Okmea All-State Choir Rules and Regulations

OkMEA All-State Choir Rules and Regulations for Auditions, Rehearsals and Concert

Adopted by the Executive Board of the Oklahoma Music Educators Association April 17, 1993 Amended January, 2011; January 2016

Table of Contents

General Information General Audition Information Student Audition Procedure Selection Process Rules and Procedures for Judges Rules and Procedures for Room Monitors Rules and Procedures for the Tally Person Student Procedures on Thursday Morning of the Convention OkMEA All-State Chorus Member Conduct

General Information

1. Each student auditioning for the OkMEA All-State Choir must be recommended by his/her director, who must be a member of OkMEA. The director may withdraw the recommendation at any time with the concurrence of the school administration. Such action would make the application or membership null and void. If a student wishes to audition for the OkMEA All-State Choir and the school does not have choral music in its curriculum, the student may be entered by his/her school administrator, private teacher, or other music teacher within that school system, provided that said administrator, private instructor, or other music teacher is an OkMEA member. 2. Each student wishing to audition for and perform in the OkMEA All-State Choir must be a member of his/her school choral program and academically eligible to participate in this activity according to the rules of the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association. Academic eligibility pertains at the time of each audition as well as the rehearsals and concert. Both the school principal and the choral director must certify that all applicants are eligible. 3. Upon signing the OkMEA All-State Music Festival Acceptance Card, the student agrees to attend and sing in all rehearsals and the final concert. The student cannot be excused for illness or death in the family. The student is responsible for learning and performing all selected music materials. 4. Ninth grade students may not audition for the OkMEA All-State Choir even if they are student of a mid-high school chorus. Only students in grades 10, 11 and 12 may audition. 5. The OkMEA All-State Choir selection process will consist of two auditions. The first audition will be held at four assigned quadrants in the state. Students must qualify for the second audition which will be held a minimum of two weeks after the first audition. 6. The director must provide services, as needed, at the audition site for the duration of the audition. Services required may be one or more of the following duties: judging, assisting in registration or the office, monitoring or tallying scores. Refusal to provide necessary services will result in disqualification of students. 7. The audition information i.e. quadrant sites and chairs, music selections, CD order form, and audition application, etc., will be on the www.okmea.org website. Please enter a separate form for each voice part. DEADLINES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. READ CAREFULLY TO AVOID MISTAKES. 8. Deadlines will be strictly enforced. Fees will double after the first deadline. Any changes after midnight of the second deadline will be handled with the "emergency application" of $100 per entry. This fee must be paid to the quadrant chair or Choir Chair before the student will be allowed to audition. 9. All entries must be sent to the OkMEA office: Jerry Huffer, Executive Secretary, 636 Bacone Street, Muskogee, OK 74403. Mailing instructions are included on the audition application. It is suggested that audition entries be sent by certified mail. 10. Checks and/or purchase orders, (no requisitions) must accompany the entry. No cash will be accepted. 11. The auditioned music selections are chosen by the OkMEA All-State Choir Committee from the program which will be performed on the OkMEA All-State Music Festival Concert. 12. The official OkMEA All-State Chorus rehearsal CD can be ordered only through the Oklahoma Choral Directors Association at www.okmea.org/documents/2011%20OMEA %20OCDA%20ALL-STATE%20REHEARSAL%20ORDER%20FORM.pdf 13. Audition CDs will be made from the official rehearsal CDs. The recorded audition passages are to be picked by an outside non-competing director or college instructor. The CD will be made in the presence of the OkMEA All-State Choir Chair 120 hours prior to the first audition. The chairperson has the discretion to ask that the cuts be sent electronically. The chair would then be responsible for burning the audition CDs for each quadrant. 14. Second round cuts will be handled in the same manner as the first round. Cuts for the third round will be handled electronically. 15. Students must choose one part on which to audition, i.e. Soprano I or II, not both. In the event of double chorus compositions, those students auditioning on Soprano 1 would sing the soprano part on Choir I. Those students auditioning on Soprano 2 would sing the soprano part on Choir II. The same applies to all voice parts. 16. Women who wish to audition on men's parts must submit verification that they sing only that part in their own choir. 17. The OkMEA All-State Choir Committee will choose audition sites. 18. The OkMEA All-State Choir Chair will schedule students at random and mail directors only audition times for their students. Schedules will be sent at least one week before the auditions. The Choir Chair may consider special requests for time selection as much as possible while maintaining the random scheduling of schools. Any time change after Wednesday prior to the audition must be scheduled through the Quad Chair. 19. All entries from a single school are expected to audition in the same quadrant. A student may audition in another quadrant if a conflict arises with an OSSAA sanctioned event. Permission must be obtained from the OkMEA All-State Choir Chair. 20. Only the registration area and the tallying office will have a list of the students' names and schools. The student will be identified only by his/her number, which shall be given upon registration at the audition site. 21. Any action taken by a director outside the realm of these rules and regulations that results in students receiving an unfair advantage will disqualify the students. Situations of this nature will be reviewed and ruled upon by the OkMEA All-State Choir Committee.

General Audition Information

1. Students will prepare the four musical selections listed in Oklahoma Music, or the OkMEA website for the audition. The audition material will be arranged in approximately one-minute cuts from the official OkMEA All-State Choir CD. The rehearsal CD must be purchased from the Oklahoma Choral Directors Association. Order forms for the CDs can be found at www.okmea.org and www.choralnet.org. 2. Students must bring their own music to the audition. In order to comply with copyright laws, no unauthorized copies of music will be allowed at the auditions. 3. Students are scored on each composition according to the following:

Voice Quality 25 points Note Accuracy 20 points Rhythm Accuracy 20 points Dynamics 10 points Diction 10 points Intonation 10 points Phrasing 5 points

Student Audition Procedure

1. Upon arrival at the audition site and after the director has registered, the student will register and receive a number. 2. The student or the director will not be allowed to hear the audition CD at any time except during the 90 minute period prior to the audition time. 3. No recording devices may be taken into the listening or audition rooms. 4. Directors may not instruct students in the listening room. 5. In the listening room, the student will be allowed to hear the audition with cuts and instructions exactly as will be heard during the audition. Students may visit the listening room twice. 6. Directors may not accompany a student to the audition area. This helps to maintain the anonymity of the school and the student auditioning. 7. At no time will the student's name or school be stated in or near the audition room. 8. Upon entering the audition room the student's number will be announced to the judges by the room monitor. Students are not to venture past the audition screen. If this should happen, the student could be disqualified. 9. After the door is closed, the audition will begin. A voice on the CD will ask "Are you ready?" If the student is not ready to begin, he/she should answer "no". The student should notify the judges as soon as he/she is ready to begin. The CD will proceed exactly as heard in the warm up room. 10. After the music portion of the audition CD has begun, the student may request ONE restart. TEN POINTS PER JUDGE WILL BE DEDUCTED. Students may ask to restart only on the selection being judged at that time. Once the next selection has begun, the student may not restart on the former selection. Only one restart during the entire audition will be permitted. 11. Following the last audition selection the CD will state, "Thank you". The student will then exit the audition room.

Selection Process

1. Student and school names will remain anonymous during the selection and tallying process. 2. Only after the choir has been selected will the names be matched with the audition number assigned during registration. 3. Scores from each judge will be entered into the computer according to the entry number. Each judge's scores will be ranked: the highest score from any particular judge will be 1, the second highest, 2, etc. The three judges' rankings will be added together. This sum is called the "Rank Score". The students are then sorted by the "Rank Score". Before choosing the choir, the top 25 according to "Rank Score" are compared to the top 25 Sum Total of Points Score. If there is a difference, the students that are involved in the discrepancy are compared head-to-head. If two judges place student "A" higher and only one judge placed student "B" higher, then student "A" is placed in the choir. If this procedure cannot eliminate the difference, both students are selected. 4. The officials in the tabulation room will follow this procedure. Each card's total will be added twice and the scores will be entered into the computer checking the song, card, and grand totals against the card. If they do not agree the card will again be checked. Then the card goes back to the computer to be entered. Once all of the scores are entered they are checked against the registration books for room and part. This is to ensure that everyone who sang has a score and anyone who did not sing does not have a score. Then, the computer score is checked against the card total to be sure that nothing has been changed. 5. The top 25 students from each section according to the above procedure will be chosen. The sections may be larger than 25 only if ties occur in the scores. In the case of ties, all students with tied scores will be allowed in the choir. 6. Five alternates will be selected in each section according to "Rank Scores". The highest score on voice quality will be used to break a tie between alternates. ALTERNATES ARE NOT TO ATTEND THE OMEA ALL-STATE FESTIVAL EXCEPT FOR THE CONCERT, UNLESS THE CHAIR OF THE CHOIR NOTIFIES THEM. No alternate will be called or assigned to membership after midnight on Wednesday of the OMEA All-State Festival in January. 7. Once the decision to use an alternate has been made, the OkMEA All-State Choir Chair will contact the alternate's choral director for assistance in finding the student. Alternates will be auditioned on the additional music at the same time as the others. 8. The next 35 (ranks 26 - 60) SSAA singers, including the five alternates from the OkMEA Choir, will be in the OkMEA All-State Women's Honor Chorus.

Rules and Procedures for Judges

1. Judges must be current OkMEA members. 2. The OkMEA All-State Choir Chair will conduct a session for judges at the Fall Workshop. First round judges and all directors are encouraged and welcomed to attend this meeting. Second round judges will be selected from those in attendance. All quadrant judges must attend the instructional meeting 45 minutes prior to the start of first round auditions. 3. All judges will be high school and/or mid-high choral directors who have students auditioning for the OkMEA All-State Chorus. Judges may come from outside the OkMEA membership with the approval of the chair or vice president of the organization. 4. Three judges in each audition room will be selected and assigned by the Site Chair. 5. Judges should take note of the date, site, and time of the auditions. Upon arrival at the site and after completion of audition duties, judges must report to the Site Chair. 6. Judges need to be familiar with the four audition numbers. They should know the part(s) which the chair has assigned them to hear. 7. Each judge should be prompt and bring his/her own music and CD player to the auditions. 8. Judges should be familiar with the score card. 9. When scoring students, the judge will write only the individual score for each item on the card. The judge will not tally the scores. 10. Judges will sign or initial each score card in the designated place. The blue judge is to write the time of the audition on the card. 11. Judges will refrain from speaking while a student is entering, auditioning, or exiting the audition room. 12. Judges will not discuss their scores with anyone during the audition day. 13. Of the three judges in the audition room, the judge scoring on the blue card is designated by the chairperson to speak to a student should that become necessary, i.e. a restart. Otherwise no one will speak while a student is in the audition room. 14. If a problem arises with a student's audition number, the blue judge should send the student out of the room and send for the chairman. Judges should never change an audition number on the score card without instructions from the Chairperson. 15. The person who will operate the CD player must be decided prior to the first student auditioning. Any of the judges or the tally person can handle this task based on logistics of the room. 16. Any question regarding scoring or judging duties should be referred to the chairperson during the judges' meeting prior to the audition. Questions that arise during the audition should be referred to the blue judge. 17. Judges are invited to suggest any ideas that will make the audition fair, consistent, and comfortable for everyone involved. 18. Judges of the second round audition may complete an OkMEA voucher to receive payment for their travel and room expenses if no one from their school is auditioning.

Rules and Procedures for Room Monitors

Room monitors may be students from the college or university audition site. A room monitor will be assigned to each audition room. The room monitor is to:

a) Supervise student check-in by having the student sign in only before they enter the audition room b) Collect the audition tickets c) Control access to the audition room d) Keeping the area quiet e) Maintain a flow of students to the audition room f) Announce the student's number to the judges as the student enters the room, using two different methods, i.e. one thousand one and one zero zero one g) After announcing the audition number the monitor is to hand the student's audition ticket to the nearest judge. The ticket is to be stapled to the back of the three audition cards. h) Make no reference to a student's name or school to assure anonymity i) Make sure that only the auditioning student enters the room and does not proceed past the screen j) Secures the sign in sheet during breaks and returns them to the chair after auditions have concluded k) Calm and reassure students before they audition

The monitor may be asked to communicate questions or answers between the judges and the student who is auditioning.

Rules and Procedures for the Tally Person

1. A tally person will be assigned for each audition room. The tally person is responsible for:

a) Calculation of the judges' scores b) Confirmation of the judges' signature on the score card c) Subtraction of 10 points per judge from selection total in case of restarts d) Stapling audition cards in blue, yellow, pink sequence with the student's audition ticket at the back e) Initialing cards after tabulations are checked and completed f) Writing the grand total of the three cards at the top of the blue card

2. The tally person will need the following materials: a) Calculator b) Pens and pencils c) A copy of the rules d) Stapler and staples

Student Procedures on Thursday Morning of the Convention

"Additional music" is that music which was not heard at the October and November auditions. This music will be used to complete the concert program.

1. All chorus members will register between on Thursday morning of the convention. Registration will take place in the chorus rehearsal site. Upon registration students will be given a number which will divide the choir into double quartets. 2. Students will rehearse with the OCDA accompaniment CD on all of the OkMEA All-State Choir selections. This will provide the opportunity for everyone to hear all parts i.e. an Alto 2 may be the only one from her school in the choir and may not have heard all of the parts sung before this occasion. 3. The CD of the additional music and instructions will be played twice. The cuts will be taken from the OCDA accompaniment CD. Students must be able to sing with the CD. 4. Students will audition in double quartets. Singers will be checked for note and rhythmic accuracy on all additional OMEA All-State Choir selections not heard at the first or second audition. Any student that does not show sufficient knowledge of the music, in the opinion of the judges, will be asked to report immediately to the OkMEA All-State Choir Committee at the registration desk. The committee will then assign a final audition time allowing one-hour to better prepare. The student will be allowed to sing earlier than their scheduled time, if they so choose. The student will then sing the 3 rd auditioned songs deemed questionable by the judges in their entirety. At the conclusion of the callback, the assigned callback judges (a committee assigned by the All-State Chair and including at least one All- State committee member) will make a decision regarding the audition. 5. Students who do not know the music will be sent home and the director will be notified.

All-OkMEA Choir Member Conduct

Members of the OkMEA All-State Choir must be chaperoned by an adult sponsor who is registered with the OkMEA Convention. Each chorus member will abide by all rules established by OkMEA at all times after arrival and until the final concert and departure. Students who fail to do this will be sent home immediately by the OkMEA All-State Choir Chair. The OkMEA rules are as follows:

1. Students must remain reasonably quiet at all times in the hotel rooms, both day and night. TV sets, radios and all other electronic devices must be played at low levels at all times. 2. Students must wear their festival badges when outside the hotel room. Badges must be clearly visible at all times. 3. Hotel doors should be locked at all times. Do not open the door to strangers. 4. Boys are not allowed in the girls' rooms and girls are not allowed in the boys' rooms. If it is necessary to make an exception, a chaperone must be present. 5. Curfew for students will be 11:00 PM on Thursday night and 12:00 (midnight) on Friday night. The curfew means that students must be in their rooms and not leave after the hour of curfew. 6. Possession or use of illegal materials at any time including but not limited to fireworks, weapons, printed materials and videos is prohibited. 7. Possession or use of alcoholic beverages or narcotics at any time is prohibited. 8. There shall be no practicing or playing of instruments after 9:00 PM on any night. 9. Tardiness will not be permitted. Students arriving late to rehearsals will be dismissed from the All-OkMEA Festival. Proper rehearsal etiquette shall be observed at all times. 10. Proper rehearsal etiquette shall be observed at all times. a) talking is prohibited b) food, drinks and gum are not allowed in the rehearsal room c) water is provided in the rehearsal room and should be gotten during the break time d) appropriate singing posture (back tall and away from the chair, feet flat on the floor) is expected while singing.

RIGID ADHERENCE TO ALL REGULATIONS IS EXPECTED. ANY INFRINGEMENT OR VIOLATION OF RULES WILL RESULT IN AUTOMATIC DISMISSAL FROM ALL ACTIVITIES OF THE FESTIVAL AND A REQUEST THAT THE STUDENT IMMEDIATELY BE SENT HOME.