Alabama Orchestra Association Clay McKinney, President
Welcome to another great year in orchestral education in the state of Alabama and another great year for our Alabama orchestra association. I want to thank all of you for your dedication and hard work toward giving the students of our state this education. We have
enjoyed
immense growth and success and nothing shows that more than our All state Orchestra festival. In 1990 a group of dedicated teachers got together and decided it was time to get serious about All State again. I say again because thankfully there were those among them that remembered what all state could be and had faith in our students that they could return All state to it's former splendor. As an organization we are indebted to those teachers. So, in 1991 the word was out, all your
teacher had to do was
recommend you, and all state was held with nearly 120 students coming to play in the festival orchestra. The large orchestra and large sections, like the 27 or so cellos and 14 basses, were perfect for Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain. They were not so perfect for the Mozart piece. I don’t remember the title because I didn’t get to play it. I was relegated to the basement to practice all those nasty scales and things of the Mussorgsky while the others rehearsed Mozart. Yes I was there 20 years ago, an 8th grade All-State-Rookie-cellist in the back of the section. It was an amazing experience. The next year the festival required that people audition and it has been that way since. We have enjoyed 20 years of sustained growth and next year will mark the 21st consecutive year of
10
auditioning for entrance into the festival orchestra. It will be the 5th year that the entire festival is by audition only with nearly 400 auditions coming in every year. In these 20 years we have grown from just a single symphonic orchestra to include two String Orchestras, the Sinfonietta and the Consort, and also
sponsor a composition
competition that gains national attention. We have come so far and I am so proud to be here with you doing this work. It is a great honor to serve as your president and I look forward to us ushering in the next 20 years of growth and success.
A few things to update you on what’s been happening and what will be happening. If you have not been to the website lately please do
atwww.alabamaorchestraassociation. org. There you will find bios for our fabulous 2012 conductors, Steven Byess, Fawzi Haimor, and James Bates. Also, as you may have already seen if you have been there,
Registration process
is our new online for
registering for All State Auditions. We are very excited as this and would like to hear from you about it. Please don’t hesitate to write me if you have problems or questions about registration.
As for the All State performance itself the pieces that have been chosen are wonderful. Band Directors and Strings teachers, this will be a wonderful concert with wonderful
opportunities for
everyone involved so please mark the dates now, February 9-12 in the Moody Music Building on the Campus of
the University of
Alabama. As always we will be sponsoring the composition contest.
August/September 2011
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