Mrs. P's Singers and Ringers Blog

I know that I’ve told you about the Tone Deaf on-line comic before, and the new posters in the Chorus Room are from this series.  The artist, John  Bogenschutz, is a former band director, so most of the strips are about band.   But occasionally, he does one for chorus.  If you follow this link , you’ll see a new one of these.  Eric Whitacre is a choral composer who writes beautiful, but very difficult and complex music.  His pieces aren’t anything we would ever consider in middle school.  I think that Mr. Chase has done one or two at Wellington High School, but Whitacre’s music is mostly college-level.  And there’s nothing ordinary about the parts.  You can listen to some samples of his music at Mr. Whitacre’s website. Anyway, I think the comic strip is pretty funny.  The music is not funny, but it is absolutely beautiful.  Listen to “Alleluia” if you get a chance.

I know, you really don’t want to think about anything that has to do with school during Spring Break.  But just in case you get inspired, I’ve put a couple of links here, so that you can listen to some of the music we’ll be doing for Spring Concert.

02 Haven’t Met You Yet – Rehearsal

What a Wonderful World

Don’t Stop Believin’

01 Sing

Don’t Stop Believin’ and What a Wonderful World are songs that Beginning Chorus is doing for the concert.  Sing and Haven’ Met You Yet will be sung by Concert Chorus.  So this will give you something to do over your spring break that will be fun, but you can tell your parents that you are working on school stuff, and make them happy!

I hope you all have a wonderful break.  I’m looking forward to mine, even though my husband and I are planning to do some painting around the house.  But we’re also planning on going to the beach and playing tennis and going to the Norton Museum and…well, enjoy this picture of the glass ceiling by artist Dale Chihuly at the Norton Museum.

I’ve always known that I get to direct superior choirs, and now we have our MPA ratings to prove it.  As I said in class today, I don’t worry about the actual ratings,  because there is so much subjectivity in judging.  Mr Bailey and I saw that when were reading the judges’ comments.  One judge heard one thing, and another heard exactly the opposite.  My concern is that everybody does their very best.  I can’t ask for more.  And I think this year, there is no questions that everyone did just that.

And I don’t think my hair got too frizzy.  I know I didn’t look like the director in this post!

I know you’d like to listen to your performances again, so here they are.

01 Music Like a Radiant Light

02 Good Night

Rise, Rise Thou Merry Lark

Kyrie–Miller

Wayfarin’ Stranger

As I’ve said a couple of times, there are rules of conduct that we are expected to follow while we are at MPA.  We will discuss these in class on Tuesday and again on Friday before we leave.  However, they are so important that I’m listing them here.  These are taken from the Florida Vocal Association handbook.

Listening: A vital part of the evaluation is listening to other groups perform.  Choirs are required to remain in the auditorium for the entire block.  Violation of attendance policies will result in disqualification.

Conduct:

1.  Director should brief all students on the rules of conduct so that they are thoroughly understood.  (That’s what I’m doing here.)

2.  The following rules apply specifically to the MPA site:

• Reasonable quiet should be maintained at all times.
• Radios, recorders, beepers, cell phones, watch alarms, and other portable sound sources are distracting and must be turned off at the performance venue.  Violation of this rule will result in confiscation by an FVA officer, who will take the device to the FVA office until the school checks out.  The device will be returned to the director.
• No one is to enter or leave an adjudication room while a performance is in progress.
• No flash pictures may be taken during any performance.  (And since your cell phones must be off, no pictures with cell phones.)
• No food or drink is permitted in any adjudication or warm-up room.
• Individual schools are responsible for any property damage that is caused by any of their participants.

Infraction of any rules will result in disqualification of the entry.

As you can tell, Florida Vocal Association is very serious about these rules.  So, what does it mean for us?  It means that, once we get off the bus, we are QUIET.  We will line up and stay together at all times.  Once inside the auditorium, you will stay in your seat until we are called to go to the warm-up room.  We will do that quietly, as well.  When we finish sight-singing and return to the auditorium, we will sit quietly and listen respectfully to the other choruses.  You can applaud the other performances, but this is not a place for whistling, screaming, or any other sound to acknowledge a performance.  When we are finished, we will leave the auditorium in a quiet, orderly fashion.

As far as I’m concerned, how you act is as important as how you sing.  Remember, the judges will see you in the auditorium before they see you on stage.  Impress them with your good behavior as soon as you walk in the door.  Don’t be like the person in the picture!

I posted this on Edline last week, but apparently a lot of people missed it:  we are not doing our cookie dough fundraiser this year.  The company that we normally work with is going out of business.  I spoke with our school bookkeeper, and we have enough money in the chorus and handbell account to make it through the rest of this year, so I’m not scrambling to find another company right now.  I will see about doing a cookie dough sale for next fall.

If we do a fundraiser before the end of the school year, it will be something low-key.  I know that some people have asked about doing a car wash, but those don’t make a lot of money, and, frankly, you all need to remember that MRS. P HAS A LIFE!   There are a lot of evenings and weekends that I’m away from my family for performances, MPA, etc.  I really don’t want to give up another Saturday for a car wash!  However, we may sell lollipops.  I’ve seen the Ozark Delight lollipops when I’ve gone to the Florida Music Educator’s conference in Tampa.  They come in some amazing flavors.  Take a look.  Is this something that might interest you?