We are aware, through several individual e-mails and phone calls, that there were a handful of parents who were not comfortable bringing their students to the auditions. To accommodate these students, we will do the following:
Students will be granted a make-up audition on an individual basis according to geographic region. If, for example, you live in extreme north Georgia, we will have the make-up tryout in a school north of Atlanta. Exact location will be determined based on your home school and the school of the judge who listened to your student’s panel on Saturday. It will be the responsibility
of the family requesting the make-up audition to meet the scheduled time and report to the scheduled audition make-up site. There will be no changes after the make-up audition is scheduled.
If you desire a make-up audition, you must contact Helen Saile, the audition organizer via e-mail PRIOR TO 8:00 P.M. ON TUESDAY JANUARY 22, 2008.
Her e-mail address is:
HSaile@comcast.net
In the message line, please include “MIDDLE SCHOOL ALL STATE MAKEUP REQUEST”
In the body, please include your student’s name, school, and instrument. Ms. Saile will then contact the appropriate judges and will select a location for the make-up based on your school location and the judge’s school locations.
ALL MAKE-UP AUDITIONS MUST BE COMPLETED BY SATURDAY FEB. 2, 2008.
In order to expedite the process for those who did take the tryout, and to assist them in making arrangements for Savannah, we will go ahead and select the two middle school bands based on the minimum instrumentation guidelines in the GMEA handbook. Following the make-up tryouts, any additional students who are above the existing cutoff scores will be added into their appropriate sections of the band. NO STUDENT WHO IS PLACED IN A BAND BASED ON THE ORIGINAL AUDITION RESULTS WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE BANDS. We will name alternate members after the make-up auditions are complete.
Once again, thank you to everyone who remained calm and cooperative as we tried to make the best of a potential “no-win” situation. Special thanks to the organizers and evaluators who worked straight through a seven hour audition process with minimal breaks.
Gary Gribble
GMEA Band Division Chairman