Festival+Comments+from+Membership

Please add your comments here from your membership regarding our current festival system and how to improve/change the current structure.

District 11: 1. Keep the current format in place. 2. Reduce the format to a two-tiered system - Districts/States - remove the region-level festival. Promote directly from the district level.

Region 2 (District 2 & 3 - Glenn Cameron and Steve Luxbacher - Presidents) Due to the weather or school limitations, Region II was forced to use different formats for their festivals this season. Below are our variations on the traditional festival setup (Wed - Saturday) for this year.

District 2/3/5 Orchestra - Warren Area (Hotel Festival) Thursday AM arrival - auditions throughout the day - Saturday 1:30 PM Concert

District 2 Chorus - Meadville Area (Host Families - though not all local students were housed) Wednesday 5:30 PM Auditions - Friday Night "At the Movies" - Saturday 1:30 PM Concert District 3 Chorus - Clarion Area (Host Families - though not all local students were housed) Wednesday 6:30 PM Auditions - Concert/Dance Friday night - Saturday 2:00 PM Concert (Traditional D3 Setup - Though had snow delays every morning)

District 2 Jazz - Bradford Area (Host Families) Thursday 5:00 PM arrival - Saturday 1:00 PM Concert District 3 Jazz - North Clarion (Host Families) Thursday 5:00 PM arrival/start - Friday 7:00 PM Concert

District 2 Band - Edinboro University (Hotel Housing) Wednesday snow delay - Thursday AM auditions - Friday 7:00 PM Concert District 3 Band - A-C Valley (Host Families) Wednesday and Thursday Closed due to snow - Friday 9:00 AM start (percussion auditions) - Auditions 3:00 PM (Winds) - Friday 7:00 PM Concert - Saturday 2:00 PM Concert

Western Region Orchestra (Hotel Housing) Wednesday 6:30 PM Auditions - Thursday 7:00 PM Concert (Festival closed day early due to snowstorm) Region II Chorus - Seneca HS (Host Families - though not all local students were housed) Wednesday 5:00 PM Auditions - Thursday Dance - Friday Night Concert - Saturday 2:00 PM Concert Region II Band - Oil City Area (Host Families) Wednesday 5:30 PM Auditions - Friday Banquet (Dinner) & Pictures - Saturday 11:00 AM Concert

While all had their challenges, all were successful in providing our students with a quality musical experience and time for our members to engage in professional development activities.

Glenn R. Cameron, D2:

After seeing the variations... the best format is still the Wednesday through Saturday traditional event. Thursday through Saturday worked almost as well but audition eat up most of rehearsal on Thursday. Wednesday through Friday (my personal favorite - from a family perspective) worked well but the kids were exhausted by concert time followed by a 3+ hour trip home for some of our D2 members from the east. The main problem for D2 is travel distance. No matter where you host an event... some of the members could travel as much as two hours... some events can take 3-4 hours if you host on the outer edges of the district. When the snow delayed District Band at Edinboro University... some of our crew had to depart at 5:00 AM to make it to auditions by 9:00 AM with terrible road conditions. It makes preauditions almost impossible for us.

Steve Luxbacher (District 3):

From our membership: starting on a weeknight works, as we can get the paperwork out of the early, AND it allows us to use the school building without disturbing the classroom environment.