AMIS International Asian Middle School Honor Band January 24-26, 2008 International School of Beijing Stephen Raatz and Cindy Bulteel, host organizers Brian White, Singapore American School, guest conductor
October 23	Middle School Honor Band Auditions Deadline, CFH
October 25-28	AMIS Middle School Honor Band Audition Panel
October 30	AMIS Middle School Honor Band Results Posted ont he Internet
November 7	AMIS International Middle School Band Festival Acceptances Due (Online)
November 7	AMIS International Middle School Band Festival Housing Form Due
December 15	AMIS Middle School Band Festival Payment Due
December 15	Director's Expertise Form Due for AMIS International Middle School Band Festival
December 15	Arrival Departure Forms Due for AMIS International Middle School Band Festival
January 24-26	AMIS International Asian Middle School Honor Band Festival, International School of Beijing, 6.00 pm

Audition Information | Online Track List and Entries Form
Arrival Information | Hotel Information | Visa Information
Membership Clarification |AMIS Policies | Financial Aid | Festival Agreement Form
Members | Fees in Euros | Fees in Sterling
Dress Code | Festival Handbooks
Contact Information | Draft Schedule

Welcome to Beijing 2008! | Introduction to I S Beijing
IS Beijing Details |
Audition Results & What next?

Visa Information | Currency | Flights
Student & Director Accommodation
Great Wall | Photos | Tourist Sites

Audition Codes | Audition Instructions Reminder

Images - 2007

Visa Information - Getting Here

You will need to apply for a TOURIST visa to get into China.  Please make sure that all applications state this.  If your travel agent tries to get you to apply as a group with a letter from the school tell them “no.”  You are all tourists and the reason for your trip is tourism.  Everyone will need a visa.  These will cost approximately $100.  This needs to be taken into consideration when setting prices for the trip.  Since you are applying only for tourist visas, NO ONE WILL NEED A LETTER OF INVITATION FROM THE SCHOOL. Many European countries have visa services that can handle this for you.  The web is a good place to look to see if this service is available where you are and many embassies and/or consulates have forms to download so that you can complete them before you go to there.

Please do NOT use the school address on your visa application!  Remember you are applying for a TOURIST VISA, not any other type of visa.  Do NOT mention the school in your application! You can list Yosemite Villas,No. 4 Yuanyang Road, Houshayu Town, Shunyi District as the address required on the visa application if you do not have a hotel that you are using before the festival.

The web site for Yosemite is listed below.
http://www.yosemite-villas.net/

There is only one airport for Beijing which is called Beijing Airport or Capital Airport.  This is about 20 minutes by bus from ISB. 

Transportation to and from the airport and ISB on Wednesday and Sunday will be provided by ISB.  If you plan on arriving before Wednesday and/or leaving after Sunday you will need to make you own arrangements for transportation and accommodation.

Currency and Spending Money

 Be Sure to change money at the airport.  The currency is RMB, also know as kuai and yuan.  At the moment (November 2007) is $=7.3 RMB but this is changing frequently.  Students will need money for the Friday evening shopping trip and dinner in town, money for additional snacks at school, tickets for the visit to the Great Wall.

Credit cards are not widely used.  Most payments are made with cash.  It is especially not advisable to try to use credit cards in the markets.

Flights

Reminder:  Please could you arrange flights that do not require early check in at the airport on Sunday.  Students will be collected by their host families from ISB on Wednesday afternoon between 3:30 and 5:00 and will be brought to ISB on Sunday morning by their hosts.  Early pickups on Sunday are difficult here so your help with booking flights leaving mid morning or later would be appreciated.  It would also be appreciated by your hosts if you avoid extremely late arrivals on Wednesday night.

The Festival will run from Thursday January 24th through Saturday January 26th. 

The final concert will be in the theatre at the International School of Beijing at 7:00 on Saturday the 26th.  There will be a reception after the concert. There will not be a charge for the concert. Audience members are invited to contribute to the AMIS scholarship fund if they would like to.   There will be places for your accompanying families etc. Please let parents know that they will need to arrange their own transportation to and from the concert.

Recording the Concert

We will be recording the concert on January 26th.  Each school will get a copy of this recording that can then be copied and distributed as you wish.

Students will be housed with ISB families for 4 nights – Wednesday January 23 until Sunday morning January 27th.   Students will be collected from the school by their host families between 3:30 and 5:00 on the Wednesday and will be brought to ISB on Sunday morning by their hosts.

Student Accommodation

Students will be housed with ISB families for 4 nights – Wednesday January 23 until Sunday January 27. 

Plugs and Electricity

China runs on 220V and has 2 and 3 pins small plugs.  Although appliances from Europe can be used, the plugs will not fit so you will need to bring a universal adaptor.

Meals

Students will have breakfast with their host families, but here they can buy something extra at the ISB cafeteria if they would like to.

Students will eat with their host families on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

All the rehearsals will have breaks and there will be fruit, juice and water supplied.

Most other meals will be in the ISB cafeteria and students will use a prepaid card system which is included in the Festival fee.

Lunches and the dinner before the concert are covered by your registration fee.

There will be a dinner and Acrobat Show on Saturday before the concert. 

Accommodation for Directors and Official Chaperones

Teachers will be offered accommodation in one of the compounds near to ISB.  This compound, called Yosemite Villas, has some one-roomed service apartments (one double bed). 

Yosemite Villas service apartments each with 1 double bed) have been booked but they have recently increased their prices to 600RMB per apartment per night, which is about US$81 per apartment per night - a good deal more than last year. This is still where we need to be as it is a good facility right across from the school gate. You will need to adjust your financial planning accordingly. 1 December, 2007

The 4 nights accommodation will need to be paid for in cash in RMB on arrival.  The have also recently introduced a 600RMB deposit which will need to be paid on arrival too.  This is returnable at the end of your stay, once they have checked the mini-bar and phone bills.  There are restaurants, shops and the compound clubhouse in easy walking distance.  ISB is within easy walking distance and taxis are relatively cheap and readily available.

Please do NOT use the school address on your visa application!  Remember you are applying for a TOURIST VISA, not any other type of visa.  Do NOT mention the school in your application! You can list Yosemite Villas,No. 4 Yuanyang Road, Houshayu Town, Shunyi District as the address required on the visa application if you do not have a hotel that you are using before the festival.

The web site for Yosemite is listed below.
http://www.yosemite-villas.net/

Plugs and Electricity

China runs on 220V and has 2 and 3 pins small plugs.  Although appliances from Europe can be used, the plugs will not fit so you will need to bring a universal adaptor.

Meals

Students will have breakfast with their host families, but here they can buy something extra at the ISB cafeteria if they would like to.

Students will eat with their host families on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

All the rehearsals will have breaks and there will be fruit, juice and water supplied.

Most other meals will be in the ISB cafeteria and students will use a prepaid card system which is included in the Festival fee.

Lunches and the dinner before the concert are covered by your registration fee.

There will be a dinner and Acrobat Show on Saturday before the concert. 

Great Wall

We will be visiting the Great Wall at Mutianyu on the Saturday morning of the Festival.   Some parents may be able to join the trip but it will depend how many seats are available. It will be cold so students should have warm jackets, hats and gloves for this trip!  A packed lunch will be provided by the Festival.

This section of the Wall has great views and is a fun place to visit.  The coach will bring us to the base of the hill, and the Wall runs along the top of the hill.  You can walk up to the Wall or catch a chair lift or a cable car.  You can come down any of the same ways or take a long slide, like a toboggan run on small individual cars – kids LOVE this!

There are various tickets that everyone will need to get to get onto the Wall.  There is a tickets for the park – you have to get one of these – a ticket for the chair lift and a ticket for the slide down.  If you get all three of these, the total cost is 150RMB (at time of writing November 2007).

Accompanying parents

Accompanying parents are very welcome to come and listen to rehearsals.  It is strongly recommended that if traveling to ISB by taxi that you have a map of where the school is (with Chinese instructions) and the phone number of the school as it is not always easy for taxis to find.

Please see the ISB web site for the map.

Shopping

Expect to bargain – particularly in any of the markets.  You are likely to be asked double what you should pay.  Credit cards are not advisable, particularly not in any market.

Meals/Food

This varies depending on what you want to eat of course.  Here are some ideas:

Chinese dish in a Chinese restaurant – 20RMB
White rice – 6RMB
Starbucks coffee – 25RMB
Subway sandwich – 30RMB
Pizza – 70RMB

Photos

Please could you send me a photo of the group of students you will be bringing to the Festival.  This will be for the souvenir brochure (given to each participating student and teacher when they arrive) and will have names of all the participants, the group pictures and information about the program and the conductors and composer.  Digital photos are OK, or you could send a printed one by mail.  The school address is:

Cindy Bulteel, Performing Arts Coordinator
10 An Hua Street
Shunyi District
Beijing 101318
China

Please send these before the December break, or no later than December 11th as an absolute last date!

Tourist Sights

If any are planning on arriving early or staying after the Festival, there are some excellent web sites that will give you lots on information on places to see in Beijing.  Try these:

www.beijing-tours.com | www.passplanet.com | www.travelchinaguide.com

Beijing Tours offers to set up private tours for you and will give you a price based on where you would like to go.

You will likely get a good deal online with hotels in Beijing, but I can tell you two near each other that we have used in the past.  They are the Holiday Inn Lido (4*) and the Yan Xiang hotel (3*).  They are both particularly good for location and getting around to other places, there are no bar streets around for kids to get into trouble and there is a night market and hospital very near by.  There is also a Subway in the Yan Xiang hotel for unadventurous students and Starbucks in the Lido across the road.  Both hotels are about ½ bus ride from ISB towards the centre of Beijing.

Expect to pay at least 70$ for a twin room and extra for another bed to be added in most decent hotels in Beijing.  Check for prices of extra beds and if western breakfast is included.  Any hotel should also be able to organize day trips easily for you.

Other sights to see

I would recommend visiting the Temple of Heaven and then going shopping at Hong Qiao market (very close by).  A hutong tour is also a great way to get the ‘flavour’ of traditional Beijing.  The Old Summer Palace is also very nice, along with the Fragrant Hills.  For those of you who like walking, visiting the Great Wall at Simitai (a wilder and unspoilt part of the Wall) would be a nice day out of the city.

All these trips would be easy to set up with any hotel.

Bathrooms

If you are visiting the sights of Beijing one of the famous China experiences is the squat toilet!  This is something to warn students (and maybe accompanying parents too). It is handy to keep a tissue or two in your pocket, just in case.

N.B. The toilets at ISB are all western style!

Audition Codes

The previously posted material was incorrect. Please read the Audition Instructions Reminder below.- 2 October 2007

Audition Instructions Reminder

MIDDLE SCHOOL HONOR BAND AUDITIONS

All high school auditions are "blind" as is the Junior Orchestra whish is grades 6-9. MSHB is NOT a blind audition and the audition instructions should be followed, including having the student announce his or her name. - 1 October, 2007

Audition Results and What next?

The listening team has worked throughout this past weekend carefully selecting the band that is to meet at ISBeijing on January 24, 25, 26 (with travel days on January 23 and 27).

There are 10 schools represented in this year’s Asian festival.

As always there were many worthy candidates who could not be accepted. It was necessary to try to keep a balanced instrumentation as well as keeping in mind a general ability level throughout the band. Flutes (as always) represented almost one quarter of all auditionees.
The committee carefully considered teacher ratings and listened to each recording.

We sincerely hope that the process of audition has been a learning experience for all those who participated, even if they were not selected for this year’s band. The level of playing was generally high and we know that it represents much work by both students and teachers.

You will find below a list of students who were selected for the AMSHB in Beijing.

AMIS Middle School Honor Band Asia Results

Each student has one of the following designations:

Y	means they were selected for the festival
Alt	followed by a number means they were selected as an alternate for their instrument the alt 1 means first alternate and so forth. If there is simply alt listed, it means there is only 1 alternate for that instrument

If a student’s name is incorrectly spelled, please make sure it is correctly entered on the acceptance/registration online form. This is the time to correct spellings, not at the festival itself.

This list comes only to you. The public record which will be on the web site will list ONLY those who are either Y or Alt.

What do you need to do now?

Because the AMSHB is so soon, we will start preparing packs of music on Monday, October 29th. You have until November 7th to send in your online registration/acceptance form for a Y and ALT students. As soon as we received your acceptance we will prepare your invoice which will be sent to you as a pdf file. Please list ALL students whether or not they are accepting.

Alternates must also decide whether or not to accept their alternate positions.

At this time we will also need to know the number of official chaperones and teachers who are coming with your group. The housing requests for all adults and students must be submitted on the online housing form no later than November 7th.

You should copy the Acceptance Agreement for each student who is accepting as either a full or alternate member of the group. You should make a copy of each of these acceptance agreement. One copy is for your records. The other should be sent to AMIS headquarters at Church Farm House to arrive as soon as possible.

Also due on or before December 15th is your arrival and departure form for the festival. You will find that you need a record of your travel tickets before applying for your Chinese visa, which all visitors to The People’s Republic of China generally need.

Any questions? Please contact AMIS headquarters sooner rather than later.

Fees

The fees for MSHB 2008 both Asia and Europe are as follows:

Fees in Euros

€ 22 for music per student, including alternates
€ 111 for student registration (member); € 155 student registration (non-member);
€ 155 for teacher registration (member); € 200 student registration (non-member);

Fees in Sterling:

£ 15 for music per student, including alternates
£ 70 for student registration (member); £100 (non-member)
£ 100 for teacher registration (member); £130 (non-member)

 

 

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