President's Blog

We’re Officially Done

The winter season is now officially over. With the percussion portion of WGI now behind us, most are now thinking ahead to the fall season. First, congratulations to Rhythm X, Centerville HS, and Kings HS for making it to finals this past weekend.

Just one month ago, we were averaging more than 3,000 hits each day and now we’re around 100 per day. This normally happens but I want to encourage you to continue dropping by during the offseason.

The board is going to meet this weekend and we’re going to have a full circuit meeting in May so there is still a lot going on in preparation for the 2011 season. Now that I’ve gone through one season and had the pleasure of talking to so many people, the board has a lot to discuss. We have some exciting ideas as to how to continue to evolve.

I hope that you are planning to attend the circuit meeting. MEPA is a non-profit organization. The money that you pay to be a part of MEPA is pooled in order to give all units a superior contest experience. This means that all of us together must pool our talents in order to continue to provide the best experience possible but at a minimum financial impact. We continue to find ways where the budget can be optimized. Your contribution to the circuit makes it stronger. The next opportunity you have to contribute is at the full membership meeting. I hope you have RSVPed for the event.

Once our board meeting is over, I will give you a recap.

Congratulations to All!

The experience of a full retreat never gets old to me. I’ve been through so many of them but they never get old. From my perspective, it’s even better. Yesterday I saw the gym floor full of performers and the bleachers full of parents, friends, fans, and supporters. It’s proof-positive that the arts are still alive and well.

Many of us live within the world of pageantry arts. From here, we go to marching band and right back to winter ensembles with very little break. Our performers do this nearly year round but it’s easy to forget that this life is far from the norm. The facts are clear: Sadly, a large number of kids go to high school and come home without ever being involved in anything extracurricular.

The good news is that you and I are involved with young people who defy the norm. They do so much more. As much as I love the vehicle of art, the reason I’m passionate about the position I’m in is because all of us together are providing a vehicle to kids that are giving them benefits far beyond dance and drums. Read the following article.

http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Can_High_School_Extracurriculars/

We give our young people so much more than a great show. The competitive side of what we do is certainly important but we do more than that and that’s where our pride should originate.

We’ve heard it so many times and honestly, we’ve often heard it after somebody doesn’t win but if you read the article above, if you ask former students, if you ask parents what it has done for their kids, and if you think of the friends you’ve made, the memories you created, and the excitement you have, it’s easy to say with confidence:

EVERYBODY WAS A WINNER YESTERDAY!

A Week of Thanks

Can you believe that it’s already here? I can’t. It feels like the season just started but now we’re only a few days before the biggest weekend of our season. I know that you’re focused on your kids and getting them ready for the weekend but I want to take a second to talk to you about something equally important. While the competition is important, I’ve been a youth educator long enough to know that winning a show isn’t what our performers will remember as adults. Talking to former students, they talk about the bus ride, the friends, the directors who encouraged them, and the seemingly unimportant things that happen in a normal season.

That is one of the reasons that I hope that we won’t make championships week only about competition. Making this a week of thanks is equally important.

You don’t know many of their names but Denise, Jeffrey, Nate, Cassie, and Mindy are the people who calculate the scores and get your judges’ commentary from their recorder to a CD or MP3. This isn’t an easy task and at every show, something doesn’t work perfectly and it is their cool heads under pressure that allow you to never know that something went wrong. Denise, for example, meets me during the week in the parking lot of the Dayton Mall to pick up checks and judges’ sheets for every show. We always joke about making “the drop.” If you stop by one of the tabulations tables, say thanks to these hard working people. I’ve told them many times that it’s the least known yet most important job at any show.

Virgil and Warren, our sound engineers. They’ve been around for years and it’s so nice to know that the sound systems are taken care of. This is a hard, physical job because it includes moving the MEPA floor from place to place. These are two more people to thank.

Without these people, MEPA couldn’t function. These people are so easy to forget and are rarely acknowledged for the hard work that they do. As we begin our championship week, don’t forget to acknowledge those who make all of this happen.

Two Weeks Left

First of all, I heard some great comments about our guards at the WGI Regionals in Dayon, Indianapolis, and Atlanta. I was out of town for Dayton or I would have definitly been there to see the show. As a percussion guy who has band director and show designer knowledge of guard, I’ve really enjoyed learning some of the deeper knowledge that goes with what you do on that side. I’ve often told people that in this role, I feel like MEPA and its membership have given more to me than I have given to MEPA!

I’m still learning a lot but I’m enjoying the process. Until this year, I didn’t know the history of our line units. It was cool to learn that we have

MEPA Units at WGI

Hello MEPA Members

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of being the contest host for the 2010 WGI Dayton Percussion Regional. Numerous units from as far away as New York came to Dayton to compete and the day was unforgettable. One of the highlights of the day was watching our MEPA units competing. 11 of the 19 finalist units were MEPA units and 4 of our units won their class. Of course you could argue that the Dayton Regional took place in the middle of our circuit territory but let me tell you what I saw.

I saw a competition in the middle of February that had groups like New Philadelphia scoring an 85.5 and Kings at an 84.9. Centerville scored an 85.1 and many other MEPA units were at or near the 80 mark. Finally, Rhythm X nearly broke 90 with an 89.175! Scores don’t mean everything and in fact, they often mean very little. The experience of our performers is what really matters and I count many of our directors as my friends and I’m proud to say that I know some of the amazing educators.

It’s no accident that MEPA units are some of the best in the country. I want to tell you a quick story. I can’t give names because I haven’t asked their permission but the names won’t be important. Yesterday, between prelims and finals of the competition, I was sitting at a table talking to a few members of the MEPA board. We were all tired from what was already a long day and just talking about anything and everything. Both of these board members have been in the activity for a long time and if I mentioned their names, most percussion directors in the area would know them right away.

They talked about how they had made contact with numerous MEPA directors in their area just to offer their assistance. One of them was telling me that he was talking to one of the directors a couple of times per week giving him advice. What really impressed me about this was that this board member was mentoring a director who was in his class. They are direct competitors.

On the other side of it, I was talking to a director of a unit and was giving him my feedback on his show. Not everything I said was positive but he thanked me and told me that he values a colleague’s opinion and was going to think more about it and asked if I would give him more feedback next time I saw him.

This week I’m highlighting the percussion side of our activity because of the regional but let’s be clear. MEPA doesn’t have some of the best units in the nation by accident. When competing directors aren’t selfish with their knowledge, it helps the activity. When directors are receptive to criticism from fellow members, judges, and other qualified people, everybody wins.

I don’t think we realize that a good portion of circuits across the country aren’t producing a fraction of the quality that MEPA produces. We aren’t spoiled. We are blessed with people who are passionate about the activity and are more concerned with being THEIR best and helping others achieve that goal.

My congratulations not only goes out to those who competed over the weekend. It also goes to every unit director, guard and percussion, who work to make their performers the best they can be but understand that the knowledge that they have gained from so many must be passed on to the many new directors who will continue to evolve our activity.

What Could Have Been…

Monday, it looked bad. Tuesday it looked worse and by Thursday it looked terrible. MEPA shows are rarely canceled so the idea that we may have to do that was not something I wanted to think about. While it is inconvenient for units, it’s catastrophic for the show sponsor and our circuit. Flights still have to be paid for, judges paid, food and trophies purchased, and many more costs. The right thing ended up happening, though. The safety and well being of all of our units is far more important than money.

Bellbrook wasn’t looking much better on Saturday. Roughly half of the registered units were forced to cancel their performance. I’m sure that those units that were performing this weekend were tired of seeing my name in their e-mail box because often, it was more bad news or schedule changes.

What could have been, never happened, though. Directors could have been far less flexible as things changed. Even at 10:00PM on Saturday, I was texting people changing their performance times to avoid classes being split by large amounts of time. Fans could have stayed home instead of attending the Bellbrook show, and judges and other contest personnel could have used the weather as a reason to not battle the elements. In short, directors were patient, fans came out enough to fill the stands twice, and all judges and personnel were there. What could have been a logistical disaster ended up running smoothly.

On top of all of that, watching performances today made me see again this week what judges said to me last weekend. Our units are some of the best in the country. We are setting standards in the activity and all over the nation, we are being talked about. Hearing that from judges who travel the country reminded me of what we have in MEPA and what we have to continually work hard to preserve.

Thank you to everybody who worked with me to make what could have been much worse in to something great. I would like to say that I’m smart enough to make all of this work out but it’s all of us working together that makes MEPA as great as it is. The board of directors are incredible, our judges association and their leadership is invaluable, and our directors and show sponsors are flexible even when it is inconvenient for them.

Snowy Weekend

It’s a snowy weekend and sadly, one show has already been canceled. Here are a few announcements for the weekend.

1.) MEPA Apparel sales will begin at Bellbrook this Sunday. I have posted the designs online for everybody to see. We have 3 designs as well as many more colors than last year. We also have sweat pants this year. 100% of proceeds go directly back to MEPA.

2.) The MEPA Scholarship application is now online. We would like to see a record number of performers apply this year. The application is easier than it has ever been.

We hope to see you at Bellbrook on Sunday!

Tim

It’s Week #1

A few quick items going in to the first show weekend:

1.) If you haven

Regarding Schedules

With the 2010 season starting in only a few weeks, we are hard at work dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. We recently sent an e-mail to all directors regarding MP3 players for this season. If you didn’t receive this message, please e-mail me at president@mepa-circuit.org. I will resend that to you.

I wanted to give you some information about some new scheduling procedures for this year. I think you’re going to like them. First, remember that MEPA rules state that you can add or drop a show without any penalty up to 3 weeks before a show. Once the 3 week deadlines passes, there is a $150.00 penalty for dropping out of a show or not performing that day. We have found there to be some confusion regarding this. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

The most common e-mail that we are getting right now are questions about schedules. The traditional practice has been to not give out scheduling information because it changes up until the 3 week deadline. This year, we’re going a different route. In the next couple of days all show schedules except for championships will be online. These schedules are marked “TENTATIVE” at the top.

These schedules are useful for having an approximate time, within 30 minutes, of when your unit will perform. 10-14 days prior to the date of the show, we will publish a “FINAL” schedule that will reflect changes that were made. In the event that the tentative schedule changes drastically or performances times change more than 30 minutes, we will publish an updated tentative schedule as needed.

We know how that your school wants scheduling information as soon as possible and we hope that this change helps you make plans and get the information to your unit supporters in a more timely manner.

One final item: In the past, when units had a request to add or drop a show, an e-mail was sent to the logistics coordinator. You will find a schedule change form at the very bottom of each competition page. If you want to add or drop a show, go to that show’s web page and complete the form at the bottom.

No schedule requests will be taken through e-mail. These forms are set to close at one minute beyond the 3 week deadline. Keep the confirmation e-mail that is sent to you when submitting a request and understand that the submission of the request doesn’t constitute approval. Any changes are subject to MEPA rules and show availability.

We will collect all requests for a show and make changes to the tentative schedule 10-14 days before the show. Understand that if you submit a schedule change, we will not have your performance time until 10-14 days prior to the show. You can, of course, look at the tentative schedule and have a good idea of your approximate time based on the times of the rest of your class.

I’m confident that this new system is going to get the information you need in to your hands much faster and will allow you to better arrange your schedules. As always, remember that this is your circuit and all of us together are what make MEPA great. Keep in touch and let me know if this new system is helpful to you.

Tim

Less Than One Month Away

Can you believe that we’re less than one month from another exciting MEPA season? A lot has been happening behind the scenes. First, most of the information for our first solo and ensemble season is now online. The only thing left are the judges’ sheets. Those will be posted very soon. This year, Firestone High School, Centerville High School, and Miamisburg High School will be hosting these events. Anybody wishing to participate in the solo and ensemble championship event must first participate in one of the preliminary competitions. Go to the solo and ensemble page for more information.

As you know, the MEPA membership voted to have a few less shows during the 2010 season. This has resulted in shows being better attended this season. In the competitive events section, all information has been posted. As each show gets closer, we will post the remainder of the information.

In the next week we will be posting the scholarship application. In the past couple of years we have seen a decline in the amount of performers applying. If you are a performer who is a senior in high school or an age out in one of our independent units, we hope that you will apply.

The MEPA season is getting close. All information will be posted right here on mepa-circuit.org. Make sure to check the website for more information.

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