Virtual Auditions Next Week - UPDATE

Happy Friday to everyone! First, I would like to thank our Encore parent that reached out to me using the website contact form yesterday to point out the confusion on being able to subscribe to our daily blog. Her input helped me improve the website by adding a subscribe form at the top of the daily blog page. If you have not already subscribed to the blog, you can do so by going to https://www.encorehighschool.com/blog and subscribing. Thank you again for your input. It is really appreciated.

Virtual Auditions are taking place next week on August 27th. This will be the first time in the history of Encore that auditions will take place virtually. The arts teachers are working diligently to set appointments for students that have requested an audition and they are being creative on how the auditions will take place virtually. Especially in conservatories like cirque acrobatics, creating an audition virtually can be tricky. I applaud our arts teachers in their flexibility and commitment to continuing a rigorous arts training program in this unprecedented time.

As promised, we have updated the website to have the audition and assessment forms to help families prepare for the auditions. Some of the categories within the assessment forms have not been altered for COVID virtual auditions, but I feel like it is really important for all of our artists to understand and know what is expected when we are in "normal" times.

If you visit https://www.encorehighschool.com/copy-of-arts you will be able to click on the audition and assessment forms that our teachers use to determine a conservatory level.

As arts teachers are going through the auditions and assessments, they will ask for demonstration of a skill and then determine if the student has mastery of that skill. This means that the student would be able to successfully demonstrate the skill 9 out of 10 times, not that they are going to push themselves out of their comfort zone to maybe complete the skill 2 out of 10 times. Mastery means that the skill has been pushed into muscle memory and can be achieved almost every time.

Mastery is important because this is the expectation in order for a student to achieve an "M" on the audition test. If they cannot demonstrate Mastery, they will receive a "NM" which stands for Not Mastered. While students are not expected to be able to Master all of the skills on the audition test, it is expected that they will have Mastery of most of the skills on the audition.

Generally, during an audition students will start with the preconservatory mastery skills and work their way through the levels. When a student reaches a point where they are not demonstrating comfortable mastery, this is where the student will be placed in terms of conservatory levels. Students enrolled in a conservatory have three attempts at "leveling up" during the school year for the subsequent school year. (Students stay in the same level for the entire school year.) The conservatory level that they have auditioned into will be shown in their LAB courses within the conservatory.

This following picture shows the page where you can see all of the audition / assessment forms.

Not every student needs to audition nor is it a requirement to audition to be enrolled in arts classes. Only students wishing to level into a conservatory program should audition. If you are a current student that already leveled into the correct class in the assessments prior to COVID, you do not need to audition. In order to reserve your spot for auditions, go to https://www.encorehighschool.com/calendar and RSVP for virtual conservatory arts auditions.

We are excited for a great year. Thank you for your ongoing support of youth arts and thank you for your ongoing support of Encore High School.

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Denise Griffin, CEO is the author of this blog for Encore Education Corporation. Part of Encore Education Corporation is Encore High School, a free public performing arts regional high school in Southern California grades 7 - 12. Encore's program is currently taking applications for the fall 2020 enrollment. Encore offers full time, hybrid time, and independent study programs. Encore offers transporation from the Inland Empire and the high desert. www.encorehighschool.com. Where arts and academics grow together. WASC Accredited. Copyright 2020.