I hope this article finds everyone rejuvenated from a relaxing break and a great winter conference. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of our clinicians and sponsors for making the 2008 Bay Section Winter Conference a great success. Andy Collinsworth did a tremendous job directing the Junior High School Conference Band, Cort McClaren’s percussion session was filled with useful practical knowledge for the every day rehearsal, and Dr. Gillingham’s sessions on his music were so insightful and valuable. Larry Colon, Kellie Bowman, and Beth Dameron did a spectacular job managing the Jr. High Conference Band. Their dedication and service to Bay Section should be a model for all of us. I would like to give a special thanks to our repertoire panel (Bob Athayde, Norm Dea, Dr. Edward Harris, John Burn, and Paul Perazzo) for donating their time and sharing their wealth of knowledge and experience. And last but not least, thanks to Scott Grady and our friends at JW Pepper for providing all of the music for the ensembles and for bringing Dr. Gillingham to the conference.

As festival season is fast approaching I encourage you to try and incorporate some of the repertoire advice and suggestions our panel had. I know many of you received the handouts at the conference but for those of you who could not attend, they can be found on our bay section website. Remember to try and incorporate a “masterwork” in your program if at all possible.

Band Festival Information
Festival season is once again upon us, and with band festivals soon approaching here are a few items:

• Stay within your 25 minute time slot. This time includes set-up, your performance, and exiting the stage area.
• Program appropriately. Pops music/show tunes are not appropriate to bring to festival. When programming, try to select music that suits the level and strengths of your ensemble. Far too often I feel we over program when going to festival and directors feel, the harder the music, the higher the rating. Please, I ask of you, do not fall into this pitfall. If you are going to perform a rather lengthy and demanding work, it is perfectly okay to program a little lighter around it.
• Don’t feel you have to perform three or four compositions. Two to three works depending on the length of the compositions is perfectly suitable and is appreciated by the adjudicators.

Sight Reading

• We will once again be using the University Interscholastic League (UIL) sight reading music for band festivals. The folder will include a 1, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, and 4 from the UIL series.
• The folder will also include a grade 5 level sight reading piece that is not UIL music.
• Please Note: All of the music grade levels are for sight reading. They are not the performance level!

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions in regard to band festivals or if you have an idea for a session at next year’s winter conference. I hope to see all of you at the state conference in Sacramento March 13-15. Best wishes to all for a successful semester!