From Mr. Kalish:
I have heard that many of you didn’t receive this info. Here is the letter we sent home with the students two weeks ago.
Dear North Olmsted High School Band Parents and Students,
Over the last fifteen months the North Olmsted band directors have been discussing the educational value, curricular commitment, and possible alternate opportunities surrounding the band going to Large Group Contest. For those who are new to the band program, the Ohio Music Educators Association holds a large group contest where local school bands perform. At this “contest” our band is judged by 3 adjudicators and given a rating and comments about our performance. After much discussion as a staff and after surveying the band, we have decided we will not be attending this year.
We want to assure you we do not make this decision lightly. Whenever we reflect on our scheduled events each year, we ask ourselves the question, “Is this activity educationally the best opportunity for our students?” Contest is educationally a good opportunity, however we feel we can accomplish the same results in more viable ways. The top reason we go to contest is for the judge comments. The judges are usually made up of retired high school band directors and sometimes college professors and they give great comments about what we can do to improve. This year both in Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band, we are bringing in college professors to work with our students to give comments and feedback while rehearsing. This is a much more efficient and educational opportunity, instead of listening to a recording and attempting to decipher what the judge is referring to, we can have live interaction with the college professor where our students can engage and reflect on their playing.
This is one example of how we came to our decision to not go to contest. If you would like to discuss this decision more, please contact Mr. Kalish or Mrs. Kovach via e-mail or phone. We are willing to have an open conversation about our decision. Administration has been informed and stands behind our decision.
How does the year look different now? First we still need to have a performance this quarter to maintain our concert cycles. We no longer will have the “preview concert” on February 21st. Instead we will be having a concert on the evening of Tuesday, March 6th at 7:00pm. This concert will feature the Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, and Jazz Ensemble. We will also be shifting some of our Wednesday night rehearsals we have scheduled.
There is is an updated instrumental music calendar for the remainder of the year at this link. Please reference it for new dates of events. As always, if there is a conflict with a new date, please fill out a pink card as soon as possible so we can address the conflict.
Please contact us if you have any questions,
Erik Kalish
Director of Instrumental Music
Megan Kovach
Assistant Director of Instrumental Music
