Choir Update - 11/14/14

I have several announcements for this week. Most importantly is our concert season schedule. We have several things going on in December, so hopefully everyone can get these dates on their calendars now and we can have everyone at the rehearsals & performances.

 

Concert Schedule

Dec. 6, AM -- Dress Rehearsal with the Morgan Community Choir. Casual dress. I don't have an exact time, but will pass it along shortly.

Dec. 6 -- Christmas on Commercial Street. CASUAL DRESS--but still look nice. When I find out time and location, I will let you know.

Dec. 8, 6:15 PM -- Morgan Community Choir Concert. Morgan High School Auditorium Sunday best. Choir members, please meet in the High School Choir Room at 6:15 pm for warm-ups. I will have seating for the choir in the auditorium during the concert.

Dec. 9 -- Dress Rehearsal. Casual dress. This rehearsal will take place during our regular rehearsal time right after school on the MES Stage.

Dec. 11, 6 PM -- Marcato Children's Choir Christmas Concert. Morgan Elementary School Stage/Gym. SUNDAY BEST. Choir members need to be on the stage at 6 pm for warm-ups. The concert will begin at 6:30 pm.

 

All of these dates and times have been added to our choir calendar on the website (www.morganvalleychildrenschoir.blogspot.com)
Concert Attire

We will not have t-shirts for this concert. We are working on them and hope to have them for our Spring season. Dress for each of our performances will be Sunday best unless I inform you otherwise. If your child would like to wear something the looks "Christmassy," that is fine, but please keep it classy (no flashing lights, reindeer antlers, etc.)

 

Solo Auditions

Solo auditions will be held next week during our regular rehearsal time beginning right after school. If your child would like to audition, they will need to be prepared to sing one of the solos in "Santa Around the World." They should know what those solos are, but there is a recording on the website that can help them remember if they forgot. They will also need to think about which song would be their #1 choice to sing a solo in.

 

The following songs will have solos in them:

Santa Around the World -- 4 solos

African Noel -- 4 solos

Go, Tell it on the Mountain -- 4 solos

Hanukkah, Candles Burning Bright -- 2 (possibly 3) solos

 

As you can see, not everyone will be able to have a solo, but there will also be some instrumental work as well as speaking parts that will assure that each member of the choir can be featured, if they want to be.

 

Practice Tracks

Just another reminder to have your choir member listen to the practice tracks on our choir website (http://www.morganvalleychildrenschoir.blogspot.com/p/practice-tracks.html). I will be adding a few recordings to this page including a counter melody that we will be singing to Silent Night with the Morgan Community Choir. I will also be adding practice tracks for our solos so that those who receive solos can practice with them. So, keep checking the website for updated information.

 

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for allowing your children to work with me in choir. I am amazed at how quickly they have picked up on some of the things I have thrown their way this season. This concert is going to be great! I hope your child(ren) are having as much fun as I am!

Choir Update

Dear Choir Parents:

 

Our choir season is halfway over! We are learning a lot and having fun, too! The kids have picked up on all of our songs and we are well on our way to being ready for our concert.

 

Just a few things to let you know about:

 

1- We will not have a choir rehearsal next week. I will be out of town all next week, so we will not be having choir rehearsal on November 4.

 

2- Use the Practice Tracks on the choir website. During the next week especially, it would be very helpful if choir members went to our choir website and listened to the practice tracks for our songs. Several of the songs we are singing are on that page. Here is a link directly to the practice tracks page: http://morganvalleychildrenschoir.blogspot.com/p/practice-tracks.html

 

3- Concert Date. Our concert is fast approaching. Our concert will be held on Thursday, December 11 at 6:30 pm at MES. I will be working with our T-shirt committee to (hopefully) have t-shirts for choir members to wear at the concert.

 

4- Community Choir Concert. We have been asked to sing a song with the Community Choir this year. Please mark the following dates/times on your calendar so that we will have good participation at this event. We will be joining the choir for their Dress Rehearsal on Saturday, December 6, sometime in the morning. (I will get a firm time and let you know.) Their concert will be held on Monday, December 8 at 7 pm. Choir members will need to be their early, but I will give a time at a later date. They may also want us to join them for one of their rehearsals, so I will keep you posted if the need arises.

 

That is all for now. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I am very impressed with how quickly this group is catching on to the things we are learning. Thanks for allowing me to work with them!

Location Change

I neglected to mention today during rehearsal that our rehearsal location will be different for the next two weeks. Due to the Book Fair and Parent/Teacher Conferences, rehearsal on October 7 and 14 will be held in the MES Library. Since we have never met in this room before, please remind your children to be respectful of the room and not touch things that we should not be touching. Mrs. Carter is kind to let us use her space, so we need to show her the respect she deserves and leave the library as it was when we found it. It is my intention to use the keva area in the back corner of the library, so please have them meet me there for our weekly rehearsals on October 7 & 14. We will return to the stage on October 21.

Thank you so much!

Choir Presidency Elections

CHOIR PRESIDENCY ELECTIONS

 

Election will be held on September 30 during rehearsal!!

If your child is interested in running for choir presidency, please have them write a short paragraph stating which position they would be interested in and why they feel they would be a good choice to fill that role. These paragraphs need to be emailed or given to me prior to rehearsal on September 30. I will also need parental permission for each child running for choir presidency stating that you've read the requirements and will allow your child to run for the presidency.
The requirements for presidency members are as follows:

President -- Must be in 5th or 6th grade
If there is enough interest, we will also elect a Vice President who will assist the President in fulfilling the following duties.
-Help will room set up, as needed (arrive at 5-10 minutes prior to 3:45 start time)
-Lead games during and before rehearsal, occasionally
-Help with choir parties (choir awards)
-Set an example for all other choir members
-Assist as needed

Secretary -- Can be in any grade (3-6)
-Take roll
-Help with room set up, as needed (arrive at 5-10 minutes prior to 3:45 start time)
-Make sure that all folders are collected at the end of rehearsal
-Help clean up and room and replace everything that was moved during rehearsal.
-Set an example for all other choir members

-Assist as needed

Registration is now OPEN!

Registration for the 2014-2015 school year is now OPEN!  If you did not receive our registration email, you can find our registration information on the REGISTER tab on this website. You can request to be added to our mailing list by sending an email to morganvalleyvoices (at) gmail (dot) com.

We are looking forward to another great season!

Thank you

Thanks for a great season! We'll see you all again in the Fall for our Winter 2014 season.

It's Concert Time!

Hi Choir Parents:
 
It is officially concert week! Are you ready? More importantly, is your choir member ready? Just a reminder that I have practice tracks on the choir website if they need a little extra practice between now and Friday.
 
I have attached a poster about our concert that you can pass along to any family or friends that you would like to invite to our concert.
 
I also have a few last minute needs for our concert:
1. We will need to set up and take down all of the chairs for our concert. So, after school on Friday, I will need some help setting up chairs. The more people that can help out, the faster it will go. Also, if you and your family can help out after the concert, we can quickly get the chairs taken down.
2. By way of decoration (you all know how good I am with this!), I am thinking it might be fun to put some large stuffed animals on the stage. Please let me know if you have something that might work.
3. I mentioned that I'd like the girls to wear spring colored scarves for the concert. It doesn't matter to me what style they are. If your daughter does not have a scarf to wear, please let me know, and I will provide one for you to borrow.
 
Please be sure that your choir member is right on time, or better yet, early for choir on Tuesday for our dress rehearsal. We have a guest coming to practice one of our songs at the very beginning so it is important to have everyone there. Also, our dress rehearsal may run a little past our 4:45 end time, depending on how quickly we get through everything. We will for sure be finished by 5 pm.

If you have any questions about our dress rehearsal and concert this week, please let me know as soon as possible!!

Concert Information

Concert Date & Time

Thank you for being flexible with me as I have changed our concert schedule. Our Spring concert will be held on Friday, April 18, at 6:30 pm at MES. We will be in the gym again, just like we were at Christmas. Call time for all choir members will be at 6 pm on the stage

 

Concert Dress

Concert Dress for choir members will be similar to our Christmas concert with white on top and black on the bottom. However, for the girls, if they would like to wear a springy scarf, that would be fine. (For those in choir last time, the ones we used last Spring would be perfect.) For the boys, if they could wear a light-colored tie, I think that would be best.

 

Night at the Arts

As for the Night at the Arts Festival, I went ahead and declined our performance for that. I hope that is okay.

 

Solo Auditions

We will be holding solo auditions for "Ladybug" on April 1 during our regular rehearsal time. The words and a video can be found on the website under the Practice Tracks. This will be the only solo for this concert.

Questions

If you have any questions, please contact me so we can clear them up quickly.

A Big Change

Marcato Parents,

 

Something has come up that is putting our performance schedule in full upheaval! My husband and I have been invited on a once-in-a-lifetime trip on his company yacht. (Wowza!!) The issue is that it is scheduled for the week of April 21, and the dates are not negotiable. So, since it would be ridiculous of me to turn an opportunity like this down, it means that we need to change our performances. Last week, I informed you all of a performance for the MES Evening of Arts. Well, unless one of you are willing to conduct in my place, we will have to cancel that performance. (I've already let the person who invited us know of that possibility.)

 

Also, if I keep the final concert on May 1, I would miss a key rehearsal just prior to the concert. So, I am proposing that we move the concert up a couple of weeks and do it on either Thursday, April 17, or Friday, April 18. Which of those dates would work out better for your family? Please let me know very quickly so that I can get the building reserved.

 

In moving the concert to the middle of April, that means we only have 5 rehearsals left before choir is over for the year. I am going to need extra focus and, if possible, perfect attendance from all choir members. (Please be sure to contact me if your child has something that prevents them from attending choir rehearsals and we can come up with a plan.)

 

I apologize for the changes. Thank you for your understanding! 

Performance Added

Our choir was asked to perform at an Evening of the Arts for Morgan Elementary School on Friday, April 25. The event will be held in the evening, but I do not know what time we will actually perform. When I receive that information, I will pass it along.

Also, I am preparing to schedule our concert for the evening of Thursday, May 1. If there are any major conflicts with this date, please let me know ASAP. The time will likely be at 6:30 pm.

Both of these events are on our Calendar of Events tab. Please write them in on your calendars.

Choir Canceled - February 10, 2014

Dear Choir Parents,

 

I hope you receive this in time to make different arrangements for your child(ren), but my baby has been quite sick tonight and I am not going to be able to have choir tomorrow. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. I would encourage choir members to take some time listening to the practice tracks on the website so that we don't loose too much of the songs we are working on.

 

Thanks for understanding. Please pass the word to other choir parents. I will try to get the word out the best I can.

New Season Starts Today!

Today marks a new season of Marcato. This season we will be singing some really fun songs that are all about animals! We are welcoming new voices to our choir at this time as well, so please tell your friends! Registration forms available on the Join Tab of this website and I will also have some at choir today. (www.morganvalleychildrenschoir.blogspot.com) If your child was part of choir last season and you turned in a registration form already, you do not need to fill out a new one. Registration will close at the end of January.

 

For those with children at MES, if your child will be attending choir today, please be sure their teacher is aware that they need to go to the stage after school today.

 

I am really looking forward to this season! It will be so much fun!! Please spread the word!