Tennessee Music Education Association
All State Performing Organizations
Regulations and General Information

2007-08 Revision

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• ARTICLE I. In-Service Conference and All-State Organizations

TMEA sponsors concerts by All-State musical organizations (Band, SATB Chorus, Women's Chorale, Men’s Chorus, Jazz Band, and Orchestra) in conjunction with the annual In-Service Conference. The Board of Directors of TMEA determines the Conference date. Membership in All-State organizations, which perform under guest conductors, is determined by auditions held at regional levels by its affiliated associations.

• ARTICLE II. Policies for Participation in All-State Organizations
1. General Policies
1. Any director having students in All-State must be a member in good standing in the area, state and national organizations. Each affiliated president shall have the responsibility for enforcing this regulation.
2. Each regional affiliated association of TMEA shall be assessed an activity fee of $200.00 per allotted Board of Directors representative each school year, payable by January 1, in order to participate in any All-State organization. If a regional affiliated association fails to pay this activity fee that association’s students shall not be able to participate in All-State performing groups the following year.
3. To be eligible for All-State, the student must be a member in good standing of their school performing organizations. In the case of extreme circumstances (i.e., scheduling problems or lack of a particular ensemble in a school) the phrase "membership-in-good-standing" will be determined by the sponsoring director and the area association.
4. Each student and director who participate in an All-State organization will be charged a registration fee as set by the TMEA Board of Directors. All-State fees and completed forms must be sent via first class mail and postmarked on or before March 1. Each state association will provide for each ensemble in which their students participates, one payment for the students' fees and one payment for the directors' fees - sent via first class mail to the appropriate all-state ensemble chair. Important notice: A late fee of $250 will be assessed the regional association if the forms and/or fees are postmarked after March 1.
5. Students participating in All-State must be enrolled in grades 10-12 at their respective schools.
6. Students participating in All-State must be properly chaperoned. Directors are required to either chaperon or identify in writing to the All-State chairperson another director to be responsible for them.
7. Each regional association shall furnish music for its All-State participants. The All-State tryout procedure will allow all students to audition for 1st chair in their section. Students will be given all sectional parts for their instrument when selected for All-State at the regional level. Students shall be prepared to audition on all individual parts at All-State. All-State participants will abide by the All-State Rules and Regulations attached as Appendix I. Any student not adhering to these rules and regulations will be subject to action by the All-State disciplinary committee for that ensemble.
8. Each All-State performing organization's disciplinary committee shall consist of the All-State General Chairperson, the state All-State Chairperson, and the three area All-State Chairpersons.
2. All-State Quota and Selection Procedure
1. All-State Band and Orchestra Instrumentation
1. To be provided from each region of the state annually:

Instrument	Band	Orchestra
Flute	4	1
Oboe	1	1
Bassoon*1	0	1
B-flat Clarinet	9	1
Bass Clarinet	2	0
Contrabass Clarinet	1	0
Alto Saxophone	2	0
Tenor Saxophone	1	0
Baritone Saxophone	1	0
French Horn	4	2
Trumpet	5	1
Trombone	3	1
Baritone	2	0
Tuba*2	3	0*2
Percussion	2	1
1st Violin	0	6
2nd Violin	0	6
Viola	0	4
Cello	0	4
Bass	0	3

^*1Bassoons will be assigned to the band based on the supplemental instrument chart below.

^*2A tuba for orchestra will be assigned based on the supplemental instrument chart below.

2. To be provided on a rotating basis:



2008, 2011, 2014	West		Middle		East
	Band	Orch.	Band	Orch.	Band	Orch.
Piccolo	0	0	1	0	0	0
E-flat Sop. Clarinet	0	0	1	0	0	0
Bassoon	2	0	1	0	1	0
Tuba*	0	0	0	1	0	0




2009, 2012, 2015	West		Middle		East
	Band	Orch.	Band	Orch.	Band	Orch.
Piccolo	0	0	0	0	1	0
E-flat Sop. Clarinet	0	0	0	0	1	0
Bassoon	1	0	2	0	1	0
Tuba*	0	0	0	0	0	1




2007, 2010, 2013	West		Middle		East
	Band	Orch.	Band	Orch.	Band	Orch.
Piccolo	1	0	0	0	0	0
E-flat Sop. Clarinet	1	0	0	0	0	0
Bassoon	1	0	1	0	2	0
Tuba*	0	1	0	0	0	0

*^If a tuba is not needed in the orchestra the tuba player assigned to the orchestra will be reassigned to the band.

Supplemental instrumentation not covered in the above charts:

2005, 2008, 2011	MTSBOA
2006, 2009, 2012	WTSBOA
2007, 2010, 2013	ETSBOA

Explanatory notes:
1. For any situation involving two (2) or more players on a part, there shall be an audition at All-State to determine placement.
2. Each of the affiliated associations shall provide one (1) judge for each of the areas to be auditioned at All-State.
3. Supplemental instrumentation (including harps, extra percussion or other instruments not already defined in the handbook) will be supplied by a particular region according to the rotation above.
4. If an E-flat soprano clarinet player is selected for All-State in his sophomore year or junior year, he/she shall be eligible for All-State in the succeeding year, provided he is selected as top player in his region. Thus, instrumentation of the band would temporarily be enlarged.
5. The All-State piccolo player shall also play 2nd flute when not covering piccolo parts, but he/she is not eligible to audition for first chair.
6. All flute players shall be eligible for first chair, but they must bring 1st and 2nd parts to the rehearsal site. Flute part division shall be six (6) 1sts and six (6) 2nds for the band and one (1) 1st and two (2) 2nds for the orchestra, with any changes left to the discretion of the conductor.
7. All oboe players shall be eligible for first chair, but they must bring 1st and 2nd parts to the rehearsal site. Oboe part division shall be one (1) 1st and two (2) 2nds with any changes left to the discretion of the conductor.
8. All B-flat Soprano Clarinet players will be eligible for first chair. Students are to prepare all three parts for the audition. Band assignments will be six (6) 1sts, nine (9) 2nds, and nine (9) 3rds with any changes left to the discretion of the conductor. Orchestra assignments will be one (1) 1st and two (2) 2nds with any changes left to the discretion of the conductor. If there are bass clarinet assignments for the orchestra, the player shall be provided by the local association.
9. All alto, tenor, and baritone saxophone players shall be eligible for first chair in their respective sections. Students are to prepare all parts (for their respective instrument) for the audition. Seating will be determined by “on site” audition. Any changes will be left to the discretion of the conductor.
10. All horn players will be eligible for first chair. Students are to prepare all four parts for the audition. Seating will be determined by “on site” audition. Band placement will be three (3) 1sts, six (6) 2nds, and six (6) 3rds. When there are “trumpet” parts beyond the usual three, they shall be assigned to the first chair 2nd and first chair 3rd. The orchestra division will be one (1) 1st and two (2) 2nds. Any changes will be left to the discretion of the conductor.
11. All baritone players will be eligible for first chair. Students are to prepare all parts for the audition. Seating will be determined by “on site” audition. Any changes will be left to the discretion of the conductor.
12. All trombone players will be eligible for first chair. Students are to prepare all parts for the audition. Seating will be determined by “on site” audition. Any changes will be left to the discretion of the conductor.
13. All tuba players will be eligible for first chair. Students are to prepare all parts for the audition. Seating will be determined by “on site” audition. Any changes will be left to the discretion of the conductor.
14. All percussion players assigned to the band will be eligible for first chair in the band. All percussion players assigned to the orchestra will be eligible for first chair in the orchestra. Students are to prepare all parts for the audition. Placement will be determined by “on site” audition. Students may be assigned to cover varying areas of emphasis such as mallets/snare drum or timpani/accessories. The emphasis of the audition at All-State shall be to find the player who can best play each piece of music and to allow him to play it in the concert. It is conceivable that some players will receive larger proportions of parts to play than others.
15. Alternates who prepare the music and meet the requirements established by the area association shall be eligible to replace a regular member from their area at the discretion of the All-State Chairperson. It shall be the area association's responsibility to determine eligibility of alternates, to notify them, and to assure that they receive the proper information. It shall be the area All-State chairperson’s responsibility to notify the state All-State chairperson of such a replacement.
16. TMEA will not be responsible for any personal equipment.
2. Selection of the All State Mens, Womens, and SATB Choruses.
1. General Information

The All-State SATB chorus will consist of 180 singers, the All-State Women’s Chorale will consist of 120 singers, and the All-State Men’s Chorus will consist of 75 91 singers. Each regional association will bring a percentage of students to each group determined by the ratio of the average number of auditioning schools over the past three years. The top scores in each vocal part should be divided between the SATB chorus and the Men’s/Women’s Choruses. The sizes of the chorus may be temporarily enlarged due to rounding of the percentages. All students participating in an All-State choral ensemble must have successfully participated in a regional ensemble and have passed a screening audition on the music to be performed at All-State no less than six weeks prior to All-State. Each area may select its quota of students in whatever manner they choose. Female students may not audition as Tenors for any All-State ensemble.

2. The Screening Audition

The screening audition will be on all the literature to be performed at All-State by all three ensembles. The students are to be prepared to sing all the pieces of the choir to which they are assigned, although they may only be asked to sing an excerpt from the piece during the screening audition. When a piece is in a language other than English or Latin, the students have the option of singing their part on a neutral syllable or solfege for their audition.

The All-State chair will have a professionally prepared practice CD that contains all the pieces to be performed by each ensemble (that is, one CD with the SATB music, one with the SSA music, and one with the TTBB music). One CD for each student in each choir will be ordered by TMEA and distributed to each regional association. The associations will be billed for their total number of CDs by TMEA. These CDs must be prepared in time to allow the students to use them to learn their All-State music.

The All-State Choral Chair, along with the All-State SATB, Women’s, and Men’s Chorus Chairs will determine audition sections on each piece of the All-State literature. The audition sections will be kept secret until the actual day of auditions. To ensure this the audition CDS will be professionally prepared and delivered to the All-State Chair. Each region will be required to purchase one CD for each choir. Should a region desire to have multiple copies of an audition CD, they will be billed for the additional expense. The auditions chair will deliver the audition CDs to the auditions chair of each association (or the designated person from each association) in time for the actual auditions. The selections may be announced on the morning of the auditions.

The auditioning students should be divided into octets and/or quartets in any manner the regional association thinks appropriate. Students from the same school should NOT audition in the same octet and/or quartet. If there are not enough students to have a complete octet and/or quartet, students who have already auditioned may be asked to sing a second time to fill out the octet and/or quartet, but their second audition will not be counted.

The regional audition will be held at one site within the region. Enough judges must be used so that no one judge is listening to more than two students in an octet and/or quartet simultaneously. Judging responsibilities should be divided so that no one judges his/her own students. The judges should be actively walking in front of the students to ensure that the student is actually prepared and not coasting on the strength of another singer.

If a warm up room is provided, the auditions material should NOT be performed, rehearsed, or sung-through in the warm up room.

Grading on the audition will be pass/fail. After each octet and/or quartet, the panel of judges may confer on their decision. If the judges want to hear a particular student a second time, they may be recalled later in the day to sing in a different octet and/or quartet. If during the audition the judges decide there are extenuating circumstances, they may call back the octet and/or quartet. Decisions should be sent to the auditions chair immediately so that students being called back may be notified that they need to remain.

A student who fails the audition is ineligible for All-State.

Each region may come up with a procedure to deal with extenuating circumstances that would cause a student to be unable to attend the audition, however, some sort of screening must be used to ensure that the student is prepared on all his/her music before the beginning of All-State.

In the event that the regional screening must be cancelled due to inclement weather, it will NOT be necessary to hold a make-up screening.



3. Alternates

Alternates for All-State should be the next ten top scores after each section has been filled. Five alternates from each section should be assigned to prepare the mixed chorus music and would only be eligible to replace a mixed chorus singer. The remaining five alternates would prepare the Women’s or Men’s Chorus music and would only be eligible to replace a Women’s or Men’s chorus singer.

All-State alternates should go through the octet and/or quartet audition process. An alternate who has passed the octet and/or quartet audition may replace a student who fails the audition or who has to drop out of All-State. It shall be the area association’s responsibility to determine eligibility of alternates, to notify them, and to assure that they receive the proper information. It shall be the area All-State chairperson’s responsibility to notify the state All-State chairperson of alternate replacements.

ALTERNATE REPLACEMENT IF AN ALTERNATE IS NOT AVAILABLE ON A CERTAIN PART

Assume that XYZ region has run out of T1 alternates for SATB chorus and still needs to fill a spot. The first option is to move up a T2 alternate for SATB chorus into a T1 slot. If that can't happen, XYZ moves up a T1 alternate from Men¹s Chorus. If that won't work, XYZ can move up a T2 alternate from Men's Chorus. If that won't work, the region has to forfeit the spot and contact the All State Chair who will then ask another region if they can fill the required spot with an alternate designated for that part (in other words, a T1 alternate for SATB from the ABC area or DEF area). A baritone cannot be moved into a T2 spot or some other similar move. Moves must be within the designated voice part.

The alternate moving will be given a couple of weeks to prepare the music for the new part and then must be heard by two directors from his region other than his own director. Preferably one of the two directors should be an Executive Board member from the region, or a designated Board member substitute (such as an Area Rep.) To do the re-screening, the student may sing with a part CD for the part he is auditioning for (our T2 example would sing with a T1 part CD) and must sing the entire piece (except in the event of extremely repetitious pieces) with at least 80% accuracy on all pieces. The two directors who hear the audition send a confirmation message to the regional All State chair confirming that the student was screened and demonstrated sufficient preparation on the music.



3. All State Jazz Band Selection

Auditions for All-State Jazz Band will be recorded during the regional Jazz Band clinics. The regional affiliated organization’s President, Jazz Band chairperson, and one other person to be selected by the President shall supervise the area auditions. The All-State Jazz Band chairperson will furnish details for the recording/taping procedures, to insure uniformity in three regions.

Only those students who are members of the regional clinic jazz ensembles are eligible to audition.

The All-State Jazz Band selection committee will consist of each area Jazz Band chairperson. It will make the final decisions to complete the following instrumentation.

• 2 Alto Saxophones
• 2 Tenor Saxophones
• 1 Baritone Saxophone
• 5 Trumpets
• 4 Trombones
• 1 Bass Trombone
• x1 Piano
• 1 Guitar
• 1 Bass Guitar
• 1 Trap Set
• 1 Auxiliary Percussion


• Appendix I

TN ALL STATE RULES AND REGULATIONS

Any student not adhering to these rules will be subject to action by the All-State Disciplinary Committee.

1. Students are required to attend all rehearsals and All-State concerts. Students performing with their own school organization at the TMEA In-Service Conference will be excused from rehearsal one (1) hour prior to their performance time.
2. Students will be in their seats and ready to begin rehearsal at least ten (10) minutes prior to the start of each rehearsal. Failure to be 10 minutes early and ready to rehearse will result in the following: First offense – Warning from the ensemble chair. Second offense – Dismissed from All State by the All State Disciplinary Committee.
3. Students will not chew gum or eat food in rehearsals.
4. Students will refrain from talking during rehearsals.
5. The use of alcohol, tobacco products, and/or illegal drugs is strictly prohibited.
6. Students must have a pencil at rehearsals.
7. Students must wear nametags at all rehearsals.
8. All Choral singers must have measures numbered.
9. No alternates or extra students are to be admitted to the All-State rehearsals unless the regional All-State Chairperson has properly notified them.
10. Only students from grades ten through twelve are eligible. Students in grade nine are not eligible for All-State.

Dress for the All State Ensembles will be as follows:

• Band: school concert band uniform
• Chorus Women: ankle length black dress with a sleeve, or an ankle length black skirt with a black top of similar or complementary fabric, black shoes no more than 2 inches in height, optional modest jewelry such as a single strand of pearls or a drop-pearl or single stone on a delicate chain. No long dangling earrings or heavy choke necklaces.
• Chorus Men: White tux shirt or white long-sleeve button-down shirt with black bow tie, black tux pants or black dress slacks, black dress shoes and black socks. No jackets, and no tennis shoes.
• Orchestra: Ladies - long back dress, or black blouse and black skirt or black dress pants; Men - short black tuxedo (no tails), or black suit, black bow tie
• Jazz Band: Ladies - dress or skirt and blouse; Men - coat and tie