Onondaga County Music Educators’ Association
Junior High School Festival General Membership Meeting
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Henninger High School
I. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 10:00.
II. Secretary’s Report – Dave Wilber (Skaneateles)
The minutes were not read.
III. Treasurer’s Report –Alison Miles (Fabius-Pompey)
A. Membership is up to 183 from 75 last year.
The following schools have not paid yet for this festival.
Baldwinsville, MPH, CBA, Onondaga, Jordan-Elbridge, Skaneateles
The budget is in the black so far this year and looks good.
IV. President Elect’s Report- Jackie Darvill – (Fayetteville-Manlius)
A. Festival Audition Reports
1. Senior High – CBA – Tim Davis
No Report
2. Junior High – Faith Heritage – Ji Won Lee
No Report
3. Elementary Solo Chair Registrations – Barb Holzhauer – Diocese
Barb reported that the application process is closed. There was also a problem with the way teachers recommended their students. Students should be recommended in order of their ability regardless of instrument. This has been an issue for several years. We want to accept more students and make sure every teacher who recommends a student gets one of those students into the festival.
4. Jazz Festival – Solvay – Jerry Fitzgerald
Mary Perun reported that everything is on schedule for the auditions.
B. Festival Reports
1. Senior High- West Genesee – Bill Davern
Trish Hollis reported that Sub Cat did a great job recording this festival.
2. Junior High – Henninger –Andrea Armbruster
Sarah Gentile thanked people for being flexible with the staff change.
3. Elementary – Nottingham – Barb Holzhauer
Barb reported that everything is on schedule for the elementary festival.
4. Jazz – Skaneateles – Corey Riley
Corey reported that they are working on the festival and everything is on schedule. The conductors are:
Senior High Jazz Band – Keith Pray
Junior High Jazz Band – Dave Wilber
Vocal Jazz Ensemble – Lou Shafer
C. NYSSMA Festivals
1. Solo and Ensemble Festival – Jamesville-DeWitt – Dan Blumenthal
Tony Greene reported that there has been a change with this festival. Jamesville DeWitt Middle School will now host levels 1-6 and there will be no piano and jazz auditions at this site. The date is May 1 and 2. There will still be All State auditions. We need to follow our rotation schedule as Jamesville DeWitt has stepped up several times. Liverpool is on the rotation for the solo and ensemble festival next year.
2. Major Ensemble – Westhill – Tony Mastrobattisto
Tony Mastrobattisto reported that registration is on the NYSSMA web site and not solo chair. Anyone interested should register as soon as possible to get the best possible times. One school requested that all of their groups perform on the same day. This is difficult if one of the groups is choral and the other is instrumental as there are two separate days for those groups. If the choral numbers are low as they were last year there is a possibility of adding instrumental groups on Tuesday (typically the choral day).
V. Committee Groups
A. Scholarship Winners – Colin Keating (Baldwinsville)
Phoebe Glowacki – Soprano - Skaneateles
Dunham Hall – Saxophone – Solvay
Amanda Shaughnessy – Clarinet – Liverpool
Performance Winners
Elizabeth DiGenarro – Trumpet – Jamesville-Dewitt
Katherine Krebs – Soprano – Skaneateles
Jacob Everett – Trombone – Jordan-Elbridge
B. BOCES Collection update
Mediaconnect.cnyric.org Log in is school email address.
Password is boces
Please use the system so we can keep it active. Even if you go to the site just to look at things it remains active.
C. New Teachers Manual – Becky Pethybridge - Lafayette
No report.
D. Vocal Task Force – Kitty Popow
Kitty reported that the greatest concern the vocal task force has is not seeing the score listed by caption. Choral teachers see the students as a class and not for lessons. Seeing the score for each caption as opposed to only the proficiency is imperative for choral teachers to be able to provide feedback to their students.
There are also concerns about the sightreading process. Judges are taking too long and the judges are not following the guidelines or the guidelines may be too vague. Becky Bizup is handling the manuals so if there are any issues based on procedures in the manual let Becky know. The question was asked if we should do a brief training session before the auditions for the judges. We already do this. Perhaps we can send a one page email or letter to the judges in advance to make them aware of the procedures.
The judging sheets were also not the double sided version that we should be using. Because of this the auditions get behind schedule.
The vocal task force discussed the possibility of changing the dates of the audition. Perhaps switching the dates of the HS and JH auditions is a possibility. Due to the placement of the NSYSMA festival this presents a problem.
The audition CD tracks are on the OCMEA web site.
We need a spot to put student height on the solo chair application instead of just the judging sheet. This is needed to make sure the rehearsals start on time.
We had three students who were placed in more than one ensemble and we need to figure this out on solo chair. If we put this on solochair, it shouldn’t change on the application sheet.
There was also an issue about students who requested chorus and got placed in band. Tony Alvaro mentioned that sometimes if there aren’t enough students for a certain instrument they may be placed in band. Some members feel that students should be granted their choice. Sometimes for the good of the ensemble we need to make adjustments. Perhaps we need to state that every effort will be made to grant students’ choices but in the interest of the quality of the ensemble changes may need to be made.
We need to make sure that each festival has a chairperson as well as three managers (for each group).
Traditionally there are very few tenors and basses auditioning. We typically take every one who auditions which gives all of the boys a great experience. Sometimes that is more than the conductor would like but it still gives the boys the experience.
VI. Presidents Report – Trish Hollis - Baldwinsville
A. Sub Cat recording festivals
B. Concerns with Elementary Band Participant Selection Process – Barb Holzhauer
See above.
C. Signing up on the list serve – directions on OCMEA web site.
Several new teachers have mentioned that they are not on the list serve. Contact Trish Hollis to get on the list serve.
D. How to submit information to list serve:
VII. New Business
A. Megan Kirsch from Syracuse Children’s Chorus
Megan Kirsch talked about the Syracuse Children’s chorus. She passed out information about their schedule and a festival that they are hosting. The festival is March 21.
Auditions will be held on May 14 and 15. Please encourage student to audition.
B. We are updating adjudicator lists for our auditions. Please let us know if you know anyone who would be a good candidate to judge our auditions.
C. Jennifer Greene is our expert on Solo Chair. Please contact her at Fayetteville-Manlius High School if you have any questions.
VIII. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 10: 45.