Just some clarification: Our Festival Division Rules for this year's competition were as follow:
"Festival Division is open to four types of groups: 28 or fewer members, or three years or less of competitive experience, or group whose members are primarily freshmen or sophomores, or school has student body population of 600 or fewer."
This is the exact wording that went out from myself to anyone registering for the Classic. The only adjustment made to these rules was upping the number of members to 30 from 28. All directors were notified of this change. All groups competing in this division met one of these qualifications.
We do intend to adjust our rules, wording and expectations for the Festival Division for the future to ensure a true small group division that provides a finals experience for those groups.
To the directors who may be on here or reading this post - Please feel free to contact me directly with any concerns or opinions on how the Classic was run. I appreciate any and all feedback. While I can not control what people think, feel or say on public forum, as a director of a show choir program I strive to approach the proper individuals directly when I have concerns and address these issues the right way. I'd be happy to have a professional discussion with directors, choreographers, etc. in private regarding these issues.
Thank you to everyone who attended the Classic this year. As always, we will strive to improve and make our competition experience better for all of our attendees each and every year. Congratulations to all of the groups who competed and especially the winners. There was some amazing performances given and it was a wonderful day of show choir.
Sincerely,
Eric Farrell
Teays Valley High School
Choir Director
I think that the great thing about this competition is that it was so evenly matched. If this competition happened multiple times, you might even get multiple results. It happens all the time that a judge has a group in second and another judge has the same group in fourth. With only three finalists you just notice the impact a little more.
Congratulations to these fantastic groups and it is exciting to see Ohio competitions be such a battleground!
My apologies. Teays Valley put on a fantastic event. The top three all deserved to be in the finals. Awesome performances. Mis- information is no excuse for my post. Congrats to all the performers for a job well done.
I hope the Piqua judge is barred from competitions for life. How can someone with so much bias be allowed to judge. What a disgrace. First of all, two judges had Beavercreek in second. Second of all, this post is an embarrassment to our program.
Firstly, Mr. Bowers, I'd be pretty embarrassed if I were your son or daughter and I saw my dad posting these horrible things about a highly respected educator in the Show Choir Community that we're all a part of. The judging panel yesterday actually might've been one of the best I've seen this season in Ohio., and was definitely the one thing this competition had going for it. One particular judge didn't really like our group either, and also put us in last (and didn't give us notes). But that's show choir. Is it really about who scores the highest? Truly? As a parent, it's not very common to see the actual scores, so I'm assuming (and possibly incorrectly) that you've only heard the scores that your choir received through the grapevine.
Anyhow, yesterday was interesting, to say the least. The Festival division drama was an honest catastrophe, and it's an easy fix in the rules that I'm positive Mr. Farrell, Mr. Whitman, and the rest of Teays Valley will get figured out for the Classic 2018. After performing late in prelims, rushing to the auditorium to see ETC and Grove City, attending awards, and then being the first Championship division choir to perform in finals, our group didn't really have time to eat dinner (or even lunch for some of us). I have to send out the biggest thank you to the incredible volunteer moms at Teays who supplied all of Colerain with food after our finals performance. We were hungry and a little crazy, and you all came to the rescue. ETC put on a performance that I fully admit I was not expecting. Incredible soloists year after year, and a pretty cool director, too. ;) And then there's Grove City... I can honestly say I've never been so happy to lose in my entire life. Seeing TOC's faces when GC was announced was truly amazing. You all have worked so hard this season and this is exactly the type of fairytale ending you all deserved. Mr. Klein and Mr. Newland, I am so honored to call you colleagues. I can't wait to see how much greater the entire program becomes.
And lastly, to my Colerain kiddos. Many of you are still shy to even go to this website in the first place. You've been so used to a different way of doing everything, and I can't thank you all enough for how receptive, respectful, kind, and determined you've been. Three months ago there wasn't a coherent show, there was no director, and you never thought you'd be competing this season. And look how far you've come. Change is hard, but change is good. I'm proud of you all, I love you, and I couldn't be possibly be any happier ending a season than with the story you told last night.
Intensity in the Large Group . That is what the Teays Format brought out . In my years watching Show Choir I have never seen such a intense preliminary . The 4 Groups Brought it like there was no tomorrow. The worst part is one great Choir had to go home but man it was worth it to watch the performances. Every Group was dead on . The sad part is there was no live stream or recordings of what truly was the best of these groups . IT WAS INSANE !!!!!! Teays sound system was perfect 0 glitches the stage crew did a unbelievable job setting about all these different formations . As far as the judging goes there seemed to be a pretty broad difference in what the judges wanted but show choir does that, different tastes. This was a wild night and I was blessed to see some of the best performances at Teays of all the large groups that I have seen all year. It was a wild crazy night !!!!!!!
I hope the Piqua judge is barred from competitions for life. How can someone with so much bias be allowed to judge.
Judge 1: 1st Place
Judge 2: 1st Place
Judge 3: 2nd Place
Piqua Judge: Last Place
What a disgrace.
First of all, two judges had Beavercreek in second, and one judge had them in first. Second of all, this post is an embarrassment to our program. Beavercreek was so happy to see Grove City get their first grand in close to 20 years!! Everyone performed their hearts out that night! Brighton was definitely correct when he said that the judge from piqua had very different opionions and tastes. But that doesn't make her wrong. It's just an opinion. And again, a very big congrats to Grove City, you guys have come so far!!
Hey, sorry for the confusion about enrollment qualifications. In December, the school
size was changed to 600 students or less, which was to encourage more Festival Division competitors. This determination allowed Bishop Luers to be eligible for Festival.
We will be reviewing requirements for next year. I apologize for not updating the enrollment qualification change, however all groups were made aware prior to finalizing our schedule. The Classic is and will remain a competition where small and large groups are encouraged about their ability to make finals. If you have any concerns, comments or advice, feel free to PM me, and I will bring it up with the competition coordinators for another great competition in 2018.
Thanks to all our groups for making the Classic a success! Congratulations to the winners, and we look forward to seeing you next year!
Teays Valley Classic 2017
