WSU Tenor/Bass Fest
2023 Tenor/Bass Fest: Thursday, March 9, 2023
Goal: Our aim is to aid in the recruitment and retention of young tenors and basses and further their vocal development. We also strive to foster interest in tenor/bass singing and combat negative stereotypes associated with singing in high school. Our ultimate goal is for your students to take both their learned skills and enthusiasm for singing back to your classroom.
Who should I bring? You can bring any of your tenor/bass high/middle school vocalists. However, please only bring students whose voices have changed and are ready for the vocal range of TBB repertoire. You do not need to bring a balanced group; we will work with all of your students! Bring as many as you can, the more the merrier!
Can our tenor/bass ensemble perform? YES! We would love to have you perform one or two selections in the culminating concert. When you check-in the day of the event you’ll have the opportunity to give your performance information to the faculty.
Cost: The cost for each student participant is $20. These costs cover lunch and the festival t-shirt. Please indicate your (director) T-shirt size on the registration form. Each school will also pay a flat $30 fee no matter how many students attend. You will purchase the music for your own students.
Chaperones: We expect each director will accompany their students. If it is customary for your district to require additional supervision, your chaperones will be more than welcome to join the students for lunch and the day’s festivities.
Registration table: Students will be ready to check-in your school between 8:30 – 9:00 the morning of the event.
Music: We will be performing three pieces including one combined piece where the tenors and basses of the WSU voice area join your singers. Please order the following titles (all are available for e-print):
Preparation: As with any festival in which students come together to perform, it is imperative that your students be familiar with the music prior to the event. While the performance is informal, we hope to perform at a level that is commensurate with our aspirations as directors and help to inspire the performers involved. Practice tracks for each of the pieces will be sent to the directors via email. Repertoire will not be memorized for the performance.
Performance Attire: The attire is casual. We will all wear our festival T-shirt (included in your registration fees) for the final performance.
Folders/Pencils: Please have your students bring a folder/pencil for the performance. Even if your students feel the music is memorized, please have them bring it nonetheless. We often refer to specific areas in the music by measure numbers and want to communicate effectively with your students. Repertoire will not be memorized for the performance.
Festival Concert: The final concert will be free, open to the public, and will take place on the WSU-Pullman campus around 3:30 PM the day of the event.
Lunch: Lunch is provided for students, directors, and chaperones. Students will enjoy pizza! Your students are also welcome to bring a brown bag lunch which meets their specific dietary needs. Students should also feel free to bring snacks to have during our breaks. However, please inform your students that they should eat either in the hallways/lobby areas and cannot consume food in the house of Bryan Hall Theatre or Kimbrough Hall.
Additional Activities:
Masterclass/Lessons: Each year a member of the WSU vocal faculty present a topic. The voice faculty would also love an opportunity to work with any of your students one-on-one in a voice lesson!
Wake-up/Sing-up: What to do with your students when they’re sluggish? Physical activities! This afternoon session will integrate music and physical activity meant to energize you and your students!
Music Education Forum: Directors will have a structured time in which they are able to discuss ideas, repertoire, and continually strive to be the best they can be! Our music education students would love to have a chance to hear all of the wisdom you have after your many years “in the trenches.” We will have a structured time in which those directors who wish to meet with our WSU music education students can.
WMEA Clock Hours: Directors can earn six clock hours for participation in the event. Clock hours are free to WMEA members, nonmembers at $2 per hour earned/claimed.
Q&A with WSU Students: Your students have many questions about what it’s like to be a student in college. Our WSU tenors and basses are excited to field their questions and to give them advice on a smooth transition to college.
Schedule: Here is a sample schedule for the day.
Here are some choir director comments we received regarding past festivals.
“What did you like about your students’ experience?”
- I liked that they were able to hear the power that comes when you have 250 tenors and basses sing together. They never get that experience! So that alone is amazing.
- It was so cool to have a room full of tenors and basses having a great time just singing together. The entire trip was a great bonding experience for my singers. It also gave us some quality repertoire that we can use for other things.
- Being surrounded by so many more students “just like them”. My students came away saying things like “I made new friends today” and “thank you for encouraging me to come even when I didn’t think I wanted to come because I’m not a strong singer.”
“How might this impact your program?”
- The singers said they were told that the best way to start a tenor/bass choir is to just do it, so they said they want to come back to school and “just start a tenor/bass choir club.”
- It is an event that I foresee students looking forward to. I can’t wait to take stories about this event to my middle school feeder program and get those students excited about this upcoming trip.
- The singers came back really pumped up about getting to do their own thing. I think that if I could get some of my feeder Middle Schoolers to come with us next year, it would really help build my program
Application Deadline
Registration deadline is Monday January 30!
For more information
Email the festival coordinator, Dr. Dean Luethi – dean.luethi@wsu.edu
Registration
To register you and your students, please complete the form found here.