Early Music Festival Information Packet
Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017
Questions & Answers
What are School Days at the Texas Renaissance Festival?
School Days is a two day event when the Texas Renaissance Festival opens its gates exclusively to school groups grades K-12. The 55-acre New Market Village, an authentic recreation of a 16th century township, comes alive with interactive characters, live demonstrations, performers and stage shows appropriate for school age children. This year, School Days will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 7th and 8th, with the Early Music Festival held on Wednesday, November 8th.
What is the Early Music Festival at School Days?
Our Early Music Festival is an adjudicated competition which offers students from all grade levels the chance to perform works of classical music in an authentic Renaissance setting. Students may compete in the general categories of instrumental and vocal performance, with sub categories based on the size and type of the ensemble. All performances will be adjudicated by experienced and credentialed music professionals. Last year over 100 music groups from all over Texas and Louisiana participated in the festival.
How Much Does It Cost to Enter the Early Music Festival?
There is no fee to register your students for the competition. The only purchase necessary is your admission to School Days. Admission tickets are $9for students, teachers and chaperones. Bus drivers are admitted free by showing their CDL at the gate.
How Do I Warm-Up before Performing in theEarly Music Festival?
Based on feedback, to simplify your day, as well as allow us to utilize our spaces more effectively, we are combining the warm up and performance time on stage. You will take the stage at your appointed time, then you have 15 minutes to use however you like. Warm up as much or as little as you feel you need. You may also take your group to any place on site that is not occupied and do a separate warm up, just please be aware of disturbing groups that might be performing nearby.
What are the specifics on Time Limits and Music Selections?
All groups are allowed up to 15 minutes in front of the judge. Entries are limited to 3 selections of music. Groups are allowed to enter with less pieces if they so choose. Any time used on the stage to adjust, tune, or warm up will be deducted from the overall 15 minute time limit to ensure the contest keeps moving. Musical selections should reflect the theme of the festival. (i.e. Medieval, Renaissance, or Baroque eras or music that are similar in style and theme). In the madrigal competition, pieces must be authentic madrigals.
Adding Solo/Ensemble for Choral Students
We are adding solo/ensemble for choral students. Please use UIL guidelines and song selection. In this one event, songs do not have to be Renaissance, they simply need to be on the UIL list. We will not have a live accompanist. We will have a sound system, students may bring CD or mp3 accompaniment. Though solos and ensembles and jr high and high school will all be sharing the stage, they will be judged separately: Jr. High solo, Jr. High ensemble, HS solo, HS ensemble. Limit is two registrations per event per school.
IMPORTANT: YOU MUST KNOW THE NAME(S) OF THE STUDENTS BEFORE YOU CAN REGISTER THEM. We don’t need pieces, but we do need names. We don’t have the staffing to try to hunt down names in October and November. Medals and critiques for solo/ensemble will be mailed after the event.
What is Provided for Use?
One conductor’s music stand will be provided at each venue. For bands and large orchestras, there will be 60 chairs and 40 stands. For small orchestras, there will be 25 chairs and 15 stands.
We apologize but we do not have space for instrument storage throughout the day. Pianos/keyboards will not be provided. Groups are welcome to bring instrumental accompaniment (no vocal tracks) and a portable battery operated stereo. Please note that not all performance spaces are equipped with power.
Are There Any Type of Awards Given at the Early Music Festival?
Yes. At the end of the day a special Royal Awards Ceremony will be held at which the top scoring ensembles in each age group and category will receive awards. Youth and Middle School Awards are held at 3:30 at the Odeon Stage. High School awards are held at 3:30 at the Globe Stage. Winners who are not present for the ceremony will receive their awards in the mail. The highest award winning groups may also be invited to return and perform their shows during one of our regular Texas Renaissance Festival weekends.
Who is Allowed to Enter the Early Music Festival?
There is a wide variety of categories open to all ages and grade levels. Registration is open to all public, private, and home school groups who wish to perform.
How Do I Register for the Early Music Festival?
The deadline to be scheduled for all events is Friday, October 13, 2017. Please note that events may fill up before the deadline. All entries received after this date will be admitted as on a first come, first serve basis in any remaining time slots. Performance schedules will not be made until after this date. School Days opens at 8:30 and first entries into the competition start soon after. The last group will perform prior to 3:30 Awards Ceremony. If you have known conflicts on performance times due to travel, please declare it on the registration forms. Registration is available online at
What if I need to make changes to our registration?
Please notify the festival office of changes to your entries up until 5:00 p.m. Friday, November 3. At that time, no more changes will be entered. You may, if needed, notify your stage manager or adjudicator if a change has been made that TRF didn’t update properly on the adjudication form.
Official Information
Purpose:
To encourage students to explore the varied forms of early music and to discover the joy of performance.
Festival Date:
November 8th, 2017
Competition Categories:
Choir/Vocal Ensemble:
High School:
Madrigal Choir – This category is reserved for groups with 4-20 students who specialize in a capella music from secular vocal music composition written during the Renaissance and early Baroque eras.
Small Treble Choir: 25 students or less
Large Treble Choir –26- 60 students.
Boys Choir* – any sized all-male ensemble
Small Mixed Choir - 25 students or less
Large Mixed Choir–26-60 students.
Solo/Ensemble
Middle and Youth Divisions:
Treble Choir –all sizes of ensembles students.
Boys Choir* – any sized all-male ensemble
Mixed Choir – all sizes of ensembles
Solo/Ensemble
*Please note: because there are so few entries in the Boys Choir division, the groups will be adjudicated by one judge. Scores will be based on what is expected for the age of the students. Choirs will not be judged against each other, but for awards purposes, we will be grouping all boys choirs together. In 2015, middle schools were awarded first and third places, while a high school won second.
Instrumental Ensemble:
Large Orchestra – This category is intended for groups with over 25 students. We do ask to limit students in one entry to 60 students maximum due to space.
Small Orchestra – This category is intended for groups with 11-25 students.
Band–This category includes band ensembles of all sizes.
Adjudication:
Early Music Festival performances will be adjudicated by experienced and accredited music professionals. All decisions by the judges are final.
Awards Ceremony:
Middle and youth awards will be held at 3:30 on the Odeon Stage. High school awards will be at 3:30 on the Globe Stage.Awards will be presented to the performers with the highest scores in each category.
Competition Guidelines:
Selections should reflect the theme of the festival. (i.e. Medieval, Renaissance, or Baroque eras or music that are similar in style and theme)
Each performance will be limited to no more than 3 musical selections. Participants are allowed to elect to perform fewer selections if they choose. Groups are allowed a total of 15 minutes on the stage in front of the judge. Performances exceeding the time limit will be stopped but not disqualified or deducted for exceeding the time limit. Please remember that any tuning or adjusting instruments or warm ups are included within that time limit.
Directors must provide a copy of each selection to the adjudicator prior to performance. Please include the name of the Director and the school name if you wish these copies to be returned. Photo copies of copyrighted material are not acceptable.
Vocal performances must either be performed a cappella or groups must provide their own instruments and accompanist. No piano/keyboard or accompanist will be provided.
Music/Conductors stands will be provided by the Texas Renaissance Festival. Folding chairs at the performance stage will be available for use in the Band and Orchestra competitions.
Adjudicators will judge performances based on prescribed guidelines and use an official adjudication form. Copies of the adjudication forms will be made available to sponsors upon request. Directors will receive a copy of the judges’ final adjudication forms through the mail in the weeks following the Performance Festival event.
Registration:
- IMPORTANT CHANGE FOR 2017: Directors are responsible for providing the titles of pieces to the TRF School Days Coordinator. There will be a place for it in the online registration system. If you do not know the titles at the time of registration, you must send them by Oct. 13. Please do not wait for the SD Coordinator to contact you for them. Failure to provide pieces may result in being bumped from the contest. This change has been made because the staff (of one) simply cannot track all of these titles down.
- Each performing ensemble must register separately. Directors are to complete registration online at texrenfest.com
- Registration deadline to be scheduled for all events is Friday, October 13, 2017. All entries received after this date will be admitted as on a first come, first serve basis in any remaining time slots.
- Any entry with students in multiple grade levels must register the entry under the level of the oldest student. This particularly applies to homeschool groups who may have a mix from grades 6 to 12.
- One registration form per group is required. Important: due to high demand for slots, each school may only enter once in each category. If you wish to enter a second ensemble in a slot, that ensemble will go on a waiting list and if slots become available, you will be contacted in the order you registered.Ticket purchase is required to be included into the performance schedule. Groups must purchase tickets by October 21st to receive a performance time slot.
- School Days opens at 8:30 and first entries into the competition start soon after. The last group will perform prior to 3:30 Awards Ceremony. If you have known conflicts on performance time due to travel, please include this information under the “Special Needs” section.
- Special consideration on scheduling close to another group will be taken only if the same director(s) are involved with both groups. Please make indication under “Special Needs” section. Please keep in mind that some categories perform in different locations and not all requests can be honored.
- Registration in the Early Music Festival DOES NOT include admission to School Days. School Days tickets must be ordered separately. A ticket order form may be obtained through the Texas Renaissance Festival Website ( or calling the TRF office at (800) 458-3435. Tickets must be purchased by Friday, October 20, 2017 to be included on the schedule.
A note on Scheduling:
We have a limited number of slots, due to the limited number of stages. Many directors want to perform in the window between 11:00 and 2:00, usually due to bus constraints. While we know that is an issue, we just cannot get everyone in that three hour window. If you know you have a time constraint, please note that on your registration. Those will be honored in the order registrations are received. We do request that schools which are in our area please be willing to come earlier.