Over the years District III has adopted a number of policies which
help to ensure the smooth running of the District. We have attempted
to make them fair to all. Anyone who would like an explanation of any
of the "whys and wherefores" of the policies found below just needs
to ask someone who has been in the District awhile for an inside view
of the intrigue involved in some of these decisions!
A. Participating in
Festivals
Students must be members in good standing of their school's
respective performing ensembles in order to audition and participate
in District III Festivals. If a school does not have a music program,
a student may audition for District III Festivals as long as the
student, parent, and private teacher understand the guidelines and
policies of each Festival.
Also, if a school does not provide an ensemble at a specific grade
level (i.e. 6th Grade Chorus), that does not preclude the teacher
from nominating students to attend Festivals (i.e. 6th Grade Honors
Festival) appropriate to the age of his/her students.
District III eligibility requirements follow the established MMEA
eligibility requirements for the All-State Festival for our students
at all grade levels. The only one of our Festivals where these
requirements do not apply is the Solo & Ensemble Festival which
is open to students of private teachers as well as those
participating in school programs.
B. Audition Choices
Students must choose only one ensemble (either chorus or band)
when auditioning for the 7th and 8th Grade, High School or Jazz
Honors Festivals. Students must also choose only one instrument or
voice part on which to audition (i.e. not clarinet and bass clarinet,
not tenor and bass) with the exception of percussionists. This also
extends, in spirit, to the nomination process for the 6th Grade
Honors Festival. Students should only be recommended for one
group, either the band or the chorus, not both, by their
teachers. In all cases, we assume that there will be communication
between band and chorus directors at any given school.
C. Late Auditions
Late auditions for District III Honors Festivals will not be
permitted. Exceptions may be granted by the Executive Board. The
Executive Board's decision is final.
Guidelines for Executive Board decisions regarding late
auditions:
Late Auditions will be permitted in cases where the director makes
arrangements prior to the day of auditions. The only exceptions will
be death in the student's family, weather preventing students from
being transported to the auditions or mechanical difficulties
encountered en route to the auditions.
Arrangements will be made for vocal and instrumental judges (one
each) to hear the late auditions at a specified time and site within
5 days of the regular auditions. These judges will declare the
students they hear as fit of unfit for the Honors Festival and these
students will be added at the end of their respective sections.
Specific instances which will be denied the late
audition privilege include, but are not limited to: minor illness,
appointments, vacation, sports conflicts (practice or game),
conflicting rehearsals or performances. All possible efforts will be
made to schedule students with conflicts on the date set for the
auditions at times when they are able to attend.
There will be a late audition charge of $5.00 per student over and
above any fees paid to register for on-time auditions to cover judges
fees.
D. Representation Policy - updated
5/6/08
If, after the Honors Band and Chorus are selected through the
audition process, a school (whose students auditioned for the
festival) is not represented both vocally and instrumentally at the
Festival, the Auditions Chair, Festival Ensemble Managers and Music
Teacher(s) from the school in question will conference with the
intent of finding one suitable student (from among those who had
auditioned) from the unrepresented school to add to each of the
already selected ensembles in which that school was not otherwise
represented.
In the case of a Festival which has more than one choral ensemble, only one student from the unrepresented school needs to be selected to be in one of the choruses. The same would apply at any Festival which has two instrumental ensembles.
The addition of students will be done if and only if it is beneficial to the students and not detrimental to the ensemble.
This policy has also been extended to include the Honors Ensembles
at Festivals which use a nomination process instead of auditions.
E. Payment of Festival
Fees
District III has a "No Pay, No Play" policy. All participation fees
for festivals must be paid in advance in order for a school's
students to participate.
There is a two week deadline before festivals for payment of fees,
which are non-refundable. Hosts will notify directors from
schools that have not paid approximately one week ahead of time so
that the directors have time to make the necessary arrangements.
It is each director's responsibility to ensure that payments are made
by the deadline.
F. Festival Attendance
Students must attend all festival rehearsals in order to participate
in the festival concert. There are no exceptions to this policy. It
is each director's responsibility to ensure that their students are
present at all rehearsals.
It is also each director's responsibility to make sure that his or
her students understand this prior to any absences and to prevent a
student of theirs who has missed some of the rehearsal time from
attending subsequent rehearsals and the concert. Asking a student to
leave a rehearsal after missing a previous one (a.k.a. "kicking the
student out of the Festival") is not something the Ensemble Manager,
the Festival Host or the District Chair have been hired to do. Please
do not let it come to that!
G. Withdrawal from Festival Participation - adopted May 5, 2009
Rationale: Festival withdrawal deadlines are established to give Ensemble Managers sufficient time to replace students who need to withdraw. Penalties are imposed for the lack of pre-planning that creates a situation where there is not enough time to make the necessary contacts, transfer the music and train the replacement student. When that happens, the ensemble suffers because it is lacking one member. The student who would have been the replacement, had adequate notice been given, also suffers because he or she doesn't get the chance to participate in the Festival.
Penalty: Students who withdraw from Festival participation after the established withdrawal deadline will be ineligible to audition for any District III Festival the following year. Exceptions for bona fide family emergencies will be granted. Enforcement is up to each school's music teacher. Teachers are expected to pass on information regarding ineligible students as students progress to the next level. The District Chair is the final arbiter for any disagreements.
Withdrawal Procedure: As soon as a student notifies their own music teacher of a conflict which will prevent their attendance at an Honors Festival, that teacher should contact the Festival Manager for that ensemble to report the withdrawal. The teacher should immediately get the music from the withdrawn student and mail it back to the Manager or to the replacement student's school, if the manager is able to give them that information.
H. Chaperones at
Festivals
All students attending District III Festivals must be chaperoned by a
music director. (If directors make arrangements for another music
director to chaperone their students, that is acceptable. Example:
Directors from 2 small schools with few student attending may share
the responsibility of chaperoning over the course of a 2 day
festival.) Exceptions being cases where a school does not have a
music director and therefore students are chaperoned by a parent.
It is the District's intent that all teachers who have students at
festivals attend those festivals. If that is not possible, the
teacher should contact the District Chair, Secretary or Treasurer at
least two weeks prior to the Festival (as soon as possible in cases
of emergencies) with details of the plan for student supervision.
It is recommended that, especially for auditions, a ratio of 10
students to one adult be adhered to.
I. Student Behavior at
Festivals
No student is allowed to smoke or drink alcoholic beverages at any
festival. Cells phones should not be used for conversing or texting
during festival rehearsals. Students must follow any additional
guidelines for each festival as outlined by the Host. Students who do
not follow these guidelines may be asked to leave the festival and
may face loss of eligibility for future festivals at the discretion
of the District III Executive Board.
J. MMEA Institutional Fee/Festival
Participation fee
The MMEA Institutional Fee for each school system should be paid in
order for a school to participate in District III Festivals. Those
schools who have not paid and cannot furnish an MMEA Institutional
Number on their Festival Registration Forms will be charged an
additional fee of $20.00 for each District III Festival in which they
participate.
K. Music Purchases
In order to obtain a significant discount on our music purchases,
District III approved a 1998 Executive Board policy recommendation
that all music (i.e. that which can't be borrowed) for District III
Honors Festivals (Sixth Grade Honors, 7th & 8th Grade Honors and
High School Honors) be purchased through Perkins Music House. It is
recommended that all managers should plan ahead accordingly to leave
plenty of lead time. Also recommended, as we attempt to smoothly
implement this new policy, was that the managers have conductors
suggest one extra piece to be used if there is any difficulty in
obtaining one of their selections.
The only exception to this would be if participating schools were to include photos of their own students on their own Web Sites and faces of students from other schools were not included.
District III does not authorize audience members or student participants to take photos during Festival rehearsals or Festival concerts. Further, the District assumes no responsibility for unauthorized photos taken by students or audience members that are subsequently shown on YouTube or other Internet venues.