The Midwest Cup Show Choir Invitational

The Glenn Korff School of Music In the Hixon-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Presents The Midwest Cup Show Choir Invitational Hosted by UNL S 2014 Directors Handbook

Table of Contents Welcome...3 Arrival...4 Performance Stage...5 Stage Layout...5 Admission Prices...5 Seating...6 First Aid...6 Photography and Video Taping...6 Contest Procedures...6 Morning, Day, and Evening Awards...7 Competition Regulations...8 Concessions...9 Westbrook Building (Homerooms) Map...10 Performance Schedule...11 2

Greetings from Lincoln, The Glenn Korff School of Music and the Big Red Singers welcome you to the 2014 Midwest Cup Show Choir Invitational. Thank you for choosing to participate in this year s event. We have worked many hours over the past several months preparing for your arrival. We have a tremendous line-up of ensembles performing, and we know the day will be entertaining and rewarding for performers and spectators alike. The beautiful Lied Center is certainly one of the top venues for a competition like this in the Midwest. The first-class facility is a memorable experience for any ensemble. We are proud of the fact that our competition runs on time and offers a warm, friendly, and exciting environment for you and your students. We pride ourselves in the great judges we secure for the event as well as the fairness of the day. As you know, the day will be busy for competing schools and organizers alike. We hope the information provided in this packet will be useful and answer any questions you may have. Please review this handbook and let us know if any questions have been left unanswered. We encourage you to share information with students and parents as well. We are always looking to improve what we do and your feedback is crucial to that mission. We are looking forward to seeing you on Saturday, January 18 th, 2014! Warmly, Scott Rieker Coordinator, Midwest Cup Director, Big Red Singers Megan Tantillo, Abbie Lamb, Kevin Palu Student Coordinators, Midwest Cup 3

ARRIVAL The Lied Center will be opened one hour prior to the first group s performance time. Student performers will get their wrist bands while still on the bus. Directors will receive a packet upon arrival that will include wristbands for director as well as 6 chaperone wristbands (per school). Each school s director will be responsible for handing out the wristbands to chaperones. All groups have been assigned a homeroom and will have a student host during the day. Because of the space limitations of the music building, a few of our groups will be sharing the larger homeroom spaces with other schools. Please feel free to ask your student host any questions you may have. We are here to make your experience at Midwest Cup as stress-free as possible. Equipment can be unloaded at the Johnny Carson Theatre Entrance on the corner of Q Street and 11 th Street (there will be a parking attendant there to direct your buses/trailers from 6:30 a.m. to noon). Each group will have approximately 8 x 10 of storage area. This area is close to the performance venue, so please be respectful of other groups performing when you are accessing your equipment. For larger equipment needs (equipment that won t fit into your assigned space), please contact the contest coordinator (scottrieker@yahoo.com) with your needs. Costumes and smaller equipment can be stored in the homerooms. Just a reminder that no drum set will be provided. When you first arrive, ALL PERFORMERS/CREW MEMBERS MUST GET WRISTBANDS; they will then be asked to unload their equipment into the storage area. All other spectators should enter through the front doors of the Lied Center located on the east side of the building off of 12 th Street. The Lied Center ticket booth will be open at 7:00 a.m. and house will open at 7:15 a.m. We know that you will treat our facilities with the same respect that you would treat your own school. Please keep homerooms neat and clean. Thank you for not having any food or beverages (except bottled water) in the performance venue. NOTE RULE CHANGE: NO OUTSIDE FOOD IS ALLOWED IN THE HOMEROOMS IN EITHER WESTBROOK MUSIC BUILDING OR THE EMBASSY SUITES. THIS IS A FUNDRAISER FOR THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC, SO WE ASK THAT YOU UTILIZE OUR CONCESSIONS AREA DURING THE DAY. PENALTY WILL BE INELIGIBILITY FOR ANY CONTEST AWARDS OR PARTICIPATION IN THE NIGHT FINALS. Please note that the Lied Center is in downtown Lincoln and we ask all schools to keep their students in that area unless otherwise approved by their director. The University of Nebraska believes in good sportsmanship and encourages all groups to watch and learn from all the talented schools we have competing at the Midwest Cup. Please review appropriate audience behavior with your students and parents before arrival. 4

PERFORMANCE STAGE All groups will perform in the Lied Center main hall. All groups will be held in the warm-up room until the back-stage area is cleared of the previous group. There will be no access from the front of the stage. After the performance, instrumentalists and crew members will return equipment to the Johnny Carson Theatre with the remainder of the group being led to the critique room (Steinhardt Room). Instrumentalists and crew members may join the critique AFTER all equipment is returned to the proper area; however they must gain entrance to the critique area by going around the outside of the Lied Center and entering through the main entrance. STAGE LAYOUT Instrumentalists 32 24 16 8 microphones Risers are 4 x 8 at four heights. Risers cannot be moved, but you may add any equipment to set the stage. Please keep in mind that the Lied Center is a professional entertainment venue. Hence the width of the stage is likely larger than most high schools. Please keep performers informed of this distance from offstage to the risers. Please let your performers know that there will be three types of mics on the stage. Three handheld wireless mics (can be moved anywhere on the stage), five corded mics on stands on the front of the stage (can be moved a short distance), and then mics that will be used for the sound on the DVD s. Those mics will not amplify sound (except to distort your recording). EQUIPMENT UNL will provide an acoustic piano, music stands, chairs, and electrical outlets. ADMISSION PRICES All performers, directors, (and six chaperones per school) will be admitted to the day and evening performances FREE. Performers must be identified by the performers wristband. Directors will be provided wristbands to distribute to performers and chaperones IN THE DIRECTOR S PACKET WHEN THEY ARRIVE. FOR SCHOOLS WHO ARE NOT ARRIVING BY BUS: Please provide us with a list of your ensemble members and directors and they will receive a wristband at the Johnny Carson Theater. ADMISSION PRICES FOR GENERAL PUBLIC: $6 for the morning and $11 for afternoon/finals. 5

SEATING RESERVED SEATING DURING THE DAY PERFORMANCE The balcony of the Lied Center will be reserved for performers and chaperones. To encourage support for the performing choir, a cheering section be reserved for family and friends of the performing choir, consisting of about 66 seats. Once that area is filled, students will need to be in the balcony. If the unexpected occurs, and the balcony and the cheering section are both filled, closed-circuit TV will be available in the Steinhart Room. After your group is finished performing, please vacate these rows to make room for fans of the following choir. This rule is in effect for both the day and night rounds. FIRST AID The First Aid Station will be located in the Lied Center (orchestra lobby next to elevators). Basic First Aid supplies will be available this will not include the dispensing of any type of medication. We require an adult or chaperone from your group to stay with the sick or injured person the entire time they remain at the First Aid Station. PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO TAPING Taking pictures or videos of the performance is prohibited. A person found doing this may be asked to leave and forfeit their ticket. This event will be recorded, and DVD s will be available to order. Order forms will be available the day of the competition. Each ensemble will receive a copy of their daytime performance that will be included in the director s packet. CONTEST PROCEDURES 1.) Prior to your performance, a twenty-minute warm-up is allowed. Your host will lead you to the warm-up room and the holding/staging area. 2.) Your equipment must be brought on and arranged during your 25 minute allotted time by your group members. You may have your group begin bringing their equipment into the wings when signaled. 3.) The contest emcees will introduce your group when you are ready. As soon as you are finished performing, please remove all of your equipment from the stage area. You are free to leave the UNL equipment where it is. 4.) Following your performance, your equipment will be stored in the Johnny Carson Theatre connected to the main stage. 5.) All groups that do not make the Evening Finals are asked to immediately remove their equipment from their homeroom and equipment storage area following the Day Awards/Finals Announcements. All members of these choirs are encouraged to stay and enjoy the evening finals. The concessions area will remain open until midway through finals. 6

6.) All directors may pick up their day scoring results and recordings on stage after the day awards ceremony. Boots and Cats (UNL s female a cappella group) will perform at the end of the morning competition. The Big Red Singers will perform in exhibition at the end of the afternoon competition, and Rocktavo (UNL s male a cappella group) will perform at the end of the night rounds as scores are being tabulated. NOTE: This year we will have morning awards before lunch for the Prep and Single Gender groups. There will be a presentation of day awards/plaques to each participating school following the afternoon performances. Please have two student representatives from your group ready to gather on the stage to receive your wards immediately following the exhibition performance. During the Day Awards, an award will be presented to the Outstanding Combo, the Outstanding Male Vocal Soloist and Outstanding Female Vocal Soloist for their performances within their show choir s competition show during the day. Then, the emcees will then announce the names of the top six ensembles (determined by the high scores of ALL competing groups from the day session). These names will be drawn at random for performance order. MORNING AWARDS *3 rd Place in Single Gender Division *2 nd Place in Single Gender Division *1 st Place in Single Gender Division *3 rd Place in Prep Division *2 nd Place in Prep Division *1 st Place in Prep Division DAY AWARDS *Participation awards *Outstanding Combo *Outstanding Female Vocal Soloist *Outstanding Male Vocal Soloist *Finalists (6 groups) will then be announced EVENING FINALS COMPETITION 1.) The top six ensembles from the Varsity session will compete in the Evening Finals Competition. The evening scores will determine Outstanding Vocal and Outstanding Choreography awards. 2.) The Evening Finals will begin at 7:45 p.m. with the first ensemble. 3.) It is strongly recommended to the first three ensembles performing in finals to load their equipment immediately after their finals performance to alleviate a long wait and congested loading area after the competition s conclusion. 4.) Rocktavo will perform while the judge s scores are tabulated at the end of the Evening Finals competition. The awards ceremony will immediately follow. 7

5.) Any scores that are tied in the Final Competition will be broken by the Daytime Round Scores. 6.) All directors may pick up their scores shortly after the evening awards ceremony on the stage. EVENING FINALS AWARDS *5 th Runner-up *4 th Runner-up *3 rd Runner-up *2 nd Runner-up *Outstanding Choreography *Outstanding Vocals *1 st Runner-up *Grand Champion COMPETITION REGULATIONS 1.) Groups are free to perform any style or type of music they wish. There is not a minimum or maximum number of songs that must be performed. However, each ensemble is allotted 25 minutes on the performing stage. This time is clocked by a contest official and begins officially when any member of the school s organization, including stagehands, director, etc., enters the stage. The penalty for going over the allotted 25 minutes is the deduction of one point per second that the group is in violation. 2.) Directors may be on stage with their group and direct if they wish. 3.) Any type of instrumental accompaniment may be used and is judged as an integral part of a group s performance. All participants, including instrumentalists, must be students in the school they are representing. EXCEPTION: An adult pianist may perform with the group. Accompaniment shall be LIVE music only. NO TAPES WILL BE ALLOWED. 4.) In order to avoid congestion and to keep the contest running smoothly, all equipment in the auditorium, including that which is carried by individual performers (e.g. hats or other props) must be brought onto the stage by way of STAGE LEFT. Performers may enter and exit from either or both sides as long as equipment flow is not congested. 5.) All Finals Round performance times are estimated. Groups will not be penalized based upon time. When one group finishes their performance, the next one will move into the stage area. 6.) No special lighting requests will be allowed. House lights will be off and the stage will be well lit during each performance. At no time will fireworks, fire, fog, or other hazardous materials be allowed. 7.) Performance order for the Evening Finals will be determined by random draw. Should the last group competing in the day round make finals, and happens to be drawn first for finals, their name will be put back into the draw and another group will be selected. 8.) In respect to the performers, NO ONE will be permitted to ENTER OR LEAVE the main hall once a group has begun its performance. (Please inform parents/students/friends of this...the Lied staff WILL NOT bend on this rule.) 9.) Choirs performing in the Evening Finals are NOT required to perform the same show as in the day session. However, if there are changes from the first performance, the registration table must be alerted so as to check any possible technical issues. 8

10.) No outside food will be allowed in the Westbrook Music Building. Because this is a fundraiser for the Glenn Korff School of Music, we ask that you utilize our concessions area. Penalty will be ineligibility for all awards and participation in night finals. CONCESSIONS Concessions will be sold in the lobby of Kimball Recital Hall. There is not space available to eat there. We ask that you eat and drink carefully in your homerooms. NO FOOD OR DRINK IS ALLOWED IN THE LIED CENTER. We are thrilled to announce that a Lincoln/UNL favorite restaurant has agreed to partner with Midwest Cup in offering some menu items for our concession area. In addition to the standard items provided in the past, VALENTINO S will offer their signature pizzas for lunch, for $3/slice. (The slices are the same size as those served at Husker Football Games.) 9

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Performance Time School Homeroom Category Warm- up On Deck 8:00 AM Papillion La Vista Heart and Soul 109 Single Gender 7:20 AM 7:45 AM 8:25 AM Elkhorn South women's show choir 132/W Single Gender 7:45 AM 8:10 AM 8:50 AM Millard West Uptown Girls 130/W Single Gender 8:10 AM 8:35 AM 9:15 AM Lincoln East Elegance 9 Single Gender 8:35 AM 9:00 AM 9:40 AM Lincoln Northeast Dynamix 110 Single Gender 9:00 AM 9:25 AM 10:05 AM Johnston Synergy 119/N Prep 9:25 AM 9:50 AM 10:30 AM Norris 68th Street Singers 119/S Prep 9:50 AM 10:15 AM 10:55 AM Lincoln Southwest Ambience 114 Prep 10:15 AM 10:40 AM 11:20 AM Elkhorn South Power Surge 132/W Prep 10:40 AM 11:05 AM 11:45 AM Millard West Swing Cats 130/W Prep 11:05 AM 11:30 AM 12:10 PM BOOTS AND CATS & Morning Awards 11:30 AM 11:55 AM LUNCH 1:30 PM Pius X Spectrum 105 Varsity 12:50 PM 1:15 PM 1:55 PM Grand Island Northwest 14 Karat Gold 104 Varsity 1:15 PM 1:40 PM 2:20 PM Lincoln High CONNECTIONS 110 Varsity 1:40 PM 2:05 PM 2:45 PM Lincoln East Express 9 Varsity 2:05 PM 2:30 PM 3:10 PM Johnston Innovation 119/N Varsity 2:30 PM 2:55 PM 3:35 PM Lincoln Northeast Voices N' Harmony 132/E Varsity 2:55 PM 3:20 PM 4:00 PM Benton Community Celebration Co. 130/E Varsity 3:20 PM 3:45 PM BREAK 4:40 PM Norris Norris Gold 119/S Varsity 4:00 PM 4:25 PM 5:05 PM Papillion La Vista Free Spirit 109 Varsity 4:25 PM 4:50 PM 5:30 PM Lincoln Southwest Resonance 114 Varsity 4:50 PM 5:15 PM 5:55 PM Elkhorn South Blackout 132/W Varsity 5:15 PM 5:40 PM 6:20 PM Millard West West in the Groove 130/W Varsity 5:40 PM 6:05 PM 6:45 PM BIG RED SINGERS & Daytime Awards Exhibition 6:05 PM 6:30 PM DINNER 7:45 PM Finalist #1 7:05 PM 7:30 PM 8:15 PM Finalist #2 7:35 PM 8:00 PM 8:45 PM Finalist #3 8:05 PM 8:30 PM 9:15 PM Finalist #4 8:35 PM 9:00 PM 9:45 PM Finalist #5 9:05 PM 9:30 PM 10:15 PM Finalist #6 9:35 PM 10:00 PM 10:45 PM ROCKTAVO & BIG RED SINGERS 10:05 PM 10:30 PM 11:15 PM Finals Awards (Revised January 7, 2014) +Finals times are all approximate. Please be ready to move the finals round along. I think we can all appreciate finishing the day EARLY! +UNL s BOOTS AND CATS will perform at the end of the morning session. BIG RED SINGERS will be performing in exhibition at the end of the afternoon while scores are tallied. ROCKTAVO will perform at the end of the finals competition. 11