I also agree that it's nice for an invitational to give out a partial adult combo award, though I'm not saying every school should adopt this concept. As Andy said, it's to reward the students involved in the combo who still work hard, even though there may be a couple of adults in the combo as well.
In fact, some of us have been worrying about next year, because most, if not all, of the students in our combo are graduating this year, and we're not sure if we'll have enough people even interested in being in our band. So yes, some schools have trouble getting enough people to even try out for their combos, and sometimes you must hire musicians to even have the essential instruments.
However the purpose of the award is for the students in the band, not the adults. And to Shoegazer, Im not sure whether we can really compare your analogy to having adults in the band and alumni in the choir. At our school with only 400 or so students it is simply impossible to have a good show choir and a good band b/c students are limited by the amount of activity and often the people who are in show choir are the ones who are the excellent instrumental musicians as well. I myself played piano, clarinet, and did show choir. But I could not do all three at the same time, therefore you sometimes must recruit help.
Have adults... you just don't win the award.
I just find it odd that you give an award to adults at an all high school event. But... Teays will be in attendance.
However the purpose of the award is for the students in the band, not the adults. And to Shoegazer, Im not sure whether we can really compare your analogy to having adults in the band and alumni in the choir. At our school with only 400 or so students it is simply impossible to have a good show choir and a good band b/c students are limited by the amount of activity and often the people who are in show choir are the ones who are the excellent instrumental musicians as well. I myself played piano, clarinet, and did show choir. But I could not do all three at the same time, therefore you sometimes must recruit help.
very well put. I also believe that more schools should have seperate awards.. as you said admit it, adults are in alot of the combos now days
Oh, I'll definitely admit as much, but I still don't think we should jump to the next step of encouraging such actions.
While I do understand the difficulties of recruiting quality musicians at small school districts - before transferring to Maryville I attended a high school of 350 students that couldn't support a single show choir - I don't think it's any excuse to cut corners concerning student involvement in a high school music competition. To me, the next logical step for a director might be to bring back some alumni to fill in voice parts during a choir's rebuilding year.
Sound ridiculous? Yes, it is a dramatic example, but to deny one advantage while allowing the other seems more than slightly hypocritical. High school show choir competitions are meant to test the musicality of high school students, and I'll stick to that thinking.
Churubusco New Era had so much fun at this competition last year! You can expect to see us back again!
Churubusco I hosted your group last year!! I absoloutely loved you guys! haha cant wait to see you again this march!
Just for explaining our point in doing this: First- we are all about students and encouraging student excellence. Please look at from the other way. We are not ENCOURAGING adults, we are trying to REWARD STUDENTS. It is a fact of show choir.....there are adults in combos.
There are schools who do not have the personnel or choose to have the director or some other adults play. There are schools who have wonderful all student groups. So if we reward just STUDENT groups, there are groups coming that are excluded from winning. That isn't our way to do things. So to reward more groups, we decided to give out 2 awards.
Thank you for doing this! we have two adults in our back up band, but the rest are all students who are very talented and work hard. because our school is so small (about 400 total) it is difficult to find people who are willing or able to play in our band. I would love to see our band get rewarded (or at least have the opportunity to do so) for their hard work.
Churubusco New Era had so much fun at this competition last year! You can expect to see us back again!
i must say that churubusco had to be hands down my favorite groups, and i do believe ada is coming back this year as well
I doubt this should be encouraged.
Just for explaining our point in doing this: First- we are all about students and encouraging student excellence. Please look at from the other way. We are not ENCOURAGING adults, we are trying to REWARD STUDENTS. It is a fact of show choir.....there are adults in combos.
There are schools who do not have the personnel or choose to have the director or some other adults play. There are schools who have wonderful all student groups. So if we reward just STUDENT groups, there are groups coming that are excluded from winning. That isn't our way to do things. So to reward more groups, we decided to give out 2 awards.
We'd love to have Marysville come to Wapak!
Thanks Shayne Gosh- there are lots of GREAT Competitions and people who run them. A number of them helped us. So kudos please for anyone who takes on the Competition Chair!
This is a fantastic experience. I encourage everyone to participate if at all possible. Wapakoneta is one of the most organized, fun, competitive events around. Give credit where credit is deserved, and Tracey Wright and the team at Wapak are the best in the business. She's right! Put this on your calendars immediately!
Shayne Gue
Director
ARTS All-Star Show Choir
900 Eighth Street, Suite 100
Huntington, WV 25701
Wapakoneta MUSIC AND MORE Competition that is! We have spots left in our Single-Gender Class and just a couple in Mixed. Single-Gender can compete in finals if they have the scores. We have an AWESOME line up of groups coming already and can take those couple more.
If your back up band is great, we are the place to be! We give 2 instrumental trophies-
One for ALL student Groups and ONE for Groups with adults playing.
We know that some groups have had us on the Maybe List. Please put us on the "YES" list and put Music and More on your calendar!
Our Competition is March 28th, 2009. For information you can go to wapaksingsation.com!
Wapakoneta Music & More 2009
Gosh- there are lots of GREAT Competitions and people who run them. A number of them helped us. So kudos please for 
We give 2 instrumental trophies-