HIGH SCHOOL CHOIR:  

 

2008-09 ROSTER  ----> HS Choir<----

Audition date for  District and State Honor Choirs: November 8, 2008 at Chanute High School

Performance date for Honor Choir: December 6, 2008 at Labette County High School (Altamont). Clinician will be Connie Donatelli (Cowley County Community College)

 

ATTENTION CHOIR DIRECTORS!!! - from the State Choral Chair:

"Danny Boy" printing errors have been discovered as follows:

  1. Soprano 1 on page 6, m. 26, should sing a "C" after the fermata (as in the piano
    reduction), and Soprano 2 sings the "A".  The "C" is omitted in the vocal parts.

  2. Alto on page 6, m. 28, last note should be an "E" (as in the piano reduction),
    not the "F" that is printed (or recorded on the audition tape).
     

Dear SEKS Choir Directors,

 

I’m pleased to be serving as our district choral chair.  This letter is to inform you of all the procedures for KMEA High School Choral Events for 2008-2009.

 

To start, I would like to have an up-to-date email list for all high school choral directors in the district.  If you would ALL start by sending me an email that includes your Name/School/Email, I will put one together.  My email is cshaw@usd386.org.  If questions arise that cannot be answered in this letter, e-mail is the best way to communicate.  My phone number at Madison High is 620-437-2909.  Since I teach K-12 Vocal Music I’m between schools throughout the day, so the best time to catch me at the High School is 3:30 PM. 
 

About SEKS District and State Choir

The purpose of District and State honor choirs is to provide talented and motivated HS singers a quality choral experience that brings students together from a wide area uniting to make music. All choral students, freshman through senior, are eligible to audition for the SEKS District Choir.  ONLY students in grades 10-12 are eligible to audition for State Choir.  We will hold one audition date for both District and State – Saturday, November 8 at Chanute High School.

 

District Choir:  This selected group will perform in Altamont on Saturday, December 6, along with the other honor groups. Results of district auditions will be known at the end of the audition day and will also be posted on our district website as soon as they are available.

 

State Choir:  Each of the 6 KMEA districts in the state have a certain number of spots in the State Choir, which, once chosen, will rehearse and perform at the KMEA State Convention in Wichita in February. Results of state auditions will not be finalized and posted until late December. The entire repertoire for the State Choir is listed on the state web site: http://www.ksmea.org/programs/festivalgroups/hschoir/repertoire09.php

 

Audition Selections:

NEW this year, students auditioning for the District and/or State Choir will ALL use the same three selections.  These selections are:

 

O Sacrum Convivium – Thomas Tallis/Crosier – Ionain Arts

Danny Boy – Roger Wagner - Lawson-Gould, 52599

Pilgrims Hymn – SSAATTBB version - Stephen Paulus - Paulus Publications

 

ATTENTION CHOIR DIRECTORS!!! - from the State Choral Chair:

"Danny Boy" printing errors have been discovered as follows:

  1. Soprano 1 on page 6, m. 26, should sing a "C" after the fermata (as in the piano
    reduction), and Soprano 2 sings the "A".  The "C" is omitted in the vocal parts.

  2. Alto on page 6, m. 28, last note should be an "E" (as in the piano reduction),
    not the "F" that is printed (or recorded on the audition tape).

Excerpts from the three selections will not be announced until the week of auditions.  When the excerpts become available, I will email them to everyone on my email list.  They will NOT be posted on the website to protect the districts that don’t announce the excerpts until the day of auditions. 

 


The State Learning CD

Audition excerpts for State and District choir auditions will be selected from the state learning CD, which is available for $10 from Pratt Community College Audio Tech. An order form is available on the State website: http://www.ksmea.org/programs/festivalgroups/hschoir/practicecd.php

All 3 audition excerpts used will be taken directly from the state learning CD, so it is highly recommended that you get a copy, if you haven’t already. It is a great tool for helping your students learn the songs and prepare for the audition.

 

Audition Applications

One application is used for both District and State choirs, and is available online.

Go to the state web site, www.ksmea.org, follow the links to the online registration form and then follow the instructions.  Be sure to fill out an application for every student that will audition for either district or state choir.

APPLICATION DEADLINE:  FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17TH


Audition Procedures

When you arrive at Chanute High School, you will register all of your students to audition. The fee for auditions is $4 per student and needs to be paid before November 8. Make checks payable to SEKMEA District and send them to District President Gary McCarty.   The payment should be sent in with the FEES FORM found on the district website.  He will be at the registration desk the morning of auditions.  At registration, each student will be assigned a number, which cannot change. Students will proceed to the choir warm-up area to warm up. They will then have a chance to rehearse all three excerpts with some volunteer directors before auditions begin. After the warm-up/rehearsal, students will need to find their audition room. Auditions will be done in numerical order. The audition CD will be played for each student, individually, with their part missing. Each student will sing his/her part with the CD. There will be a panel of judges behind a screen. If you have a specific request for an early audition time, let me know by October 25; otherwise, I may not be able to accommodate you. Please do not ask for everyone in your school to go first – that is not possible for obvious reasons, and all of us must share the auditioning and waiting time in order for the day to work.

 

If you have a student who is involved in a KSHSAA activity on the day of auditions – they may audition with the same material on tape in Madison on Friday evening November 7. If you have a student in this situation, please contact me.

 

DON’T ARRIVE LATE – PLAN TO BE AT CHANUTE HIGH SCHOOL EARLY ENOUGH TO REGISTER AND HAVE YOUR STUDENTS IN THE GROUP WARM-UP AREA BY 8:30AM SO THEY HAVE A CHANCE FOR A GOOD WARMUP.

8:30 - 8: 45 registration

8:30 - choral warm-ups

9:00 - director meeting

9:30 - auditions begin

 

Southeast KMEA District Mini-Convention

Students who are selected to the District Choir will attend the mini-convention in Altamont on Saturday, December 6. The District Choir will register at 8:30 AM and rehearse the entire day, with an afternoon concert. The registration fee for each singer is $5.   Make checks payable to SE KMEA District and send them to District President Gary McCarty.  Participation during that day is a requirement for membership in the State Choir.  Any student who does not participate at SEKS mini-convention cannot be in the State Choir in February. If your student is chosen for the State Choir, information will be sent from the State Choir chair to your student’s home address.

 

Clinician: Connie Donatelli, Director of Choral Activities, Cowley County CC

Connie Donatelli has been a very active vocal music educator in the state of Kansas for more than 21 years, including 14 years at Cowley College.  The Cowley Concert Choir received one of the state’s highest awards by being selected to perform in the Kansas Music Educators Association (KMEA) annual convention at Century II in Wichita, Kansas in 2002 and again in 2005.  Another highlight in Donatelli’s career at Cowley was the April 2002 Concert Choir performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City.  Before coming to Cowley, she taught elementary vocal music at Holton, and middle and high school vocal music at Remington, Circle and Winfield unified school districts.  Her groups have performed for many other statewide organizations as well as being the featured guests at several National Conventions.  She is often asked to judge vocal contests and has been a featured guest director for various high school vocal festivals as well as the Southwest KMEA, South Central KMEA and the North Central KMEA District Honor Choirs.  Donatelli is also highly respected by her colleagues at Cowley as she was named the college’s third Endowed Chair for Teaching Excellence and Student Learning.  In 1994, she was presented a Master Teacher Award.  Her professional quality performance groups are highly sought after and serve as Cowley’s finest ambassadors.  Her passion and trademark enthusiasm is an inspiration and generates an electric atmosphere that is contagious in the classroom as well as to concert audiences.  She is a graduate of Kansas State University where she received both a bachelor of science degree in Music Education, and a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance.

 

Program for the SEKS District Honor Choir:

1. "Gloria" - SATB - Hadyn/edited P. Liebergen

2. "O Sacrum Convivium" - SSATB – Tallis – Audition Piece

3. "Danny Boy" – Audition Piece

4. "Turn The World Around" - SATB - arr. Larry Farrow

5. "It's the Most Wonderful time of the Year - SATB - arr. H. Ades

 

Links to:

November Audition and Fees Form

December Fees Form (for those who perform in the District Honor Choir)