SCVA Festival Host Guide
The success of a festival depends a great deal on how the host plans and
organizes the festival. The following information is a guide to assist the
festival host in planning and running a successful festival.
Prior to the Festival
Make sure your festival date is on the
school master calendar. Check your equipment. Is the piano tuned? Do you have
enough risers? Are your microphones working? Also, check the tape recorder you
have for the judge. Some judges bring their own tape recorder. Spare cassettes are nice to have, in
case something happens to one of your guest group’s cassettes.
Each host will receive a packet from the VP of Festivals containing the
applications of the schools which will be participating, and the Festival Code of Conduct. Each host will receive a packet from
the Executive VP containing notice of adjudicators, adjudication
forms, program covers, adjudication evaluation forms, and adjudicator payment vouchers. Each host will receive a box of
festival plaques directly from the trophy shop, and score calculation instructions will
be included with the plaques.
Instructions and Information for Your Guest Directors
Confirmations have been emailed or phoned
to all directors whose groups have been scheduled. When you receive the
applications of your participating groups, you should send all your guest
directors a letter or email. Be sure you include the following information in
your letter:
- Directors must bring 2 sets of music. Make sure you state that illegal
photocopies are not acceptable.
- Bring one cassette tape for every group they have performing. Explain that
there is one taped, and one written adjudication.
- A map or directions to your school, parking lot and performance area.
- The time your festival begins.
- Request that the director send you the titles of their music, name of the
group and accompanist, for the program. You will need this information prior to
the festival to make the programs.
- Tell the director how many risers you have.
- Ask how many risers the group will need and if there are any special set-up
instructions (extra music stands, mics, etc...).
- Pre-recorded accompaniment tracks may NOT be used in choral festivals. If a
director asks to use them, please decline the request.
- Include a copy of the SCVA Code of
Conduct. Encourage the director to discuss
proper behavior with their choir.
- A reminder that each group is limited to 15 minutes, including moving to and
from the risers.
- Arrangements for warm-up times and places if you would like to include this
feature in your festival. (*This is purely optional. Providing warm up times
and/or rooms is not required for an SCVA festival.)
- Give directors any information about your location that might be helpful to
them: local fast food restaurants, local attractions, parks, etc
- If you know at the time of the letter who your adjudicators are, you can
notify the directors.
Adjudicators
Please communicate with your adjudicators and give them the following info:
your festival starting time, maps, name of the other adjudicator, names of
groups participating, and which adjudicator will be taping and which one will
do written comments. We encourage you to exchange cell phone numbers for
communication on the day of the festival (stuck in traffic, etc).
You will receive a payment voucher for each adjudicator. Please have each adjudicator fill out
the voucher, and sign it. Then the
festival host signs the voucher and mails the vouchers to the treasurer. The treasurer will mail checks to the
adjudicators.
Please have the adjudicators tables set up for judging before the festival
begins. It is helpful to assign a student or parent assistant to each
adjudicator to assist with getting scores in order, getting the tapes started,
etc. Providing bottled water for the adjudicators is always appreciated.
Program
Try to arrange the program so that there
is variety. If two groups are performing the same selection, do not put them
near each other in the program. The program should include:
- Name of the Host School
- Date and Time of the festival
- Name of the School Administrator or school official, if you choose to
have them give a brief welcome.
- Name of each adjudicator
- The name of each school and ensemble, the titles and composer/arranger
of each ensemble’s selections, the name of the director, the name of the
accompanist.
Copy the program on the other side of the SCVA program
covers. Please make enough copies of the
program so that every participating student has their own.
Introduction of Choirs
Please assign 1-2 students to read an
introduction for each choir before the choir begins singing. Each group should
have their name, the directors name and the accompanists name announced, the
number of singers in each grade, whether the group is auditioned, non
auditioned, or partially auditioned, how many years the director has been
teaching, how many years he/she has been in the current position, total
enrollment of the school, number of choral ensembles at the school, and hours
of rehearsal per week (all information located on the middle of the application
form).
For the Festival
You should assign two of your students or
a parent volunteer to assist each guest group and director. They should meet
the directors at their buses and escort them to the performance or warm-up area
(if there is one.) Your student helpers should take the music and cassette
tapes from the directors and place them on the adjudicators’ tables.
A student or parent should assist the adjudicators with the music, forms and
tapes. A parent or math-savvy student is very helpful in working with the score
sheets because the Score Calculation Instructions must be followed accurately
and the ratings applied to the plaques.
Paperwork
The host needs to prepare two large
folders or envelopes for each school. On the envelopes, put the name of the
school, the word “tape” on one of them and also write “grades or comments
only.” If the director selects grades the ensemble will receive letter grades
in the nine areas of adjudication and these grades will be averaged to
determine an overall rating (superior, excellent, good). If the director
selects comments only they will receive comments but no grades or overall
rating. The student or parent host should mark “grades or comments only” after
asking the director his/her preference.
Each adjudicator should receive an envelope for each choir containing the
scores of the pieces being performed and the adjudication form. The cassette
tape for the taping judge should be placed in the envelope as well.
Festival
Start the festival on time. Consider opening with the Pledge of
Allegiance and/or the singing of the National Anthem.
It is nice to get an administrator to welcome the choirs. If that isn’t
possible, the festival host should give a brief welcome, words of encouragement
and reminders of appropriate concert behavior.
If a group arrives late, have them wait outside and usher them in after the
performing group is finished.
Make sure the adjudicators have enough time in between selections to finish
their comments. Some adjudicators prefer to have choirs sing straight through
their program. You will have to wait and see what your adjudicators prefer.
At the conclusion of the festival, each director should receive in the packets:
the original adjudication forms, (make sure that the helpers pull apart the
forms), their music, the cassette tape and one adjudicator evaluation form.
Please DO NOT have an awards ceremony. The policy of SCVA is
for each director to only receive their own scores, no recap sheets or
announcement of ratings is provided.
Send all the carbon copies of judging forms to Chris Hall, the Executive
Vice-President:
Chris Hall
6411 El Pato
Carlsbad, CA 92009
General Festival Policy
All directors participating in SCVA
festivals must be current members of SCVA.
Each director must submit an application and fee for every group participating.
A festival host may take a group to an away festival in addition to
participation in their own. Separate applications and fees must be submitted
for each festival choice.
SCVA policies state that directors may NOT charge an admission fee or sell tickets to audience members at SCVA festivals.
If you have any questions, contact the High School Festivals Vice President at:
Jennifer Stanley
jstanley@emuhsd.k12.ca.us
(626) 258-5292
Contact the Junior High Festivals Vice President at:
Maria Fritts
mfritts@temeculaprep.com
(951) 926-6776
Thank you for taking the time to be a festival host.