This year, there is a significant change to the format of the Superintendent Honors Music Festival due to
the restrictions in place as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Deadline and Requirements
UPDATED: First and foremost, the deadline to submit a video for the Superintendent’s Honors Music Showcase is FEBRUARY 12, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. Teachers must register for DCMEA membership as a requirement for participation in the Honors Music Showcase. In order to receive STEAM credit, teachers need to submit at least one video for the showcase and that video must meet all criteria:
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2-5 minutes in length
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Students dressed in performance attire
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Must have entertainment value (it should be a performance you would expect to see in a normal live show)
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All students must have Media Release forms with MDCPS
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Teachers may submit a video to more than one category (vocal and instrumental for example) but cannot submit more than one video per category (i.e. cannot submit two submissions for songwriting)
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Like previous years, if you teach at a K-8 center that offers both Elementary and Secondary music, you must submit one video for each for STEAM credit
Judging and Finalists
Once videos are submitted, they will be scored by a team of judges using the rubrics mentioned in the attached documents. The top scoring videos will be selected and edited into one concert per category to stream for the 2020-2021 Music Showcase.
How is this year different?
In previous years, the Honors Festival typically had three components: a prepared audition, acceptance and teaching repertoire to students, and a final concert. This format is changing. For the 2020-2021 school year, we will be implementing a Virtual Music Showcase. Each teacher can submit a video for one of the categories listed in the attached documents. These categories are purposefully general to accommodate teachers who are under restrictions in their school sites that are not allowing them to teach certain (or any) instrumentation. The idea behind these general categories is it should allow you to submit a recording of your student performing with whatever instrumentation you have available to work with under the current conditions. If my band is currently limited to percussion instruments only, then I can submit a performance of my students playing a percussion piece.
Teachers can either submit a single student solo for one of the categories listed or they can submit a recording of a group performance. These performances do not necessarily have to be recorded in a live classroom setting (teachers can collect individual student recordings and edit those recording together into one video). In the event you are recording your students in a live setting, please ensure you are following both MDCPS and CDC guidelines in terms of appropriate PPE, social distancing, and rehearsal times. In the event that you are having difficulties getting a group performance together, there is also the option of working with an individual student to prepare a solo performance for submission.
New Categories
In terms of genre, we are opening the possibilities of different genres and even new categories that were not available in previous festivals. If you look at the attached information sheets, you will see mention of both contemporary music performances for Elementary and Secondary as well as a new Songwriting Submission category. As many teachers are implementing Band Lab and Sound Trap we thought this would be a good way to incorporate what the teachers are already doing in the classroom as an option for submission.
Questions?
If you have any questions regarding anything pertaining to the 2020-2021 Superintendent Honors Virtual Music Showcase, please do not hesitate to contact me at ryangardner@dadeschools.net