Virtual Conference Q & A

Interested in the virtual student conference for your school or homeschool but aren’t sure how it will work? We’ve anticipated some of your questions and have attempted to answer them here.

Q: How can students compete in platform and music competitions in a virtual conference.

A: These areas of competition will rely upon video recordings. Students will need to make a video recording of themselves presenting their pieces. Most cell phones or tablets will suffice for this. These are not to be professionally edited videos. They are real-time takes. No mics or audio enhancements should be utilized. Consider lighting and room acoustics when recording. Entries in these categories will need to adhere to the GYC guidelines specific to those events.

You are free to conduct as many recordings/takes as you like and submit what you believe to be your best performance. Then upload that video clip to a video sharing site (i.e., Youtube) and provide the link in the upload center as per the upload instruction.

Scripts and sheet music are not required to be uploaded for this year’s virtual conference.

Q: How will judges’ forms work for this virtual conference.

A: All the judges forms will be contained within our registration software. You will have access to them, but no printing, scanning, mailing, or emailing is needed. Judges will access each participants form and enter their scores directly into the software for automatic tabulation. Also, because we are virtual this year, no photos for music and platform events are required either.

Q: How will judging take place for this virtual conference?

A: Because this is a virtual conference, GCEA is able to recruit some of the best and most experienced judges from around the globe this year. These judges will have access to the entries they will be judging in the upload portal. They will then be able to enter their scores into the registration software judging module where the scores will be automatically tabulated for placement.

Q: Is there a separate registration for Junior and Senior Conferences?

A: No. A school or homeschool is only required to register once. There are two options for each event – one with a regular listing for the senior conference and on with a “Jr” listing for the junior conference. When entering students you will want to be sure to enter them in the correct event based on their age.

Q: How does the Junior Conference work?

A: There is no difference between the junior and senior conference. The event guidelines and criteria are exactly the same for both. The only difference is that they will be judged separately. Entries in the Junior Conference will not be mixed with entries in the Senior Conference. Junior Conference is for students ages 8-12 (by December 31, 2019).