AVA: End-of-the-Year Wrap-up

Ginny Coleman

ALL-STATE
It was so nice to see many of you at the All-State festival in March. I appreciate those who served as concert coordinator, choir coordinator, attendance monitor, or in any other capacity to be sure that everything ran smoothly. I think that the students enjoyed their interaction with the conductors of the various choirs. I was also pleased with the final performances.
We appreciate Samford University for once again hosting All-State. Kenny Gannon, Brian Ernsberger and their staff were welcoming and helpful. We look forward to being back in 2018.

AMEA SUBMISSIONS
I hope that the recordings you received from SCPA were helpful to you this year. One of the reasons we decided to record each choir is so that you would have a high-quality recording in the event you decided to submit to perform at AMEA. If you are considering this, please know that the deadline is June 1. You can find instructions on the AMEA website. In addition, please consider submitting to present a session if you have something of value to share. We are always looking for new ideas!

SUMMER BOARD
The AVA Executive Board will meet for our summer board meeting at the beginning of June. If you have any ideas or suggestions that you would like the board to consider during our meeting, please submit in writing before the end of May. We want to hear your ideas and suggestions for improvement.

FALL WORKSHOP
Please go ahead and mark your calendars for the 2017 AVA Fall Workshop! As always, the workshop will be held on the Friday after Labor Day, which is September the 8th. We will meet in Montgomery again so that our colleagues in the north and south of the state can all save a hotel night if needed.

COMMUNICATION
This year we have made an effort to provide the AVA membership with increased instruction and reminders about registration deadlines, etc. We occasionally get questions about where to find information. You should expect information for all AVA events to be available on our website. For example, if you are attending an SCPA in another district you should be able to get all information concerning the event you are attending from the AVA website. Let your district chairman know if you have difficulty accessing anything.

The AVA Board is continually striving to 1) maintain adherence to our mission statement and 2) improve our functionality. Along those lines, we have begun discussion about the following:

  • Streamlining the All-State audition process using available recording technology rather than sending five judges on a tour around the state
  • Modifying the sight-reading portion of SCPA to allow directors to choose an appropriate sight- reading example for their students, based on student ability
  • The future of All-State Show Choir and how it fits into the structure of AVA

We are interested in thoughtful, written feedback in the form of an email to me or anyone else on the AVA Board. Please let us know if you have anything you would like to add to the conversation. Your thoughts are welcome and appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to read about your professional association. Please send questions, suggestions, or ideas to me at presidentofava@gmail.com.

I am looking forward to seeing you in September!

Ginny