Earthblog

To that end, WNY HSMA has put together a Practice Awards Program that seeks to promote consistency of practice and yet be reasonable in terms of illness, family vacations, and so on. Each performing group has a practice expectation clearly stated on the weekly practice sheets. We ask that you, as parents, support the Conductors by doing your part to ensure that your student is meeting or exceeding the minimum practice expectation.

1. The Practice Awards Program year is broken into two sessions: fall and spring. Practice Awards for students meeting the conditions of the program are presented twice per year.
2. Each student is given an amount of time they are expected to practice each week, by performance group.  If the student is participating in multiple ensembles, the student will decide which will be considered their primary ensemble.  The practice time requirements are:
   • 180 minutes per week for primary ensemble
   • 120 minutes per week for secondary ensemble 

   If your student is in more than one group, please refer to the WHAT COUNTS section on the web to understand what he/she must practice for each group he/she is participating in.  IF you have questions about it, just ask a conductor.

3. Students are expected to track their time on practice sheets (provided by WNY HSMA). Parents are to verify that the times as recorded are correct and that the total amount of time is correct (no math errors!), and are to sign the practice sheets weekly.
4. Students report their practice times each week to the Time Taker (a parent designated within each group). Students whose practice sheets have not been signed for a given week will not be able to report their time for that week until it is signed.
5. Students are expected to practice the designated amount of minutes each week, but are permitted a number of weeks (communicated at the beginning of the year, but generally it works out to be one week out of every four) of “misses”, meaning weeks where their practice times do not meet or exceed the expected practice time. Although they are allowed to miss a certain number of weeks each session, the students are expected to maintain an average equal to or exceeding the expected practice time for his or her group.
6. For each session, there is a one-week “Week of Grace.” The Week of Grace is an opportunity for the student to improve their average and is designed in such a way that it can only help them. Any amount of time recorded for the Week of Grace is added to the student’s total for the session, but the Week of Grace is not included in the divisor when calculating the average. The dates for the Week of Grace for each session are communicated at the beginning of the year. Students may actually practice during the Week of Grace, or get credit for practice time by attending certain events, at the discretion of their conductor.
7. To be awarded a prize at the end of the session, a student must meet two criteria: (a)They must not miss meeting or exceeding the expected practice time more than the allowable number of misses for the session, and (b) Their average amount of practice time for the session must meet or exceed the expected practice time.
8. In addition to the awards presented to all qualifying students at the end of each session, students may also qualify for additional recognition. At the end of the year awards are given to the top two “Practice Room Hermits” in each group. To qualify for a Practice Room Hermit Award, students must: (a) Meet the Practice Awards Program guidelines and qualify for a Practice Award for both the Fall and the Spring Sessions, (b) Have one of the top two weekly averages among students in their group who qualified for Practice Awards for both sessions, and (c) Consistently demonstrate Christ-like character.