Join us for the 2010 High School Honor Band & Jazz Ensemble Festival at George Mason University!
January 21 - 23, 2010
George Mason University
Registration Deadline: December 11, 2009
Every year, the Potomac Arts Academy and George Mason University host the High School Honor Band Festival, bringing in gifted high school students from all over the region to the Mason campus for 3 days of exciting and intense musical immersion. This year, for the very first time, we have added an Honor Jazz Ensemble component, recognizing the importance and vitality of jazz in music education programs. We invite you to join us for this amazing weekend filled with masterclasses taught by Mason faculty, eye-opening discussions pertaining to college auditions and what it’s like to study music in college, an opportunity to perform with the award-winning Mason Pep Band “Doc Nix and the Green Machine”, and the chance to work with our special Guest Conductor for a final performance open to the public. This is way beyond band camp!
Click on a link below for more information:
- REGISTER NOW! (Download Official Registration Form)
- How to Apply / Fees
- Audition Information (including Scholarships to GMU) VERY IMPORTANT!
- Festival Schedule
- Festival Faculty
- Download 2010 Brochure
FESTIVAL COORDINATOR: John Kilkenny, (571) 286-2796, jkilken1@gmu.edu
How to Apply / Fees
Any student grade 9 through 12 currently enrolled in a band program at a public or private school may apply for the Festival. Other students MUST first contact the Honor Band Festival Coordinator for approval. REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2009!
FEES: The 2010 Festival Fee is $65, which includes festival T-shirt and dinner on Friday. There is an optional $10 Parking Fee. (Please indicate that you want a Parking permit on the Registration Form and add $10 to your total payment.)
PARKING: Visitors to Mason must park in designated areas and display an appropriate permit. A 2-day Festival permit for Lot K is available for $10 and may be picked up at Check-In on the first day. You may also park in one of the parking decks for an hourly/daily rate.
HOUSING: Housing options are available. Please contact the Festival Coordinator for more information.
Print and fill out the registration form and mail it in with payment information to the Potomac Arts Academy. Upon receipt of the completed form, we will send you an acceptance packet via email.
REGISTER NOW! (Download Official Registration Form)
Audition Information
Auditions (for seating placement only) will occur at the start of the Festival. This is for seating placement only and does not affect your involvement in the Festival. FESTIVAL AUDITION REQUIREMENTS:
Honor Band Wind and Brass:
- Major scales, full range of instrument
- Prepared etude, selected from your District Band audition literature OR other appropriate solo repertoire. (Approximately 2 minutes in length.)
Honor Band Percussion:
- Snare drum: rudiments & concert roll
- Mallets: major scales and chromatic scale
- Timpani: sight-reading and tuning exercise at the audition
- Percussion students should prepare a solo on snare drum and either mallets or timpani.
Honor Jazz Ensemble:
- Scales, sight-reading and improvisations on an F Blues
ALL STUDENTS: Be prepared to sight-read!
For Acceptance & Scholarships to George Mason University 2010/11
Festival participants who wish to audition for acceptance to the George Mason University School of Music in the 2010/11 academic year should schedule Thursday, January 21st as their audition date through the School. There are expanded audition requirements. Contact Lynn Wildman at mwildman@gmu.edu or call the music office at (703) 993-1380 for further information about the audition process. Your University audition will also serve as you Festival audition.
Click here to visit the GMU School of Music website.
Festival participants who wish to audition for scholarships for the 2010/11 academic year to the School of Music should check the appropriate box on the Festival registration form. There is scholarship money available for both classical and jazz applicants. These auditions will coincide with the Festival seating placement auditions.
Click here to visit the GMU School of Music website.
If you have any questions about the audition process, please contact the Festival Coordinator.
John Kilkenny: (571) 286-2796, jkilken1@gmu.edu
Festival Schedule
All times are subject to change.
Thursday, January 21
4:00 - 4:30 pm Student Check-In and Orientation
Lobby, Center for the Arts
4:30 - 7:00 pm Auditions (see Auditions section for more info)
Concert Hall, Center for the Arts
7:00 pm Pep Band event
Friday, January 22
8:00 am - 5:00 pm Honor Band Rehearsals, Master Classes and Workshops*
Concert Hall, Center for the Arts
8:00 am - 5:00 pm Jazz Band Rehearsals, Master Classes and Workshops*
Harris Theatre
*Students should bring $$ or their own lunch, dinner will be provided.
5:00 - 6:30 pm Dinner and Round Table Discussion
Location TBA
8:00 pm Feature Concert: Mason Jazz FREE for participants
Harris Theatre
Saturday, January 23
9:00 - 11:30 am Dress Rehearsal
Concert Hall, Center for the Arts
11:30 am - 12:30 pm Lunch (not provided)
12:30 - 1:00 pm Call time/ Warm up
Backstage, Center for the Arts
1:00 pm Final Concert FREE
Mason Wind Symphony
Honor Band
Honor Jazz Ensemble
Concert Hall, Center for the Arts
Participating students are required to attend all rehearsals and the final performance in their entirety.
Honor Band Repertoire: Jager “Espirit de Corps”, Whitacre “October”, Holst “First Suite”
Jazz Ensemble Repertoire: To Be Announced
Festival Faculty
Captain Michelle A. Rakers, Honor Band Guest Conductor
Assistant Director Captain Michelle A. Rakers joined “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in May 1998 as a trumpeter/cornetist. She was appointed Assistant Director and commissioned a first lieutenant in July 2004 and promoted to her current rank by the Commandant of the Marine Corps General Michael W. Hagee on Jan. 1, 2006. She is both the first female Assistant Director and first female commissioned officer in the history of “The President’s Own.” With the Marine Band, Capt. Rakers has performed at the White House, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, and across the country during the band’s annual concert tour. She has served as a conductor and coordinator for the fall and winter Chamber Music Series, and was nominated for her current position in 2003. On June 13, 2004, she conducted her first band concert, at the U.S. Capitol. Capt. Rakers, a 1986 graduate of the Marian Heights Academy in Ferdinand, Ind., received a Bachelor’s degree in music management from the University of Evansville in Indiana in 1990. She continued her studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., where she earned a Master’s degree in music performance in 1991. Her trumpet instructors include James Bursen of the University of Evansville, Vincent Cichowicz of Northwestern University, and Chris Gekker from the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. Her conducting instructors include Mallory Thompson of Northwestern University and Kate Tamarkin of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. In 2005, she received the University of Evansville’s Distinguished Alumni Award, and she was granted an honorary induction into Tau Beta Sigma, a national music sorority. Prior to joining “The President’s Own,” Capt. Rakers performed with the Kalamazoo Symphony in Michigan, and the Evansville Philharmonic in Indiana.
Professor Mark Camphouse, Honor Band
A product of the rich cultural life of Chicago, composer-conductor Mark Camphouse was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1954 and received his formal musical training at Northwestern University. He began composing at an early age, with the Colorado Philharmonic premiering his First Symphony at age 17. His works for wind band have received widespread critical acclaim and are performed frequently throughout the United States and abroad. Engagements as a guest conductor, lecturer and clinician have taken him to 36 states, Canada and Europe. Mr. Camphouse is an elected member of the American Bandmasters Association and serves as conductor of the National Band Association’s Young mentor project. Current Interim Director of the School of Music at George Mason University, Mr. Camphouse was formerly Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Radford University in Virginia.
Professor Jim Carroll, Honor Jazz Ensemble
Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra director, Jim Carroll has a versatile background ranging from tours with Michael Jackson to Woody Herman and His Young Thundering Herd. Jim received both his Undergraduate and Graduate training from Indiana University under the tutelage of David Baker and Eugene Rousseau. His travels have taken him to major venues in each of the Fifty States, Europe and the Far East. He has performed at the Aurex, Nice, Bern, Concord, Montreux, Kool, Monterey, Newport, North Sea, Perugia, and Pori jazz festivals. Active as an educator, he has taught at Butler University, Capital University and the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops. Jim was a charter member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, in residence at the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History. He performed and toured with the group until 1999 when he assumed the position as Director of Jazz Studies at George Mason University. He is passionate about spreading the word of the power of the arts to bring people together, change lives and do good in the world. Jim resides in Manassas, Virginia with his wife Janette.
Professor John Kilkenny, Honor Band
John Kilkenny received his BM from the Juilliard School and his MM from Temple University Studies with Alan Abel, Greg Zuber, Dan Druckman, Jonathan Haas. He has performed with National Symphony, Washington Opera, Washington Chamber Symphony, Washington Ballet, American Symphony, National Repitory Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute, Aspen Music Festival. Chamber music appearances with the Focus Festival of Contemporary Music, Washington Symphonic Brass, Prism Brass Quintet, Spotlight on Contemporary music, Piccolo Spoleto, John Tafoya, Greg Zuber, Peter Erskine, Robert Van Sice. John has appeared at the 2003, 2005, 2007 Bands of America National Percussion Festival, 2003 Virginia music Educators Conference, and the 2002 Virginia DC day of Percussion. Posts: Percussion section coordinator, John Philip Sousa Foundation National High School Honor Band. Coordinator and Co Chair, University of Maryland Summer Percussion Workshop. Music Director, Metropolitan Wind Symphony. Currently John teaches Percussion at GMU. He is endorsed by Vic Firth Mallets.