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.