September 2007 - volume 9 - issue 1
Kenneth L. Griffin
The Association of Texas Small School Bands is sponsoring a composition competition every two years beginning in 2008 to promote compositions written for small school bands. There will be no entry fees and the competition is open to all. Submissions must be original unpublished compositions or concert marches that are not for sale or rental from a publisher and composed for grade levels 1, 2 or 3. Submissions are due by July 15, 2008. The winner will be announced at the ATSSB General Session in San Antonio in February 2009.
The winning composition will be guaranteed publication by TRN Music Publisher, Inc. in 2010 and will be premiered by the 2010 ATSSB All-State Concert Band. ATSSB will also send a letter of endorsement to the UIL Prescribed Music Committee recommending that the piece be placed in the UIL Prescribed Music List for its appropriate grade level.
An adjudication panel of five judges will evaluate the submissions and select one winner. The panel shall include three current ATSSB Active Members and two people selected from the composition field and/or from people promoting compositions at these levels.
A composer may submit more than one entry and is eligible to win consecutive competitions.
For an entry form or more details regarding the competition, see the Association website.
ATSSB
Organized in 1991, ATSSB has been an innovator in the field of small-school band promotion. The organization has grown from the 15 original Founding Charter Members through the 380 members in 1991 to almost 1000 in 2007 representing more than 96% of the small-school bands in Texas that have band programs. It has sponsored the ATSSB All-State Band that has awarded All-State honors to 3307 students and given $132,500 in scholarships to seniors making ATSSB All-State three or more years.
ATSSB also initiated the Outstanding Performance Series in 1997 as a compact disc audition program designed to select the most outstanding Class C, CC, A, AA, and AAA concert band performances in the state of Texas each year. A compact disc of the winning selections is made available to all high school band directors who are current members of ATSSB to provide a series of recordings that demonstrate the highest level at which Texas small school bands perform. The OPS has seen 4073 individual recordings entered in the competition process. Each year, 15 winning performances are represented on the CD a march and two concert selections in each of the five classes. It is rare for one school to have more than one selection on the CD, although there have been multiple winners and a couple that had all three selections in their class. More details regarding the OPS competition can be found on the Association website (http://www.atssb.org/ops.asp).
Kenneth L. Griffin is a Founding Charter Member of ATSSB and has served as its Executive Secretary since the Associations inception in 1991.
Griffin received his Bachelors and Masters degree from East Texas State University (now Texas A&M-Commerce). He is currently teaching part-time as band director at John Paul II Catholic School in Houston. He retired after teaching thirty-one years in public schools, the last twenty of which were at Van High School. His band in Van accumulated nineteen consecutive Sweepstakes Awards, was named the 1986 AAA TMEA State Honor Band, won the AAA Sweepstakes Trophy at the 1986 Texas State Solo Ensemble Contest in Austin, and was named the Outstanding AAA Band at the 1988 National Association of Military Marching Bands Texas State Marching Contest.
He is a life member of TSTA, has been the Region III TMEA 4A Band Chairman, is a founding charter member and Executive Secretary of the Association of Texas Small School Bands, is a member of the Texas Music Adjudicators Association and Phi Beta Mu and serves as a clinician and adjudicator across the state.
His wife Jeannie is retired from a career in public school music, having taught junior and senior high choir and elementary music for twenty .ve years. His daughter Alecia is a Cum Laude graduate of Southern Methodist University in Dallas and the Juilliard School of Music in New York and is founder and principal oboist of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra.
