High School Festival Handbook
The NJACDA High School Choral Festival creates space for New Jersey choral directors and choral students to share music and learn from each other through performance, by working with world-class clinicians, and through listening to peer performances. It is our hope that this festival becomes an annual destination for every high school choir across the state.
- To cultivate a supportive community for high school choral directors and students to perform, learn, and grow.
- To provide an opportunity to hone sight-reading skills through a multi-level adjudicated experience.
We believe that students grow by performing for and listening to each other.
We believe that success looks different for every ensemble. We eagerly welcome all high school choirs and directors. We want this event to support you and your students on your musical journey.
We believe that creating connections makes us stronger.
We believe that celebrating the successes of our colleagues creates joy. This practice builds pathways, not walls.
We believe that while competition has its place, it is antithetical to the aims of authentic art-making.
REGISTRATION PROCEDURE
ALL REGISTRATIONS ARE COMPLETED ONLINE AT https://highschoolfestival.com
- Creating an account should be self-explanatory. If you have technical issues, contact Rick Retzko at rick@mfrholdings.com
REGISTRATION DEADLINE 2023: Thursday, December 15
- Registrations are only complete when we receive payment.
- Fees are non-refundable.
REGISTRATION FEES
** For this year’s festival (2023), ALL participating choral directors will be required to be members of ACDA to participate. For information about creating or renewing a membership, click here.
We encourage all directors to ask their administrators/school districts to annually pay for their ACDA membership. Here is a letter outlining the value of this festival experience and the professional development opportunities that your membership provides.
We hope that this does not discourage people from participating. If you are stuck, contact John Wilson at njacdahsfestival@gmail.com or jwilson@brrsd.k12.nj.us
Price change for 2023: $250 per group. All groups will receive a plaque. (adjusted October 2022).
Late fee* – $50 per ensemble
**All schools submitting payment after December 15 will be required to pay the additional $50 late fee.
Festival questions?
Contact John Wilson & Mike McCormick: njacdahsfestival@gmail.com
Technology questions?
Contact Rick Retzko at rick@mfrholdings.com
Overview of Festival Participation
Each participating ensemble is adjudicated in both performance and in sight reading. Directors may choose whether they wish to receive graded ratings, or verbal comments only. Directors are also given a choice of four levels of sight reading difficulty.
Who Can Participate?
Choral ensembles of any size from any high school—public, private, and parochial—are eligible to participate. Choral directors must be members of ACDA to participate.
How many choirs can I bring?
Up to four. You may be asked to limit to two ensembles if the schedule is full.
Ok, I registered. What’s Next?
- Around the beginning of February, the Festival schedule will be announced. If it appears impossible to honor your first choice of day, we’ll be in contact during January/February – but that very seldom happens.
- By late April, your list of your repertoire will need to be added to the website. The full program for the three-day event will be sent to you a few days before the Festival so you can hand it out to your students if you wish to do so. You, personally, will have a printed copy waiting for you at the check-in desk.
What do I need to bring on the Festival day?
NOTE: This part of our process is being updated. Instructions in RED will soon be replaced.
- Three manilla envelopes or folders, labeled #1, #2, #3 (one for each performance adjudicator), for each choir you are bringing; also label each with the name of your school, the name of the group, and your name. In each envelope should be a complete set of the music you’ll be performing.*
- In past years, we’ve asked you to fill out the Final Score Sheet, Sight Reading Score Sheet, and Adjudicator Sheet. You don’t need to do that– we’ve got it.
- Rubber-band the three completed envelopes together with the Final Score sheet and the Sight Singing score sheet.
- Your singers!
- Singers should bring a bagged lunch and snack with them.
- There are no changing facilities on site, so singers should arrive in performance attire.
- ***2023 COVID policy information forthcoming***
- Here is the “day-of” festival reminder sheet.
*NOTE: All music must be legally purchased and produced. Photocopied published music is not allowed.
What happens on the day?
A Festival day typically begins with check-in about 8:30 AM, with performances beginning around 9:00 AM. The last performance is usually completed by 3:30 PM, sometimes earlier, but best to plan for this end time for busing.
- Check in first: Bring your banded folders of music to the check-in desk, receive your program book and meet your student guide assigned to take you to warm-up, performance, and sight reading when it is time.
- Bring your students into the theatre and decide on an area they will claim as theirs for the day.*
- You will be guided through the day, so you need not worry about where to be.
- Once your guide takes you and your singers out of the theatre seats, you enter a one-hour process, divided into three 20-minute segments: warm-up, performance, sight reading. Singers return to the theatre following sight reading.
- At the end of the day score sheets and plaques/certificates can be collected at the check-in table. Please be mindful of the fact that the scores and sound files take about an hour to process following the time your group comes off stage. Materials not collected will not be mailed.
*NOTE: No one will be allowed to enter or exit the hall during a performance.
Professional Development: Certificates of Professional Development hours are available to public school directors for each day of participation.
Overview of Performance Element
What should my groups sing?
- Each choir should sing three contrasting selections*
- Repertoire should not exceed 12 minutes of actual performance time.
**You may elect to perform an optional non-adjudicated warm-up piece for a total of four pieces, as long as your total program does not exceed 12 minutes
***In 2017, the required repertoire list was removed to eliminate barriers for attending choirs
What about scoring? The NJ-ACDA High School Choral Festival is not a competition. The festival experience focuses on each individual group’s achievement, rather than on competition between the participating choirs. A director may even choose to receive verbal comments only. The goal is to celebrate the work of your students by making the environment as supportive as possible while also supporting your teaching. This means that the comments by the clinicians are designed to support what you do in the classroom. It’s our hope that hearing a clinician say many of the things you say yourself will accomplish this goal.
Click here to view the final score sheet used by adjudicators
(Scores are Perfect, Superior, Outstanding, Excellent, Good, Fair)
Click to view the individual scoring sheet used by adjudicators.
Click to view the scoring sheet used by adjudicators for sight singing (more below).
Overview of Off-State Clinic Element (New for 2023)
How does this work? After your on-stage performance, a clinician will give very brief comments on-stage. This benefits your students and also those attending, as they have a chance to hear how the suggestions of the clinician influence the sound. Remember, many of our singers are used to the experience of listening from inside a choir, so this is a special opportunity.
After your time on-stage is completed, you’ll be led to an area off-stage where a clinician will work with your group individually for about 20 minutes. This will provide an opportunity for some more in-depth work. We encourage you to graciously accept these comments, which are given with the intention of supporting your work and helping your students. It’s our hope that the comments given by the clinicians will support what you do in the classroom. Remember, the goal is for everyone to learn and find success!
Overview of Sight Singing Element
Why is this important?
Our hope is that you can use this experience as one form of motivation to work on sight reading skills for your students. We acknowledge that every choral program is different and that we all have different time constraints. This is why we offer a variety of difficulty levels for the sight-reading portion. If you are not sure how to approach this element, attend our hour-long Zoom session, scheduled on October 25 from 3-4 on Zoom. Register here.
Do we have to do this part?
All organizations performing on stage are required to participate in sight reading, as well; and identical membership must participate in both parts.
What if we don’t have time to work on this in my schedule?
You can request comments only and select a level 1 or 2 sight reading piece, thereby turning the 20-minute session into an interactive workshop. Ratings received in sight-reading, or the choice not to receive a rating, will be published separately from those received in performance, and will in no way affect the ratings received in performance.
Is there any guidance for preparing for this? Yes.
- Here is a link to register for the 2022 Zoom session entitled “Sight Reading Walk-Thru”
- Here are single pages from previous years’ examples*, showing each of the four different levels of difficulty**.
- Here is the outline of the musical elements contained within each of the four levels.
- Here is the order form for purchasing previous years’ examples, if you wish to work with them with your students. ($50 a set)
- Here is an outline of the process you’ll follow in the Festival sight reading session itself, so you can actually practice that, as well.
**The choice of level is completely up to you (and your students). Final scoring is graded according to the difficulty level chosen, as explained here. Again, here is the adjudication sheet.
What are the judging criteria?
Take a look at the form.
Code of Honor and Confidentiality: For obvious reasons, directors and singers must not speak to other directors and/or singers about the selections used for the sightreading adjudication until the two-day event has reached completion. New material is produced for each year’s Festival, after which it becomes available for purchase.
Building ‘the Village’
It’s why we all do what we do: We believe music makes a difference in lives – specifically in our students’ lives. Learning attentive respect for others’ art, supporting collegial efforts from other schools, all of this is part of the NJ-ACDA High School Choral Festival experience. Please prepare your students to be supportive audience members, as well as the best musicians they, themselves, can be.
We hope that you and your students have an enjoyable, challenging and enriching time at the Festival! Please be sure to let us know how we are doing, and how we can continue to make the NJ-ACDA High School Choral Festival a better event with each passing year!
The Festival Committee
John Wilson and Michael McCormick