The National Anthem and St. Anthony Mass

Wow! has it been a busy 10 days for choir! Thanks to all the parents who brought their singers to our out of school day events! We had 31 singers for the girls' basketball game on Jan. 22nd and over 40 singers for the boys' game last Friday. I was really proud of the way the choir sounded and how they handled themselves. The applause following the National Anthem last Friday was really amazing. I've received some very nice compliments about the choir's singing.
The 30 singers who were music ministers at Sunday's Mass at St. Anthony also did a great job! The congregation really seemed to appreciate our presence.
I want to express my sincere appreciation to our Choir Moms who have helped at these events! It really has taken some of the stress off of me. Thank you also to the parents who helped watch the clock and supervised the students at the basketball games and Mass. That support is wonderful to have!
This week we still have our choir tour ahead of us and singing at the Holy Family Art & Music Festival on Sunday. On Thursday morning, we have a bus lined up to take us on tour to Clarke College, Holy Family offices, Loras College and the Presentation Motherhouse. On this tour, we are ambassadors for Holy Family and express our appreciation to those who have connections with our system now or in the past. The students really seem to look forward to this trip. I hope the weather cooperates!

January news

Happy New Year!
January will be a very, very busy month for our choir! We will be singing the National Anthem at two basketball games this month. (The students will get in free.) We will also be the music ministers at a St. Anthony Mass to kick off Catholic Schools Week! The choir was going to sing at last Friday's Mass, but with school being canceled, we lost that opportunity. We will sing at a Friday Mass sometime this spring.

Here are the dates when our choir will be performing:
Jan. 22nd Wahlert girls basketball game
Jan. 29th Wahlert boys basketball game
Jan. 31st 10:30 St. Anthony Sunday Mass (arrive in O'Malley at 9:45)
Feb. 7th Holy Family Art & Music Festival at Wahlert

We will be very busy learning new music for the music festival Feb. 7th. We hope to also go on tour during Catholic Schools Week. Those arrangements are still being made. Watch here for the latest!

December Choir Accomplishments

Wow! I can't believe I haven't written for weeks. Then I think about the blizzard and the program delay and it becomes more believable.

Over 40 singers were able to join us at Washington Park for the blessing of the Nativity. (Pictures above from Washington Park outing.) Luckily, the weather wasn't too cold and there was a nice crowd. Singing acapella outside is rather challenging, but the choir did very well. Those who ventured down to the KC Hall seemed to enjoy the cocoa and goodies.

I was very proud of the choir after their performances last Thursday! The sound was quite amazing! Mrs. Apel and Mrs. Grant said they received so many compliments and comments about how good this young choir is. What I also appreciate about this group is how they watch (other people notice this too) and how they followed directions about getting on and off the risers with only one practice. They also did a fantastic job remembering their choir line up!

I hope we have school on Tuesday so the students get a chance to watch/hear themselves. I also have treats for them. I am working on finalizing dates for the choir to sing the National Anthem at Wahlert basketball games. We will be singing at St. Anthony Church on Jan. 31 at 10:30 Mass to kickoff Catholic Schools Week. The following weekend, we'll be singing at the Holy Family breakfast to conclude Catholic Schools Week.

Fifth grade leaders

The fifth graders in our choir are such leaders for us! Not only do they lead as singers, they are great helpers. They take attendance for me so I can keep teaching and help pass out and collect music.
The fifth grade OLG students scatter themselves throughout the line as we travel to the other building. By doing so, they help keep younger students quiet as we exit one building and enter the next. These girls also shut down the piano and shut off lights as we leave the choir room.

My sincere appreciation goes out to all these dedicated students from both schools! I'm pleased with how many of them will be able to sing this weekend!

Monday, November 30, 2009

Last week was an extremely busy week for the music dept.! On Tuesday morning, the choir was recorded for the DuTrac sponsored radio spots. The choir recorded "Good News" and "The Lord Has Come". Recording takes extreme patience. Miss Wightman was recording us, which we really appreciated. We both wanted the best possible recording, but weren't expecting perfection. However, we needed to try several times to get the recording we thought best showed off our students' talent. We hope everyone will be pleased with the end result when they get to hear our choir. Our broadcasting times are as follows: Dec. 6 @ 6:35 a.m.; Dec. 13 @ 7:35 p.m.; Dec. 21 @ 11:35 a.m. and Dec. 23 @ 2:35 p.m.

Our choir sings this Sunday, Dec. 6 @ 2:00 at the Washington Park Gazebo when the Nativity scene is blessed. We'd like the choir students to arrive at 1:50. We'll sing the songs that we recorded plus some traditional Christmas carols. Afterwards, everyone is invited to the KC Hall for hot beverages and cookies. We hope it is not too cold.

The choir will sing first at the 1st & 2nd grade Christmas program which will be Dec. 14th at 2:00 and 7:00. The choir is asked to wear red shirts, red turtlenecks or red sweatshirts for the afternoon performance and dress up for the evening program.

Recording tomorrow Nov. 23, 2009

The students are very excited to actually be recording tomorrow. Ms. Wightman will be assisting us.
I learned that we cannot put audio clips on this blog site. I know some parents were really hoping that would be possible. Hopefully, we'll get some pictures one of these days.

Amazing Children - 11/18/09

Thank you parents for your flexibility last week with our different rehearsal schedule!
Our sectionals last week really paid off! By working with each part separately for one rehearsal, the students became more confident on their parts. Part 1 actually had a new section to learn while part 2 just needed to learn a new ending. This past Tuesday when all 70 of us were back together, we put the 2 parts together and they did a fantastic job! It only took a couple tries and they were successful. I was so proud of them! Next Tuesday, Nov. 24th, we record for the DuTrac sponsored radio spots. Please make sure your singers are there punctually. When I know our air times, I'll share them with you.

Andrea Rouchka, a Loras College music ed. major, was with us Tuesday as we put the 2 sections together. Andrea has been observing me teaching music for about a month, but this was her first experience hearing the choir. She was very impressed with their sound and how successful the students were in putting the parts together.

Thank you so much to the seven ladies who have volunteered to be our "Choir Moms"! I feel so blessed to have these seven ladies willing to assist me and the choir.

The choir will be performing at the Gr. 1 & 2 Christmas program on Dec. 14th at 2:00 & 7:00. We look forward to sharing our songs with you!