Papillion La Vista South Show Choirs

2023 Show Choir Handbook.pdf

2023 Show Choir Handbook.pdf
Size : 198.98 Kb
Type : pdf

Dear Students and Parents,

Directors hate this time of year, because they know before the list is taped to the choir room door and the emails are sent out, that hearts are about to be broken.

They know the phone calls will begin, saying "but there must be a mistake". They know that puffy-eyed students who feel rejected will be showing up at their door. And they know that angry emails with ridiculous and false allegations will start flooding their inbox with a matter of hours. Yup, directors hate this time of year.

Today, my hope is to speak to students and parents about this subject and give them a bit of perspective that might be helpful.

Parents, I can say with very few exceptions, that I never see students rejected for a group as a personal vendetta. It is "Hailey's Comet Rare" to hear a director say something like "I'll be darned if THAT kid will ever be in my group!" And on the extremely rare case that it happens, the director is almost always correct. Maybe it is because somebody could be a person of negativity and rumor-spreading.... lack intensity in their work ethic.... or be a divider and not a uniter. But the fact remains, this almost never ever happens.

When a student is not put in a group, it is almost always because of the data received from auditions, or because of observations over an entire previous year of working with that person. It could be a question of tone or projection. It could be a question of pitch control. It could be a question of ability to accurately conquer dance sequences. It could be related to the student's grades, versus the time demands of the choir. It could be a lot of stuff, and NONE of it is personal.

Students, one of the reasons directors hate posting results, is that they love you. Directors care about each and every student, and they want you to feel empowered, successful, loved, appreciated and integral. The LAST thing a director wants to do is knock you down or disappoint you. And yet, in the world of auditions there is simply no other way to do it.

-not everybody can make it, as some groups would then have over 200 people onstage at once
-the argument of "he/she has paid their dues" really is irrelevant, as the audition data isn't measuring that
-age cannot be the biggest concern, as in "they've waited their turn, now they should automatically be allowed in". If seniority, or the most seniority, was that big of a factor, then shouldn't we let the oldest living person in the USA be president? After all they waited their turn longer than anyone else.

I want to speak to students who are disappointed by audition results with a few thoughts. First, YOU are better at something than anybody else in your school. Everybody truly excels at something! Secondly, you cannot tie your worth as a person to the result of the audition. You are unique, special, vital, and the most important person on earth to somebody! Third, life is full of competition, and auditions are a microcosm of preparation for competitions, for jobs and careers, university placement, athletics, etc. Fourth, I LOVE to see when students use disappointing audition results as "fuel for their fire", and work on their skill development for the next year.

Folks need to understand that this time of year absolutely keeps directors up at night with worry. They worry about disappointing students they love, letting down people with great expectations, angering parents, and being questioned by those who simply don't know very much about the true evaluation of criteria within the process. My hope is that students and parents reading this will realize none of this diminishes the value or preciousness of the young man or woman....and please think twice before lashing out at a director who is simply trying to do the best they can under trying circumstances.

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who auditioned this year. This is always a difficult decision for the directors and we do not take it lightly. If the results were not quite what you expected we are sorry, Mr. Johnson and I are here for you to visit with.

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