Dear Friends,

The time is fast approaching for UIL Concert/Sightreading at Mt. Pleasant

High School April 3-4.  When you arrive, enter the drive by the guard shack, east of the flags located at the center of campus.  You may drop your students off at the side walk, just past the choir hall.  This is the entrance between the choir hall and the new gym.  One of our students will be there to instruct the bus driver where to park and will walk you to the auditorium entry area. At the assigned time for warm-up, a student will meet you in the auditorium foyer and escort you to the band hall for warm-ups.  The official UIL office is in the small band hall.  You may bring your music and register as you are brought to the waiting area outside the warm-up room. Our facilities for changing clothes is limited to the rest rooms in the entry of the auditorium, so please plan accordingly.  The plan is to have 7 sections of risers on the stage (3 step) and 6 sections in the choir hall for sightreading.  The grand piano will be on the stage of the auditorium.  My students will be available to roll the grand piano wherever you would like it on the stage.  Risers and shells cannot be moved.  The curtain will be closed as you enter the stage, so if you wish to do some adjustments, it will not be seen by the judges.   Due to a quick transition time between band rehearsals and set-up time for the contest, there will not be risers in the warm-up room.  There will be an open floor, piano and music stand.  It will be placed in the same arrangement as the stage.

I did a quick survey of several directors and it appears the concession stand is not a real need.  Most choirs sing, go out to eat and go back to school.  Therefore, we will not be providing a concession stand.  There will be coffee and dohnuts available for directors all day in the UIL Office. Students are welcome to bring drinks and snacks, but our school policy only allows these items in the foyer.  Directors, please instruct your students in concert manners.  Sometimes we have problems with choirs and directors getting up or coming to the auditorium in the middle of a performance.  Please instruct all concerned that no one is to enter or leave the auditorium until a choir has completed all three selections.  We can teach respect for each other by modeling good concert behavior.  Cell phones or 2-way radios need to be set on silent.  One year we had problems with students playing video games during a presentation.  Please remind students these performances are being recorded and we don’t need added sound effects! Your help would be much appreciated.

Please contact me of any special needs you might have.  We will do our best to make this a rewarding experience for you.  It has been my privilege to host this event for the past several years.  I know the new director will also want to welcome you any time to MPHS.  I wish you the best!