Cuthbert for the sax/double reed
room who teaches in Gorham. I'm looking forward to
having both on board.
The northern site is still in Houlton but has been
moved to Houlton High School. Check the website for
directions.
Sam Moore-Young
All State Auditions Co-Chair
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District 2 report for October, 2005
The Middle School and High School Honors Band, Orchestra, and Chorus auditions were held on October 17 at Lincoln Middle School.
We once again auditioned over 1,000 students for seven ensembles! Work is under way on planning for all of the festivals
in January and February. We have updated our calendar of events. Our District 2 Jazz Festival is March 2 at Poland HS.
Our 2nd Annual Honors Jazz Festival is Wednesday, March 22 at Cheverus High School. An updated calendar will be posted soon.
Thank you, Jim Horwich
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District 3 Report
Our Fall Meeting was held Tuesday Sept. 20th, at the Village Cafe In Camden. We thank Kim Murphy for organizing this!
The meeting included vital information to get the fall events off to a good start as well as door prizes and trivia on our
own music teachers. It turns out we have five educators with captain’s licenses! We had a great time and attendance
was up this fall with 37 attending. We awarded the Outstanding Service Award to Julie Anderson for her outstanding service
to the district and particularly as District Chair AND Secretary the last two years. Congratulations Julie!
Our Senior High Honors Festival auditions were held last Monday. A big thanks goes to Allen Graffam for managing and John
Morneau and Molly Winchenbach for hosting the high school auditions. To everyone’s surprise and elation, the results
were posted the next day over e-mail. A very fast turn around!
The Elementary Festival will be held November 5 at the Captain Albert W. Stevens Elementary School in Belfast, and is hosted
by Allysa Williamson. This is a really fun festival for grades 3 through 5 and includes Orff Instruments and movement.
Junior High auditions will be held on November 10 at Brunswick Junior High. Heidi Anderson and Shari Tarleton are the hosts
and Jill Hodgdon and Cindy Brown are the managers. Shari Tarleton spent hours preparing an accompaniment to the choral audition
which she and Allen Graffam then made available on line for downloading using the MP3 format. Nice job Shari! Registrations
are also on line this year which is a first. District III is trying to eliminate paperwork by doing more registrations and
paperwork on line. Again kudos goes to Allen Graffam for setting up a very nice separate web site just for District III auditions.
If you would like to check it out, go to www.d3auditions.com .
District III Jazz Honors auditions will be held on November 16 by Anthony Marro at Morse High School in Bath. This audition
will select musicians for the two-day festival held in March and will be in it’s third year. This has been a great
opportunity for the jazz musicians in District III.
Respectfully submitted,
Roger Whitney, chair
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District 6 Report
My apologies to the Executive Board; I will be unable to attend this Sunday's meeting as I am playing for, "Beauty and the
Beast" at the Grand in Ellsworth. Alice Sullivan may have my proxy.
The District VI Middle School Honors Festival is slated to take place next Saturday, Nov. 5th at Ellsworth M.S. The music
was received in plenty of time to prepare students for an excellent experience. Conductors are Pat Michaud, Hamden Academy
for band and Adam Scarpone, Berwick for chorus.
There will be a District VI Directors meeting on Saturday, Nov 5th, 2pm at Ellworth Middle School. Discussion at this meeting
will include plans/recommendations for next year's Middle School Festival. High School Directors will meet with Marc Neslusan
to discuss nominations for the 2005-06 H.S. Honors Festival. High School Directors who will not be in attendance should send
their nominations to Marc Neslusan, Bucksport H.S. before the Saturday meeting.
Just a reminder to High School Band Directors that the format for this year's festival has changed. The festival will be
held on a school day with an evening concert. Meals for the day will be provided. The cost will be passed on to all Band
and Chorus students. Marc will have specific details at the meeting. See you all next Saturday.
Karen Hawthorne,
District VI Chair
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State Editor and Webmaster Report
The Bulletin has received great reviews from everyone. The new look seems to be a hit! Although the lateness of the Handbook
has been a problem, I want to reiterate that it was not Lance's fault. He had done his prep work very well, but the transfer
of data was a huge problem that caused me to retype a lot of information. Other problems cropped up with the new layout program
I invested in to do the physical layout, but I have now worked around those issues.
The website (up until this week) has been updated approximately once a day. The Institutional number process that Mike and
I have developed seems to work.
The website gets approximately 80-90 page views a day.
The Bulletin January issue is in production right now. The ads are rolling in. I will be sending my advertiser databse information
to Jonathan Carsley (our new Business Manager - Yay!) that I promised him at the last meeting concerning the Bulletin shortly.
I will get that in a readable format soon.
Please continue to send articles or suggestions for articles my way.
I will be attending the National Conference in Salt Lake to meet with other state editors and discuss our issues and problems
relating to what we do.
Barbara
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