All-State
Thank you again to everyone who contributed to making this year’s All-State Choral Festival a success. This event would not be possible without so many of you being willing to serve. I hope the festival was a wonderful experience for your students and that they brought their enthusiasm back to your choir rooms.
Thank you also to Eric Mathis and Kenny Gannon for their help in hosting us at Samford University again this year. We have loved our years of All-State on their beautiful campus.
Fall Workshop
We had a wonderful time this past year at Huntingdon College and we are so excited to return there this fall! We are also so thrilled to have Dr. Derrick Fox, who conducted the SATB choir at this year’s All-State, return to Alabama as our Fall Workshop clinician. I enjoyed getting to watch Dr. Fox work with our students and I believe he will bring some great insight and motivation to us this fall. Please go ahead and mark your calendars for September 6 and make plans to join us!
In my follow-up email from All-State, I mentioned that we are interested in continuing our mini break-out sessions at Fall Workshop. If you have anything you would like to present or if you have ideas for sessions, please let me know.
AMEA
We will be returning to Montgomery for this year’s AMEA Professional Development Conference. Our guest clinician will be Dr. Tim Seelig who serves as Artistic Direction or the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. Dr. Seelig is also the author of The Perfect Blend, The Perfect Rehearsal, The Perfect Choral Workbook, The Music Within and Quick Fixes. I’m looking forward to hear what Dr. Seelig has in store for us!
Please consider submitting to present a session or to have your choir perform at the conference. The deadline to apply is June 1 and the application may be found on the AMEA website under the “Conference” tab under “Information.” We have continued including recordings of your SCPA performances for you to use for the performance application.
Honor Choir
During this year’s AMEA Professional Development Conference, we will have our Honor Choir Festival for 10th-12th grade students. Dr. Deanna Joseph from the Georgia State School of Music will be joining us as our clinician. Instead of selecting students based on district screenings on the Honor Choir music, students will be selected on their sight-reading ability, as this year’s choir will be a sight-reading choir. Directors may nominate up to two balanced quartets consisting of their best sight-readers.
ASSC
Thank you so much to you all for your input and thoughtful consideration about the future of All-State Show Choir. At All-State, the membership voted to remove the requirement that ASSC students participate in the All-State Choral Festival. We will continue to evaluate the purpose and effectiveness of this event in the future. Thank you to Jane Powell who has graciously served as our Show Choir Coordinator for numerous years. We are so very grateful to her and her efforts in making ASSC a meaningful and memorable experience for our students! For 2020, Ginny Coleman will be assuming the role of Show Choir Coordinator. Please contact Ginny if you would like to assist or serve in any capacity with the ASSC festival.
Summer Board
This year’s Summer Board meeting will be held on June 3-5. If you have feedback or any items you would like me to add to our agenda for discussion and review during our meeting, please provide that to me through written feedback prior to June 1. You may do that by emailing me at presidentofava@gmail.com or by completing the membership survey that was sent out during and after All-State.
I hope you all have a wonderful summer and are able to find some time to reflect on this school year and to rest and refocus for this coming fall. If I can be of help to you in any way, please let me know.
I look forward to seeing you all at Fall Workshop!
Meg
