From Tom McVicker,

Hi folks,

Hope all is well with each of you and you are making good progress with your students/groups as we approach a busy time of the year.  I’m back hosting the event again and happy to do it!  Thanks to all those that helped out the past few years!   OK…..here we go!

PLEASE READ ENTIRE E-MAIL (and save in a file for future reference if needed)

This is the first of many e-mails I will be sending you regarding this year’s OMEA/WMEA (Olympic Region Music Educators Association of Washington Music Educators Association) 9th-12th grade Vocal Solo & Ensemble Contest. There are few state rule changes this year (2014) to our event but most of this should run like it has the past few years.  One of the big changes in the vocal area is in the Mezzo Soprano category.  This year (state wide) there will only be ONE Mezzo soprano winner, 1st alternate, and 2nd alternate (not doubled as in years past).  There are few other rule changes (see attachment).  Please be sure to read ALL the rules so that you are familiar with what is expected of you and your students.  It will save you,  your students/parents, and ME both stress and disappointment down the road if you are prepared and knowledgeable upfront about the rules and qualifying for state.  Please let me know right now if there is something you don’t understand. 

Here is the basic information that you need to know right now:

• Date:  February 8 , 2013 – Saturday

• Location:  Olympic High School, 7070 Stampede Blvd NW, Bremerton, WA  98311

• Local Chair Person:  Tom McVicker, Choral Director, Olympic High School, 360-662-2811 or tommc@cksd.wednet.edu

• WMEA Chair Person:  Allison George, WMEA S&E Regional Coordinator, (425) 204-2562 or allison/george@rentonschools.us

• Participants:  9th through 12 grade vocal students

• Categories - Solos:  Soprano, Mezzo Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone, Bass

• Categories – Ensembles:  Small and Large -  Mixed, Women’s, and Men’s (please see WMEA S&E registration website if you need specific numerical breakdown of these groups)

• Performance Times:  Each solo/group will have a ten minute performance timeslot

• Entry Fees:  Solo - $18.00 ($36.00 if purchasing a “double” time slot).  Ensembles - $28.00 (no per capita fee)

• Basic qualifications:  Your school must be a current (this school  year) member of WIAA and students participating must be in one of your respective choral groups

• Accompanists:  Limit to 13 total events one single accompanist can play for.  If you share an accompanist with another school PLEASE make sure that accompanist is not playing for more than 13 students TOTAL.

• Only School Choir Directors can register students and accompanists – nobody else (no parents, students, voice teachers, accompanist, etc.).  You do not need to be a member of WMEA to register your students for this event.

Now, for the “other” stuff. As in the past few years, WMEA has been running a pilot program for all of the schools/regions that were in the old WCDIII (West Central District 3).  WMEA will be overseeing many aspects of our event along with paying for the majority of our operational costs.  I will still set-up and run the “day of” event here at Olympic HS.  What does this mean for you on your end of things…here are a few items to remember:  

• WMEA will handle the selection/hiring of all judges. Allison George has been doing this for us and will do it again.  She hires many adjudicators for many regional festivals on the west side of the state and has a large data base of qualified people to hire.

• You will register your students online at the WMEA site as you have in the past and  Allison George (WMEA S&E Regional Coordinator) will be responsible for generating the schedule based upon the information you will have entered.  For those of you that wait till the last minute or have called me in the past to ask if people can be moved around for various reasons, I seriously doubt this “flexibility” will be available so plan ahead now with your participants.  The registration for our contest is  officially open  as of now. You may begin to enter participants.  Please note, you will need to go to the WMEA website.  Please see the attached “tutorial” on how to register yourself and your students.   Registration will “officially” close on Wednesday, January 8, 2014.

• All payments/fees for the contest will be sent to WMEA (specific person/address will be present once you being to register your students). Remember, payments or PO’s will have to be in Allison’s hands prior to the contest. Plan ahead if it takes a while for you to generate a check or PO.  You may pay via a school PO or check, OR a booster check. 

We are all busy this time of the year, I know that, but please begin now to gather your S&E student information so that you can have it ready to register at the latest before you leave for Holiday Break in December (preferably earlier).  ALSO, please remember that once you have locked in the students  that will be doing solos and ensembles, that you start to generate your PO/Check (if you are using a school generated source to pay for this). 

Please let me know if you have any questions and I will be happy to do what I can.  If I can’t answer it, I will check with Allison or have you contact her directly but start with me first.  Also, if you can, could you look at the list of participating schools below (and or the names in the “TO” box of this e-mail) to make sure I have not forgotten anyone in your district that teaches 9th-12th grade vocal students.  I know we have had some changes in various district since last year.  I do not have a master list from each district to draw from so I need your eyes on this one to help me out.

Participating Schools/Teachers

• Bainbridge Island SD: Bainbridge Island High School:  Debbie Hill

• Bremerton SD:

  • Bremerton High School:  Wendy McPhetres

  • Mountain View Middle School:  Caresse Robertson

• Central Kitsap SD:

  • Central Kitsap Junior High School:  Charles Platten

  • Fairview Junior High School:  Tom McVicker

  • Central Kitsap High School:  Alicia Rodenko

  • Klahowya Secondary School:  Jackie Levenseller

  • Olympic High School:  Tom McVicker

• North Kitsap SD:

  • Kingston High School:  Marcia Smith

  • North Kitsap High School:  Sylvia Cauter

• North Mason SD: North Mason High School:  Chris Drewry

• South Kitsap SD:

  • Cedar Heights Junior High:  Angela Dilley

  • Marcus Whitman Junior High:  Michael Koontz

  • John Sedgwick Junior High:  Donell Nathan

  • South Kitsap High School:  Mike Allen

Thanks for taking the time to make it through this long (but hopefully helpful) e-mail!  I will be sending you the second e-mail very soon so stay tuned.  As always, let me know if you have any questions and thanks for providing your students with this wonderful opportunity!

Here is a link to the main page of the WMEA website:  http://www.wmea.org/

Tom McVicker

Choir Director

Olympic High School