Dear Colleagues:
As promised in last week’s communication regarding Area All-State, we are updating on several fronts.
1. We reiterate that NYSSMA is now requiring all of our All-State and Area All-State student participants to complete a COVID-19 and Contagious Disease Liability Waiver as a condition of their participation. Forms should be scanned and emailed to rissj@hohschools.org, or postmailed to Jon Riss, 27 Farragut Ave, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. We must receive these forms prior to the first rehearsal in order for your student(s) to be eligible to participate.
2. As always, we are in need of teacher volunteers to assist with seating auditions, running sectional rehearsals, and chaperoning meals. Your help always goes a long way, and will go an even longer way during this time of recovery from the trauma of the pandemic! Please sign up here.
3. Concert ticket information will be provided shortly before the first rehearsal.
4. We hope that all accepted students are able to participate since they received the dates last academic year. With that said, we understand that there may be extenuating circumstances as we get into the rhythm of pre-pandemic norms. If you have a student unable to participate, please send an email to AAS Coordinator Jon Riss at rissj@hohschools.org as soon as you are aware. For those of you who have already reached out, please reach out again if your student list on Da Capo hasn’t been updated by Friday, September 23.
5. We very much regret to inform you that music for all three ensembles is still delayed. We have been told it is possible that we won’t receive the music in time for the WCSMA Open House. We know this is profoundly frustrating. Please be aware that this situation is not the creation of WCSMA, NYSSMA, the music distributor, or any music publishers. The music distributor and NYSSMA will be working together to alter the music ordering timeline for future years so that this does not happen again – every NYSSMA zone has been affected by this. While we are exploring what else can be done in the interim, thank you for your understanding, and we promise to mail music out as soon as possible in the event we don’t receive it in time for the WCSMA Open House.
6. Please refer to the communication sent on September 13 hyperlinked at the top of this letter for other pertinent information, such as the rehearsal and concert schedule.
Thank you for your support, and as always please let us know if there is anything we can do to help your AAS students!
Sincerely,
Jon Riss