DISTRICT I JUNIOR LEVEL INFORMATION

JUNIOR LEVEL AUDITION/FESTIVAL INFORMATION

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Junior Auditions (band/chorus/orchestra/jazz):  October 3, 2009 at Liberty Junior High School, New Lenox, IL

Nomination Deadline:  September 16, 2009

Audition Fee:  $7.00 per audition

IMPORTANT:  When registering your students for auditions, please select "AM", "PM" or "No Preference".  "AM" time slots will be 9:00 am-12:00 pm.  "PM" time slots will be 12:00-4:00 pm.  Every effort will be made to honor requests.  However, we make no guarantees.

Junior Band/Chorus/Orchestra Festival (and JEM Activities)

Saturday, November 7, 2009 at Lincoln-Way North High School, Frankfort, IL

Junior Jazz Festival:  Saturday, November 14, 2009 at West Leyden High School, Franklin Park

Junior Festival Chairs:  Jennifer Venutolo – jvenutolo@nlsd122.org and Jennifer Clark – jclark@nlsd122.org

Junior Band

Representative: Jim Colombo – colomboj@district96.org

Audition Materials:  All Junior Directors should have received this information via U.S. Mail.  If you have not received your packet, contact Jim Colombo or Jen Venutolo at the contact information above. 

IMPORTANT NOTE:  The scale sheets used will be the official IMEA scale sheet found on the IMEA website (www.ilmea.org – Division Information).  This should replace any scale sheet that was in your mailed packet.  Students will not perform a chromatic scale.  Also, please note that there is no mallet scale sheet.  Mallet players shoud use the oboe scale sheet for auditions.

Festival Conductor:  Stacy Larson, VanderCook College

Festival Repertoire:

Royal Salute  - Philip Sparke

Dublin Dances - Jan Van der Roost

On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss - David Holsinger

Abracadabra - Frank Tiche

Junior Chorus

Representative:  Carolyn Dobrinich - cmdobrinich@gmail.com

Audition Material: All Junior Directors should have received this information via U.S. Mail.  If you have not received your packet, contact Carolyn Dobrinich or Jen Venutolo at the contact information above.

2009 Audition Process

The 2009 auditions process will consist of four areas, and as per our fall meeting, there are two rooms for the soprano and alto auditionees. This is to keep the scores consistent and fair. Tenor/basses will complete their entire audition in one room for one judge. Sopranos and altos will complete the patriotic and musicianship questions portions in one room, then continue to the next room to complete the festival music selections. The four areas of the audition are as follows:

1)  Prepared Selection I – Patriotic Pieces

Students will have a copy of the selection in their audition room.  For this prepared selection, a starting pitch will be given, as well as the tonic chord, followed by a repetition of the starting pitch.  The student will then sing the selection a cappella.  Students will be evaluated on tone, pitch accuracy, rhythm, and diction.  This portion of the audition is worth 20 points.     Sopranos will sing, “America the Beautiful” in the key of C Major.     Altos will sing “America the Beautiful” in the key of B-flat Major.     Tenors will sing “America” (My country ‘tis of thee) in the key of G Major.     Basses will sing “America” (My country ‘tis of thee) in the key of E-flat Major.

2)  Musicianship Questions

Each student will be asked two questions based on the markings in “Festival Sanctus” and “Danny Boy”.  The questions may cover (but are not limited to) dynamic markings, phrase markings, tempo markings, key signature, note values and so forth.  Each question is worth 4 points making this section worth a total of 8 points.  The questions used in 2008 are listed below as a guideline for the types of questions that may be asked.

3)  Prepared Selection II – Festival Music

As per the fall meeting, there are two audition selections. Each student will sing a portion of the following pieces: “Festival Sanctus” (John Leavitt) and “Danny Boy” (Brad Printz). Students will know ahead of time what possible audition sections will be from the music,; this information is listed below.  Like last year, the singer will receive instructions from the recording, and then hear the starting pitch followed by a four beat tick. Once the piano accompaniment has begun, the judge will visually cue the singer to begin and the student will then sing along with the piano accompaniment from the recording. The students are again judged on tone, rhythm, pitch accuracy, and diction. Please note that the specific section chosen for the audition will not be announced until that day, so it is extremely important for the students to learn both pieces in their entirety. Also, note that the tempo for the recorded accompaniment will be the exact tempo marking on the first page of the piece of music. This portion of the audition is worth 40 points.

4)  Overall Tone Quality

The students will be evaluated on their overall tone quality throughout the auditions process.  This is worth a total of 20 points.

2008 Musicianship Questions

1. Look at measure 3. What is the dynamic marking and what does it mean?

     The marking is "f" or "forte" which means "loud"

2. At the bottom of page 7 beginning in measure 47, for how many beats do all the voices hold the note while singing "light"?

     Seven beats

3. On page 5 in measure 19, what is the tempo marking and what does it mean?

     The tempo is "allegro" and it means "quick" or "fast"

4. At the bottom of page 7 in measure 50, what is the symbol over the rest and what does it mean?

     It is a fermata and it means to hold the note or rest for longer than its usual value

5. In measure 14 on page 4, what is the dynamic marking and what does it mean?

     The dynamic marking is "mp" or "mezzopiano" which means "medium soft"

6. What key signature is "Hail to Thee" written in?

     The key of C Major

7. What is the time signature or meter at the beginning of this piece?

     4/4 or Common Time (4 beats per measure and the quarter note gets one beat)

2009 AUDITION SECTIONS

Danny Boy

Section A: m. 8 - 16 (piano starts at m. 6)

Section B: m. 17 - 25 (piano starts at m. 16)

Section C: m. 26 - beat 2 of m. 34 (piano starts at m. 25)

Section D: and of beat 3 of m. 34 - beat 3 m. 41 (piano starts at m. 33)

Section E: and of beat 3 of m. 41 - end (piano starts at m. 40)

Festival Sanctus

Section A: m. 2-23 (pages 2, 3, 4) piano starts at m.1

Section B: m. 24-43 (pages 5, 6, 7) piano starts at m. 22

           Section C: m. 47-62, 24-33 (pages 8, 9, 5) piano starts at m. 45

Section D: m. 24-33, 63-end (pages 5, 10, 11) piano starts at m. 22

Festival Conductor:   Joe Grant, University of Illinois

Festival Accompanist:  William Buhr, College of DuPage

Festival Repertoire:

Festival Sanctus - John Leavitt, SAB - Alfred 28657 - JW Pepper # 10047611

Danny Boy - Brad Printz, 3-part mixed - Heritage Choral Series 1910H - JW Pepper # 3301162

Gabi, Gabi - South African Praise Song, SAB arr. William C. Powell - Hal Leonard 08703357 - JW Pepper # 3299321

Down to the River to Pray - SAB arr. Sheldon Curry - Daybreak/Hal Leonard 08743589 - JW Pepper # 8064007

Follow the Drinking Gourd - SAB arr. John Horman - Somerset Press SP 782 - JW Pepper # 1568419

Junior Orchestra

Representative:  Melissa Schoonover – mschoonover@joliet86.org

Audition Material: All Junior Directors should have received this information via U.S. Mail.  If you have not received your packet, contact Melissa Schoonover or Jen Venutolo at the contact information above.

Audition Procedures:

Students are to prepare The IMEA Scale Sheet as well as the excerpts from the four selections to be performed at the festival.  On the day of the auditions, judges will inform the students which 2 scales and 2 excerpts they will perform for the audition.  Remember that violinists will audition in 2 rooms.   They will play excerpts in one room and then proceed to the next room to play their scales.  Cello and bass players should make sure to bring their rock stops so that we do not damage the floors of the host school.

Additional Junior Orchestra Information:

Remember that at the meeting last fall, the jr. orchestra division decided to not list seating on the music given to the selected orchestra members.  Seating will be given when students arrive at the festival.  When there are divsi parts in the repertoire, students will be notified if they will be an inside or outside player.  The exception to this is that 1st and 2nd chair players of each section will be notified of their seat.  When there are solos in a part, both first and second chair players should prepare the solo so that if the 1st chair player is ill, the second chair player will be ready to step up to the part.

Festival Conductor:  Joanne May, Glenbard East High School

Festival Repertoire:

Hopak (from The Fair at Sorochinsk) - Modest Moussorgsky, arr. Merle J. Isaac

Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 (First Movement - Abridged) - J.S. Bach, arr. Merle J. Isaac

Round Dance from the Ballet The Firebird - Igor Stravinsky, arr. Lauren Keiser

Dumfries Place - arr. Robert D. McCashin

Junior Jazz

Representative:  Jayme Barnard – jbarnard@op97.org

Audition Material: All Junior Directors should have received this information via U.S. Mail.  If you have not received your packet, contact Jayme Barnard or Jen Venutolo at the contact information above.

Festival Conductors: Melody Balicki and Mark Fletcher

Festival Repertoire:

Melody Balicki Band:

Groovin' Hard arr. Peter Blair (IMEA Library)

Moanin' arr. Michael Sweeney (Hickory Creek MS - Dana Shoemaker) Hal Leonard #07470645 $35.00

On Green Dolphin Street arr. Frank Mantooth (Oak Prairie JHS- Bill Rank) Hal Leonard #JEM04022C  $45.00

Say What? arr. Victor Lopez (Oak Praire JHS) Belwin/Hal Leonard #JEM03039C   $40.00

Mark Bettcher Band:

Flight of the Foo Birds arr. Roy Phillipe (Gwendolyn Brooks/Oak Park - Jayme Barnard) Alfred # 268565  $38

Smack Dab in the Middle arr. Sammy Nestico (Oak Prairie JHS) Kendor # 2605

La Negra Tiene Tumbao arr. Victor Lopez (Gwendolyn Brooks/Oak Park) Warner Bros. #JEM03017C  $50

Birdland arr. Michael Sweeney (IMEA Library)