For our Parents
All County Festival Participation
Your child's acceptance into one of this year's ECMEA All-County ensembles is an outstanding achievement. With over 4,500 students auditioning, selection for one of these ensembles indicates exceptional musical talent, extraordinary achievement toward musical perfection, and a high degree of positive experience for everyone, we encourage you to carefully read the following expectations related to your child's participation.

Availability
When your child filled out the solo application form, he/she already indicated he/she would be available for all rehearsals during the festival weekends. If a conflict has arisen with any other activity which will interfere with this ECMEA commitment, your child will have to make a choice and select that activity which is more important to you. No exceptions will be made. If your child's availability has since changed, he/she should contact the teacher immediately so that an alternate may have the opportunity to participate.

Lateness/Absence
Because rehearsal time is so limited, it is the ECMEA policy that students may not miss any rehearsal or any part of a rehearsal for any reason. No exceptions to this policy will be allowed. If a rehearsal is scheduled to begin at 9:00 AM, for example, the student should be in their seat ready to warm up and tune no later than 8:45 AM. This will allow the guest conductor to immediately begin rehearsal at the appointed time. If the student comes late, he/she will be dismissed from the ensemble.

Tickets
ECMEA sells tickets for each of our All-County Concerts. The cost is $5.00 per ticket and it is the same cost for everyone, parent, senior, child, etc. This fee helps to pay the cost of the festival, the conductor, music, hall rental, and other expenses. General Admission tickets are available only at the door, except for the Elementary concerts when there is also an advance sale. The ECMEA policy is not to refund the cost of any unused tickets.

Concerts
At each of our festivals, two separate concerts are presented. This is necessitated by the large number of parents and friends who come to these concerts. Depending upon the auditorium used, the lobby is often very crowded before the door opens for the concert. This is caused by the need to finish dress rehearsals and prepare the stage for the new ensembles. You are likely to have to exercise great patience at this time.

Student Availability
Our students are highly supervised during and after their performance. The concerts are usually only about an hour in length and the students are expected to be under our supervision until the entire concert is over. This means that if your child is in the chorus, he/she is not free to leave or join you until after the last ensemble performs. This is acceptable concert behavior and sets a good example for our students. We encourage you to also enjoy the entire concert. Less disruption will occur and the concerts can end on time.

Concert Etiquette
In an attempt to help family and friends enjoy all our concerts, as well as making it easier for our featured performers to do their best on stage, the following suggestions are offered to our All-County audiences.

Often picture taking and video cameras during a performance are very disruptive and irritating to other concert goers. We will provide an opportunity for you to take pictures at the conclusion of each ensemble's performance. If you wish to use a video camera, we ask you to stand on the side or in the back of the auditorium. Please turn off any beepers, cell phones, wristwatches, or other electronic devices.

Please make an effort to be settled in your seats BEFORE the concert begins. Make sure all rest room needs (especially for small children) are taken care of ahead of time. Make sure cell phones, beepers, watches, and all electronic devices are turned off. A moment to relax and turn one's full attention to the program often enhances the enjoyment of the performance.

Talking or even whispering during the performance is disrespectful to the performers as well as distracting to others in the audience. In fact, any excessive movement or commotion can be a source of irritation to others who wish to listen and concentrate on the performance.

Enthusiastic applause at the end of a complete musical selection is encouraged and appreciated. Whistling and shouting is not. It is also customary to applaud only at the end of the last movement of a multi-movement selection.

At all concerts, it is expected that audience members will remain until the end of both ensembles' performances. The concerts are not long and our young music students very much enjoy performing for a large audience. All students will be properly chaperoned until after the entire concert. If you must leave in an emergency situation, please do so only at the end of a musical selection and not while the students are performing.

We hope the above information will help you fully enjoy the concerts and your child's participation. We want this to be a positive experience for everyone as well as a learning and inspirational opportunity for the young musician in your family. If you have any additional questions, please contact your child's teacher. Attention to these few suggestions will ensure a happy time for all those in the audience and a memorable performance for our All-County musicians.

Lines of Communication
All communication should be directed to your child's teachers. If they cannot answer your question, you should speak with the Music Coordinator of your school district. If your question still cannot be answered, one of the teachers will contact ECMEA. The same lines of communication are true for your child.

ECMEA does maintain an office, but it only exists to administrate our programs. It is not regularly staffed nor is it equipped to answer individual parent's questions.

What you can do
Read carefully all materials that are sent home to you by your child's teacher.

When your child attends a solo audition, make sure he/she has TWO copies of the solo; one for the students and one for the adjudicator. This is an ECMEA requirement and failure to have these two copies will result in an automatic disqualification. The same automatic disqualification results if any of the copies are photocopies. These are absolutely forbidden.

When your child attends an All-County Festival, make sure he/she is on time for all rehearsal commitments. If your child is late, he/she will be sent home and will forfeit the opportunity to participate. Please pay special attention to the section on All-County participation.

Perspective
It is important to keep in perspective that our ECMEA festivals are run by volunteers. After more than fifty years of service to music education, we have learned that the only way to be efficient, consistent, and fair in dealing with thousands of applications, hundreds of individual teachers, and numerous school districts, is to be consistent with all policies, practices, and deadlines. We all want the best for our children and strive as much as humanly possible to bring this about. We hope you will cooperate with us in this endeavor.