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Directors,
First I want to say thanks once again for registering to attend the 2008 Jazz Discovery Music Festival. We are very excited about the festival this year and I think you will find it to be a very enjoyable and rewarding day for both you and your students. This email contains several reminders as well as some basic information about our event. Please respond to the message with a *GOT IT* as soon as possible so I know you have received it. Please remember that you will be able to access all directors* correspondence emails on the directors* page on the festival website ().
1. Please remember that the registration fee of $150.00 was due on Friday, January 18th. If you have not sent it please do so as soon as possible. I will have a matrix on the director's page on the website (http://www.nhsjazz.com/directors_page.html) posted in a few days which shows what you have paid, what is owed, and the due dates. Please be sure to keep up with all the deadlines as posted. The next deadline is the evening concert ticket payment due on February 15th.
2. If you are not a member of IAJE I would encourage you to join. There are many educational services provided by IAJE and many more are will be implemented in the near future for members. Also, you must be an IAJE member for your students to be eligible for the two $150.00 IAJE Scholarships. For additional information about IAJE and membership information please go to . You can register online as well.
3. Please plan to hear the North Carolina School of the Arts Jazz Ensemble at noon the day of the festival. They are a very fine ensemble and I*m sure your students will enjoy hearing them. There will be lunch options available for your students on campus that day so I encourage you to make it a point to stay.
4. New to our festival this year is a director*s master class with clinician Lou Fischer. During the master classes Lou will focus on how to make your rhythm section stronger. He is a bass player and has written a book on teaching rhythm section. Lou is a very personable gentleman and I think you will find this session very informative and enjoyable. As a matter of fact, if you know of anyone that is just getting a band started, or is reluctant to start a band because of their inexperience with jazz, please invite them to attend the festival and Lou's session. I think they will get alot out of the day.
5. Lunch options. We will have lunch options posted on the website soon. There will be your basic band festival concessions available (pizza, chips, candy, etc.) and I also hope to have box lunches available for you to preorder from McCalister*s Deli. We hope to have a choice of sandwich meats; slaw, potato salad, or chips; cookie and drink. You will receive another email regarding this as soon as I have finalized the details.
6. Dinner options. There is also be a page posted on the website listing several dinner options. It will include the address and phone number for each option. I would encourage you to call ahead as many restaurants in town are very busy on Saturday evenings.
7. CD SALE. As every year, we will be running a cd sale the day of the festival. The sale will include recordings recommended by our clinicians and other new releases I think the students will enjoy. The complete list will be posted on the web site soon with the prices. Listening is the most important aspect of learning how to play jazz but it is often the most neglected by our students. Please encourage them to save their pennies so they can buy one of the recordings. It will make a huge difference in how they, and your band, plays. There will also be some additional *Free* jazz educational material as well.
8. Attached you will also find the performance schedule for the day. This includes your warmup, performance, and clinic times.
Finally, as always, please feel free to contact me at any time if you have questions or concerns. Email is the best option as I check it much more often than I do voice mail. Hope all is well and I look forward to seeing all of you on March 1st.
Mark Yost Associate Director of Bands
Northwestern High School
Rock Hill, South Carolina
(803) 981-1225 - Office (803) 981-1250 - Fax
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