The Solo Ensemble Festivals are upon us! Students all over the Bay Area are planning for this very special day. Following some basic guidelines will make these Festivals run more smoothly for both Directors and Student Musicians. So, here are a few hints for making this a positive experience for all:
Solo Ensemble Tips for Directors

Print out your schedule immediately and send it home with your students. The earlier they can get the event time listed on their calendar, the less likely they will have a conflict.

• You may request a change of times within your schedule for your students as long as the categories are the same.
• Gather all the corrections that you will get from your students: name changes, spelling errors, etc., and send them to your Festival Site host as soon as possible.
• No changes will be made the week before a festival. Cancellations however, are welcomed.
• Directors looking for late additions, may contact hosts for availability of space and Late Registration Forms.

Solo Ensemble Tips for Students

• This is a dressy occasion, wear uniforms or dress nicely.
• Play art music, preferably not longer than 5 minutes so there is time for the adjudicator to give you feedback.
• Each person in an ensemble must have their own part. Doubling is not permitted.
• Practice standing and performing in front of an audience, introducing yourselves and your musical selection.
• Accompanists are preferred but not required. Your performance will be more musical if the accompaniment is played. Electronic accompaniments are not permitted.
• Solos do not need to be memorized, but it is more impressive if they are.
• Have money to purchase your medals and snacks.
• Have an original score to hand to the adjudicator before you play.
• Check in at the Festival Registration Desk, 30 minutes before you perform.

John Adams’ 200 year old dream is realized! In this day, there are so many of our nation’s young people free to study music and arts, it is inspiring. Our forefathers brought us more than freedom from oppression, they brought to us freedom to expand our knowledge and enrich our lives, as well as those of our students.

One enrichment to your music program, is the opportunity to involve your students in the Solo Ensemble Festivals. It is time before the December 21, 2007 deadline date to discuss with your students the opportunity brought to them by the Solo Ensemble Festivals in late February and March. There is no better way to give your high music achievers a goal to learn on their own, improve their skills, as well as inprove their leadership abilities, than to involve them in the Solo Ensemble festivals.

This year we have many Festivals in differing Areas, on February 29, March 1, 8, 22, and 29. You are welcome to register students in any Festival that meets their needs.

There are a few regulations that you need to be sure your students understand as they begin making their partner and music selections.

1. Art music, as opposed to Jazz or Pop, must be performed.
2. Solos are not required to be accompanied, but those that are will be more musical in
   presentation and will be more likely to obtain the ‘sought for’ scoring.
3. Solos are not required to be memorized, but are more impressive if they are performed from memory.
4. Each instrumental ensemble member must have their own part. No parts can be doubled. Ex: four students cannot play a duet. They could be entered twice as two separate duets and each play the same duet, but they cannot double.
5. Vocal ensembles may have up to three singers on a part, but no more than three.
6. No electronic devices are to be used at all.
7. No conductors can be used except for large percussion ensembles.
8. Duets and ensembles must be composed of students from the same school.

Directors, get your budding artists registered on solochair.com for this inspiring experience. It will be a day for their memory books.

Registration is found at solochair.com. If you are not familiar with this site and need any help, be sure to contact me for assistance. It is of the utmost importance that your students have this opportunity. To this goal, I am at your service.

Welcome back from what, I hope, was a truly relaxing summer for you all! Last year was a great one for our Bay Section Solo Ensemble Festivals. Responses from our directors were quite positive with a few suggestions for improvement. Our goal for this year can be summarized in the words of world class soccer player Mia Hamm: “...celebrate your successes...and then raise the bar a little higher!”

Our music students realize the importance of our Solo Ensemble Festivals, using them to advance their skills as they strive for improvement. Th us we continue with dedication to making the festivals positive, useful experiences for our young musicians. With this in mind, please feel free to send me any suggestions you may have that can be incorporated into this planning and preparation time.

We will continue with online registration for Solo Ensemble Festivals at: www.Solochair. com. Many of you sent me great suggestions for improving this process and I have incorporated many of them into the site this year. Th ank you for the watchful eyes. If you are new to CMEA, please go to Solochair. com and “Create an Account” for yourself, so you can register your groups. If you have any problems with online registration, please contact me for assistance.

Registration for Solo Ensemble will be closed on December 22. We found last year that several directors needed a bit more time to get their students organized, so we are extending the date three weeks longer. I believe that this diff ers from large group registration. Th e best policy would be to register for all festivals as early as possible to insure you are able to arrange your calendars to meet your student’s needs.

We discovered last year that a few directors, who were forgetting to pay the fees on time, caused some problems for CMEA Bay Section both financially and organizationally. Therefore, I ask that directors be diligent about printing out the invoices and getting their payments sent to the Treasurer as stated on the invoices in a prompt manner. Registration is not automatically deleted if the payment is late, but I will be contacting directors with email reminders of late payments. Depending on the responses I receive from directors, I will then determine what will be done by way of deletion. So, please be speedy with those invoices to the treasurer.

Have a wonderfully musical year!