New Jersey All-State Chorus Conductor Selection Barbara Retzko Barbararetzko@hotmail.com
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s it part of your Bucket List? If it is, please read on. If not, maybe you know a colleague who should be thinking about this. Please encourage them by forwarding a copy of this article with your comments and encouragement. The purpose of this article is to openly invite you to begin your journey of submitting the very best demonstration of your work as a conductor for consideration and acceptance as a future NJ All-State Chorus conductor! The contributing editors, noted below, are all long-term Choral Directors, active members of NAfME, NJMEA and NJ-ACDA and all have given generously of their time to serve in leadership positions for these organizations. Most have served as past NJ All-State Mixed or Women’s Chorus conductors. We are frankly concerned that as each year passes, fewer and fewer directors have chosen to apply as candidates for these prestigious roles. We certainly do not lack talented choral artists in the state. Why then are there just a handful of interested candidates? “I’m not in the ‘inner circle’ and it’s just an ‘old-boys club’ First of all, (surprise!), there is an ‘inner circle’. We’re an organization of over 400 members and we produce a number of major performances and events each year including the NJ All-State Mixed and Women’s Choruses. These events take a very dedicated cadre of professional, volunteer educators to manage the myriad committees and details that each event generates. We would LOVE to include you in this ‘inner circle’! Please, please, please let any of us know of your interest. That said, prior to my selection as the 1991 NJ All-State Mixed Chorus conductor, I felt the same way. Through my AllState experience, I became a member of the selection committee and served as its chair for a number of years. In that tenure, Conductor Selection Committee: • Agreed to request video submissions for consideration to widen the pool of candidates • Produced a rubric for scoring to ensure fairness and consistency in our evaluation • Established required repertoire to level the playing field, and • Increased the committee membership to include those who had been chosen as conductors to serve on future selection committees.
“I don’t want to be constrained by the required selections” We received such a wide range of video submissions that the comparisons were no longer “apples-to-apples.” Yes, one should be able to assess the quality of a director by their conducting style but the subjectivity introduced by the wide and vast variety of repertoire simply precluded any objective comparisons. The choice of required repertoire was designed to help make the best choice of director as well as establish some control over the materials submitted. Your participation here is also encouraged; if there are other repertoire selections you would like to use, please suggest them! NJ-ACDA uses a required repertoire list for its High School Choral Festival. Perhaps you can find a selection from that list that would best demonstrate your work. “I’m just not ready” Maybe you’re not, or maybe it’s just your inner voice telling you you’re not. If you’re reading this, though, some part of you is ready. Take that leap of faith and bet on yourself! “I don’t think I’d be comfortable conducting in front of my peers” Speaking from experience, you may be aware of the presence of your colleagues during the first few minutes of the first rehearsal, but once you get underway, you’ll move right into production mode. While we recognize there are critical opinions out there, we would hope that your talents and gifts would supercede those initial fears. “All-State is just too much work” Looking forward, the task seems insurmountable; we get that. Looking backwards, however, it is a very brief moment in time. Put the effort aside for a moment and consider the rewards: Every year an All-State conductor influences students who decide on-thespot to become professional musicians and teachers. Through their commitment, our All-State conductor touches the lives of 300+ students across the state in an unending ripple. Hopefully, you had the chance to sing in a region, state or national event when you were in high school. How did that experience, that conductor, change you? This is your opportunity, maybe even obligation, to pay it forward!
TEMPO 28
JANUARY 2016
