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Are auditions illegal??Date: May 1, 2009
A collegue came to me this morning and told me that the
principal had been talking to the department heads about the
advanced choir. She told them that the auditions wouldn't matter
because it was illegal to audition middle school students for
enrollment in a performing arts class. This has been done for years
and never been an issue. I have more than one choir, so students
who want to be in choir don't have to audition. They only have to
audition to be part of the advanced group. Has anyone else ever
encountered this? This is the first time I have heard of it. Replies (14): Threaded | Chronological
Allen H Simon on May 1, 2009 9:14am
It's probably not actually illegal, but rather just a school district policy about how students are assigned to classes, most likely with the good intention of reducing discrimination. In some districts all classes have to be open to all students, and if there are too many they have to be thinned through some non-merit-based system such as first-come-first-served or random selection, to guard against any bias in the selection process. Of course, this is silly in regard to advanced choir, but it might be tough to challenge it. You need to find out exactly where this policy is in place before you can determine whether you can resist it. You might have to petition the school board to make an official change of policy, or perhaps the superintendent can make an exception.
My wife had a similar situation a few years back when she tried to institute an advanced choir as an after-school "club". The powers wouldn't permit it to be auditioned, because of a school policy that required all clubs to admit all students, so she just dropped the idea.
on May 1, 2009 9:20am
Hello Jennifer,
I recommend that you start by obtaining complete and correct information about the situation so that you can act from an informed position. Calmly and pleasantly, and with the attitude that you are trying to understand how you can best do your job and serve your students, ask your department head to share with you the policy/procedure, or whatever other documentation there is on this issue. Ask for clarification of the policy. Ask to see the pertinent law or regulation, if indeed any exists. If necessary, ask the school's legal counsel to provide the information. If the regulation truly does exist, they should not hesitate to provide it to you, along with the school's written policy and procedure that SHOULD be in place. If you run into stonewalling, or hesitation, or uncertainty, then perhaps there is no actual law or regulation. Startt with getting the correct information, and proceed from there. Don't waste time on worry or even on action until you have the facts in hand. Don't base any actions on your colleague's speculation or worries.
What state are you in? Just curious.
Let us know how this turns out.
Sarah Hager Johnston, BMus MLS
GraceNotes Writing and Research
on May 1, 2009 10:56am
Jennifer:
Both Allen and Sarah are absolutely correct in that you have to have accurate information about this and not just rumor being passed around.
However, assuming that there is such a policy IN SOME FORM, the fact that you have other choirs so that no student has to audition in order to sing in choirs seems like your strongest argument.
A second argument should probably be that the advanced choir is similar to advanced placement in that it exists to help students prepare for and qualify for the next level, which in your situation would be high school. (I'm not sure how much weight that would carry in middle school.)
Again, find out what the rules are for athletic teams, if there are any at your school. They may indeed be open to all students who wish to try (although I'm pretty sure there are gender requirements). But is there any requirement that everyone who turns out for sports must be played in games?
I'm aware, from the experience of my own kids as they went through middle schools, that there's a philosophy that they should be encouraged to try new and different things, and I'm all in favor. If that is in fact a stated policy in your school district, perhaps what it means is that you cannot HAVE an advanced choir. One possible way around that (and this was done in our school district) is to have, e.g., "6th, 7th, and 8th grade choirs," but to allow selected students to fly up above their grade level, if you can get away with it. That was the case with my older son, who was moved up in the bands because he was such a quick study and such a good percussionist (able to tune timpani without a pitchpipe, for example).
Illegal? Almost certainly not, although states can have some bizarre laws. Against policy? Very possible, and you have to get the facts.
John
on May 1, 2009 12:31pm
After 21 years of teaching public school and 11 years of teaching at the university level, I have never heard of auditions being illegal. I have heard of people who want students to never have to experience the consequences of their actions. These people believe equal opportunity is the same as equal results. Do the sports teams at the school accept all students on the teams and allow them to play equal numbers of minutes per game? Do they put seventh grade math students in the algebra classes without the students demonstrating appropriate level of proficiency? I'm sorry, but I have a difficulty with administrators who have too much time on their hands. My understanding of the law is that we have to provide opportunity for all students to have a music experience if they choose to do so. Having a beginning and more advanced choir fulfills that mission.
My suggestion is to find all the examples in the school district and real life where people experience the competitive nature of an open society. Ask them how they expect to have students be ready for the realities of life, if they never get to experience disappointment at younger ages. The way to build self-esteem is to give students reasonable goals that require hard work while you give them the skills to succeed. When they succeed, the success will have real meaning.
Don Campbell
on May 1, 2009 1:50pm
Does your school have athletic teams for which members have
to try out, and some are excluded based on their abilities? Or are
all the sports teams open to everyone? I suspect the former is the
case - often basketball and volleyball are "cut" sports, sometimes
with no other team available. Sports like wrestling, track and
cross country are "no-cut" sports, but the hierarchy within the
team is very much tied to ability. Sorry to bring up the
music/sports comparison, but I think that here it is valid.
SJS
on May 1, 2009 2:16pm
They are legal as long as all students have the option of auditioning and all students have a choir to join. It is no different than having advanced physics or Honors Language Arts. Their auditions are their test scores and assignments. Advanced students get extremely bored and frustrated in lower level classes, and the same is true for choir. When we are considering equity, the same applies for our advanced students as it does for those with a lesser aptitude.
on May 2, 2009 2:59am
It is sad that the "No child left behind" philosophy sometimes means that "no child gets ahead."
on May 2, 2009 4:49am
Put it in terms that will make your principal tear up with joy at the implementation of one of today's educational buzz words. It's a FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT!!! Auditions are, in fact, formative assessments that identify the needs of the students so that you can plan your strategies. Part of that is grouping students with similar needs. Whatever you call it, that's what we are all supposed to be doing as educators. Just further evidence that music educators are ahead of the curve...
on May 2, 2009 10:24am
Michael hit the nail on the head. Students are assessed for placement in the appropriate classes in all curricular disciplines. Vocal music is one of those disciplines, and choir classes are curricular. I think the word "audition" doesn't do us any favors when used in the context of curricular choir classes. After all, it's the same word we use for extra-curricular opportunities like plays, dance shows, and select choral or instrumental groups. To some, the notion of auditions implies hand-picking and favoritism. So by choosing a different word or adopting a slightly different philosophy, we might be able to avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble.
As Michael pointed out, assessment – evaluating pitch, tone, reading and aural skills, etc. – is much more than a tryout. It's actual testing that helps us identify our students' needs, group students accordingly, plan instruction and set appropriate developmental benchmarks for each class, and choose appropriate literature for study and performance. Also, we can point to the results of those assessments if students, parents, and administrators have questions or choose to challenge our decisions. Testing is purposeful, useful and strategic, and it's the best tool we have to ensure that no child is left behind, as often happens when students are not placed appropriately. What administrator could possibly take issue with that logic?
on May 4, 2009 5:55am
I sing in an auditioned community chamber choir and we also have a treble choir for kids. To avoid the anxiety associated with "auditions" our director suggested calling them "vocal interviews". I really like that phrase and it certainly goes along with "formative assessment".
on May 4, 2009 6:57am
Misty wrote:
"To avoid the anxiety associated with "auditions" our director suggested calling them "vocal interviews". I really like that phrase and it certainly goes along with "formative assessment"."
To some extent I agree. Anything that lowers "audition fears" is worthwhile. In my music history course for non-music majors, I don't give "exams," I give "quizzes." And for my Early Music Ensemble my auditions consist of "come to rehearsal and let's see how it works out," and I've gotten valuable members who would have frozen and failed in any formal audition situation.
But I have to ask how that director handles the case in which someone is obviously not yet qualified? The children who cannot yet match pitch, for example. If it's a "Nobody Can Fail" policy, then you're stuck with whoever shows up. In other words, you have a typical small church choir and not a select ensemble capable of doing select and demanding repertoire, which SHOULD be the whole purpose of any audition.
During the years when I directed an excellent show ensemble my auditions were full, formal, and complete. I know perfectly well that people have nerves, and I usually discounted at least the first 30 seconds of an audition song, but I NEEDED to know how they functioned under pressure, and how they dealt with those nerves. On the other hand, those who made my cast got form letters, while those who did not got personal letters with suggestions for improvement.
But thanks for tying this into the "formative assessment" thread, a particular bit of jargon I was not familiar with, but one that applies rather exactly to this discussion.
John
on May 4, 2009 8:35am
Hi John,
I guess I didn't make it clear in my post that we do tell people they have to be accepted into the group. It's been a couple of years since I was involved in the audition process, but as I recall we were accepting about half of the people that auditioned.
For the adults, we would say something like "This is an auditioned group which means the director has to listen to you and decide if you can join. Don't worry about it too much, because it's really more of a vocal interview than an actual audition. She'll chat with you a little bit, you can sing something for her and she may work with you on a few exercises by the piano. It's pretty informal. And one more thing, she picks people not only based on how they sing but also for the balance of the group. So if you don't get in this year, try again when she needs people in your voice part."
For the children, it's a different story. The Treble Choir is only three years old and as a result I'm under the impression they are accepting a higher percentage of students auditioning. I haven't been directly involved so I can't speak to how the audition process works, but I am under the impression that it's clear not everyone is accepted. That was one of our purposes with this treble choir. We found that all of the children's choirs in the area are non-auditioned and therefore have to be accessible to the lowest common denominator, which as you know severely limits the music that you can do. I'm pretty sure they also use the term "vocal interview". Another thing I really like is they use a summer camp which is open to everyone to draw in potential singers for the school year program. They do vocal interviews on the last day of the camp, so the children are already very comfortable with the director.
Misty
PS. Go Hokies! I'm a Va Tech alumn from class of '91 and I sang in the concert choir under Craig Fryer.
on May 4, 2009 9:53am
The word that I use at my school is "placement", which implies that all are welcome (as Scott Wickham said) and we want to get them into the choir where they will be the most sucessful. (That is, be able to do the work and be challenged at the same time). This is also the same term that is used at my school when deciding which class of math or english a student should take.
on November 12, 2009 1:13pm
Laura has a nicely compressed answer.
If there were only one choir, as a class, and you had to audition, then a district might be challenged on it. But there IS a choir for the less talented, and I don't think the district is in legal trouble for saying that music ensembles can be divided by talent.
You might wish to avoid claims of pariality by having auditions heard and scored by middle school choir directors outside your district. Perhaps you can do the same for them. In my old high school, the choir director had an outside person help with auditions for solos.
Gail Mrozak
Board Member and Singer
Elmhurst Choral Union
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