1. Coe
  2. Faculty & Staff
  3. Bands at Coe College
  4. Jazz Summit
  5. Materials for participating bands
  6. General Information

General Information

Location

Coe College is located at 1220 First Ave. NE in Cedar Rapids. I-380, exit 20, provides easy access. Follow signs to Coe College. All scheduled events take place in Marquis Hall, Dows Theater and Sinclair Auditorium.

Arrival

Loading and unloading of equipment vehicles and busses takes place on First Avenue Westbound, in front of Sinclair Auditorium. Please follow the instructions of the load-in supervisors and band hosts. There will be no parking of busses, equipment vans or trailers at the site. See bus directions at www.coe.edu/JazzSummit for off-site parking information. We are not doing souvenir photographs this year. Your equipment storage areas are just that--equipment storage areas. Please do not think of them as "homerooms," because we do not have enough space!  If you plan to arrive more than 45 minutes before your scheduled performance, or if you plan to stay longer than 45 minutes after your performance concludes, you MUST notify us in advance. We encourage you to arrive earlier (and stay later!) to listen to other bands, but please be aware that our facility does not have homerooms
for people to wait around, play games, do homework, etc. If you plan to arrive early or stay late, you must notify us in advance so we can arrange a location to store your equipment. These locations will not be supervised or locked, so we would strongly encourage you to make plans for equipment storage off-site (in your vehicles, for example).

Information for parents of participants

Parking near the college is at a premium. On Thursday and Friday, most college lots are reserved for our students and staff and vehicles without a Coe permit may be ticketed or towed. Parents and supporters should plan to carpool and arrive early to find parking.

Restrooms

Please be advised that the restrooms in Marquis Hall are very small. You may prefer that students arrive in their performance attire to avoid unnecessary congestion in the restrooms.

Equipment

When you arrive in front of Sinclair, load-in supervisors will tell you what to do with bulky equipment. Jazz Summit staff members will assist your crew with transporting the equipment to the holding area. Equipment will be kept in a queue, waiting to be moved into performance area. Shared storage rooms are available in Sinclair/Marquis, and the inner lobby of Dows Theater serves as storage area for small cases and other equipment throughout the day. The main lobby of the Dows Building is not part of the Jazz Summit, and no instruments should be left there. Please be aware that the storage rooms will be shared with the other bands. You will need to pack your cases and other equipment in tightly, as we will often have four or more bands sharing the same storage room. Please label all equipment with the school name, so that there is no confusion about ownership of similar-looking instruments. The only equipment available in each center will be a piano, vibraphone, chairs, stands and a rug for your drum set. Please bring all your own drum set equipment, amplifiers, cables, etc. (Thanks to CR Washington HS and Prairie HS for providing vibraphones!)

Supervision

Please keep an eye on your students. We have, occasionally, had items disappear from art and theater facilities. These people are kind enough to share their facilities with us, and we would not be able to offer a festival of this quality without their support. Please do not allow students to play any pianos in storage rooms. Thanks for having chaperones and other responsible parties with your students at all times.

Warm-Up, Performance and Clinic

Approximately 15 minutes before your scheduled time, start bringing your band to the performance area (Sinclair Auditorium Stage, Daehler-Kitchin Auditorium, Marquis Hall Room 1, or Dows Theater stage). The only equipment available in each center will be a piano, vibraphone, chairs, stands and a rug for your drum set. Please bring all your own drum set equipment, amplifiers, cables, etc. (Thanks to CR Washington HS and Prairie HS for providing vibraphones!) Approximately 10 minutes before your scheduled time, your band should be quietly waiting in the hallway outside the performance area. Your band will have one hour on stage to set up, warm up, tune, present your performance, receive a clinic from one of the judges and tear down and remove your equipment. You may divide this time however you see fit. Just a reminder: The more time you spend in setup and warmup, the less time you will have with your clinician.

Conductor's scores are not required for the judges. The adjudicators will listen to your performance and make written comments on the ballot. They will not make verbal/recorded comments.The adjudicators will rank your performance (unless you have requested comments only) compared to the other bands in your IHSMA classification, using the adjudication form. Second and Third bands will be judged in a separate classification unless you have specifically requested otherwise. Each band will receive a high-quality audio recording of their performance; directors will receive an email link to the recording after the festival.

Solo awards

Judges will select one outstanding soloist in each classification and may also recognize up to four honorable mentions. Only soloists in competing bands are eligible for the outstanding soloist award. Outstanding soloists will be awarded an iTunes gift card at the Grand Finale Concert.

Microphones

Based on feedback from judges and participating directors, we use limited or no amplification in our smaller performance venues. Judges have indicated that the most successful bands adjust their volume so the performance is balanced without microphones —especially in the smaller venues of Room 1, Dows and D-K.

Room 1 will have no microphones.

Dows and D-K will each have one microphone available. Judges have suggested only using this microphone if absolutely necessary (a solo feature with heavy ensemble backgrounds, for example). We will provide someone to run the volume on this microphone if you request it, but we encourage you provide someone familiar with your band to adjust the volume to your liking.

Sinclair Auditorium will have one microphone on the piano and 3 additional microphones for you to use as you choose.

After the Clinic

All equipment belonging to your band must be removed by the end of your hour so that the following band can begin its setup on time. Cases may be stored in the homerooms, and larger equipment may be left backstage. The final ranking will be announced during the Grand Finale concert Saturday evening and emailed and posted on the web at www.coe.edu/JazzSummit on Sunday. After the concert, we will email scanned copies of your ballots. Plaques and solo awards will be mailed to participants who were not in attendance at the concert. No rankings after third place will be made public, and no detailed summaries of scores are made available.