Valley Orchestra Clinic

Hello Directors!

The time has come: 2026 Valley Orchestra Clinic Registration is OPEN!

Due December 21, 2025

Who can participate: 7th-12th grade orchestras. Directors may choose to bring more than one ensemble, and discounts may be provided for multiple ensembles within a school.

Cost: $200 for the first ensemble, $150 for each additional ensemble from that school. An invoice will be sent after the final schedule is created.

Format: Valley Orchestra Clinic (VOC) is designed to meet the needs of a variety of ensembles and is focused on the educational process of applying critique in order to improve as musicians. Directors may choose to receive a private score for their performance or perform for comments only.

Ensembles will be assigned up to 40 minutes of warm-up time and 40 minutes of performance + clinic time. Directors may choose the amount and style of music they wish to perform, knowing that they have approximately 40 minutes for both the performance and clinic combined. During the performance string specialists will record written and/or verbal comments, and the performance will flow directly into the clinic with string specialists.

Before and/or after the assigned time,  we encourage ensembles to watch other schools perform and receive clinics.

Where: VOC will take place in our beautiful Staplin Performing Arts Center at Valley High School in West Des Moines. Our facility allows for the performance and clinic to be video and audio recorded, and those archival recordings will be given to the director.

When: Wednesday, Feb 25 - Friday, Feb 27, 2026. Times will be available during and after the school day.

Please feel free to share this registration with any directors who may have missed it. In the event of capacity issues, ensembles will be accepted to this clinic based on the date they completed their registration.

Any questions, comments, or concerns? Contact Joyce Payer at payerj@wdmcs.org