Thanks to all who attended this year's Summer Convention! We hope that you enjoyed the sessions, performances, and the chance to connect with others who share a love of choral music. You can find highlight photos from this weekend on our Facebook page; please share your own (or send them to thompson.tiffani@ymail.com to post). Also be on the lookout for a reflection survey in the next few weeks.
Congratulations to our new President-Elect, Dr. Cindy Sheppard! Read her bio on our website here.
As you may have heard, the Kansas All-State Choir is considering a reorganization of some kind. This could have a great impact on how we audition or select students for our state ensemble(s). Please take some time to read through the email and information included below form Dr. Dwayne Dunn and take the survey.
Have a great rest of your weekend, and safe travels home from Topeka!
Tiffani N. Thompson
KCDA Webmaster
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Directors-
You are receiving this survey because you were a Kansas high school director who entered students in district auditions last fall (2014). With the creation of a new 7th music district for our state (2018) coming soon, changes to the KMEA All-State Choir experience will be necessary. This may include changes to district auditions, the possible addition of a state-wide audition (similar to what occurs for our All-State instrumental ensembles), and changes to the rehearsal and performance experiences for students at the In-Service Workshop in Wichita.
Change is also being discussed due to the under-representation of choral students versus band students in the All-State ensembles, the inequity of All-State slot allocations between districts, and various other concerns. Many possible solutions and scenarios have entered the conversation. The board of KMEA and KCDA has given the go-ahead to collect information from the high school choral directors in the state of Kansas about the upcoming changes that will be needed.
The link below will take you to a survey to help us gather data. You should be able to access this survey by computer, tablet, or smart phone (however, some of the formatting for the supplemental material may not be correct on smart phone devices – the survey questions themselves will be fine). Only one survey response per device can be entered (so no sharing devices). There are 11 pages of background material at the beginning of the survey to bring directors up to speed on the issues and discussion so far. If you have not been a part of this discussion, please look over the material to familiarize yourself with the many ideas and issues. If you wish to skip straight to the survey, just click through to page 12 and begin answering the questions. The survey questions will only require about 10 minutes to complete.
Thank-you in advance for making your voice heard in this process. Results will be shared with the KMEA Board to help guide their decisions as we move forward with a adding a new music district and trying to make our All-State experience the best possible for the students of Kansas. If you have additional comments, there is a place to enter those at the end of the survey. You may also send your comments to Elise Peterson (NEKMEA President-Elect) directly at
vocal_1970@yahoo.com.
Dwayne E. Dunn, Ph.D.
Director of Choral Activities
Lawrence High School
