Pops in the Park Recap

Hey everyone! I wanted to let you know that I thought that Pops in the Park was very successful this year. I was pleased with your singing and your behavior! I'm already looking forward to next year (especially since I won't have a new baby the day before).

I've posted some pictures and audio files to our choir website. Click here to see the pictures and click here to hear the audio tracks.

Posting Comments

It is possible to post comments on the blog. Click "comments," write what you need, choose anonymous, you'll then be asked to enter in a verification word. It should all work. I got it to work for me, at least.

ASW Audition Tracks Now Available

The audition tracks are up and available. I will be burning some CD's this week and distributing them in class, but you are welcome to download the files yourself - especially if you'd rather have the files as MP3's instead of CD's. Just follow these simple instructions:

1) Go to www.oaktreerecordingservices.com 
2) Click on "Auditions" in the menu on the right hand side of the screen.
3) Download the appropriate files - REMEMBER: we're in Southwest.

Be sure you SAVE the file before you OPEN it. Otherwise, you will have an incomplete download.  

Addition of a new choir member!

I'd like to publicly announce the birth of Juliana Caroline Danielson! She's absolutely beautiful! She was born on 9/16/11 at 12:27 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 19 1/4 inches long. Mom is recovering well. Juliana met her siblings yesterday. They were thrilled!

By the way, I felt Pops in the Park went well! Thank you Chorale and Chamber Choir for your hard work and determination to make it successful!

Battle Hymn Rehearsal Tracks

I know this is sort of late notice, but I've uploaded the rehearsal tracks for Battle Hymn to the website. Click here to visit the site.

Pictures and Recordings

If any of you ever take pictures or get recordings of our concerts (like at Pops in the Park), I'd love to see them. Pass them on and let's share them! Here's a picture of Chamber Choir singing the Star Spangled Banner at the home opening football game.

FINALLY! Back online!

Magically, my website suddenly let me upload stuff again. So, the website is mostly up to date now. I need to update the syllabi that are linked on there, but most of everything else is good. I also will be adding rehearsal tracks for Battle Hymn soon.

Website Issues

Just FYI:
I haven't updated the website recently because there have been issues with updating. I'm may have to take the website down to get it working again. I will let you know when the page is up and running again.

In the meantime, you'll have to depend on your CD's for All-West rehearsals.

New Photos from Spring Concert

I just posted new pictures from our Spring Concert on our website. Check out the Photos page and look at the Album as well.

Finally posted

Hey, sorry about the delay. As soon as I was ready to post the tracks online, the server went down. Anyway, it's back up and I've updated the website. For those that want to get a head start and didn't come get a CD, go to the website and start working on All-West now!!

Just a quick reminder, we will be selling coupon books again ($25), so start talking to your friends and neighbors today to get orders lined up. The sooner you sell your 5, the sooner you can stop. Please tackle this quickly. Chorale won last year...let's see if it will be a repeat victory of if another choir will take home the gold!!

All tracks done...soon to be posted!

So, I've been hard at work and have finished all the tracks for all 7 songs. I'm working on getting them posted online (I can probably do it tomorrow) and am currently in the process of making practice CD's. I know there are only a few of you that will see this post since most of the choir has forgotten about this blog over the summer.

I would ask you to spread this word for me: If you would like to get a practice CD early, come by my room on the day of registration (Aug 2) and I will have them ready for you.

This is your chance to get started early - remember I have information on the website about how and where to order your own music if you're interested (it's only about $15.00 for the whole set). Please comment on this post if you are planning to come by Aug 2 so I'll be looking for you. And spread the word!!

Oh, and by the way, D-Men's Chorus has their own page on the website now. I have some rehearsal tracks on there for them as well.

See you in a couple weeks!

New ASW Tracks

Hey everyone, I have 5 of the 7 songs up online. Get working on All-West now!! Get a head start!!

http://germantownhs.scsk12.org/~sdanielson/GHS_Choirs/ASW_Rehearsal_Tracks.html

Lux Arumque - with a twist

So, most of you know how much of an Eric Whitacre fan I am. He posted a video on his blog of an interesting arrangement of his song "Lux Arumque." Just in case you can't remember what that songs sounds like, I'll post the virtual choir version of the song and then this guy's Boogie-Woogie arrangement.

O Vos Omnes - great piece!

Hi! I hope your summer is going well. I'm still working on All-West tracks. I've got the Finale files done, but I'm working on singing/recording the parts now. Hopefully, I'll have something on the website soon.

In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy this selection from yesteryear. This is "O vos Omnes" by Vicotria. Bonus question: during which time period was this written?

All-Southwest Update

Hey everyone,
I hope your summer is going well. I just wanted to give you an update on the progress of All-Southwest Honor Choir rehearsal tracks. I've finished "Zigeunerleben." You can click here to go directly to the page, or you can find it through the ASW Honor Choir page on our website. I've copied the list of the songs on the website, too.

"Zigeunerleben" is available on the Choral Public Domain Library, though they want us to buy a different version (which we will in the fall). It's at least a copy that you can use to get started.

Hope your summer is going well.

Concert Tracks are up

The Spring Concert Tracks are up on line. Click here to enjoy!

Great Year

I just wanted to write a quick note to say congrats on a great year! As I've been saying in class, I've learned a lot about what I can change for next year. I hope that you've learned a lot as well. I can't promise how often I'll be able to update the website over the summer, but I'll try to post to the blog frequently. If you haven't become a "follower" yet, please do. That way, you'll be notified when I post something new. I'm going to have the Spring concert tracks up by tomorrow at the latest (maybe this evening). I don't know if I'll be able to get All-West rehearsal tracks on the website this summer, but keep an eye out. I'll post something here if I do.

Have a great summer!!

All-West music for the fall

The list has been posted for the All-West music for next year. I'll be trying to get some rehearsal tracks done this summer like I've done before. If you'd like to buy your own set of music to begin practicing, you can visit J.W. Pepper (Music Retailer) and order it.

Here's the list:

Ritmo by Dan Davidson
Walton Music/Hal Leonard HL 08501702
Piano Four Hands – Spanish and Hand Percussion
Text by Dan Davidson

Journey Home by Abbie Betinis
Santa Barbara Music Publishing – SBMP 865
Piano Some Spanish Small Solos Possible
Text by Erik Halvorson

A Wheel that Moves the Sun and the Stars by Eric William Barnum
Santa Barbara Music SBMP 908
Piano
Dante’s Paradiso

i carry your heart with me by David Dickau
Walton Music/Hal Leonard HL 08501697
Piano
Text by e.e. cummings

Zigeunerleben (Gypsy’s Life) by Robert Schumann
Walton Music/HL 8500857
Piano and Four soloist SATB in German
Text by Emanuel Giebel
Go to ChoironLine to hear the pronunciation

Brennen’s Lullaby by Terry Schlenker
Santa Barbara Music POD 777
Text by Brennen Maynard A Cappella
Two Female Solos

Rejoice by Jeffrey Ames
Santa Barbara Music SBMP 728
Gospel Pianist – Male and Female Soloist

Let me know if you have any questions!

Borders Tracks online

I have posted the audio tracks from the Borders performance from May 10. Click here if you'd like to listen. As soon as I have audio from the Spring Concert, I'll post that as well.

Borders Report

Chamber and Chorale had a great performance at Borders tonight. I thought very few things could have made the evening better. The "flash mob" worked really well. Thank you for your hard work! I look forward to the concert this Thursday.

2011-2012 Choir Roster

Here is the current roster for the 2011-2012 Chamber Choir, Chorale, and Women's Chorus. There may be changes to this by the beginning of next school year, but this is what I have selected base on the auditions. Thank you to everyone who sang for me. I'm looking forward to next school year. I have lots of new ideas for dealing with the size of Chorale, so look forward to that! If you don't see your name and think it should be here, please let me know ASAP!

Thank you!

Chamber Choir
Soprano	Alto	Tenor	Bass
Melanie Culhane	Danielle Chandler	Nigel Heard	Troy Stewart
Jazmin Snowden	Brandi Lenz	Drew Murley	Eric Ruleman
Sophia Frantz	Katherine Nailen	Jake Stephens	Dylan Reed
Madison Croft	Renee Blevins	Jeffery Jordan	Taylor Lankford
Alexandria Exley	Lucy Fulliton
Mandy Hrach	Avery Franklin
Rachel Shannon	Neena John
	Anna Smith

Chorale
Soprano	Alto	Tenor	Bass
Erin Davis	Tiara Littlejohn	Vincent Nutt	Dylan Reed
Katie Hardy	Bre Stevens	Genna Etheridge	Taylor Lankford
Lauren Horton	Tanishia Sims	Asif Makhani	Erik Holdsworth
Annie Blaha	Carmen Rodgers	Josh Jordan	Spencer Jones
Anna Strong	Kristina Leav	Nigel Heard	Jacob Miller
Ashleigh Lemons	Nadia Givens	Chris Walker	Joe Carter
Shelby Saliba	Danielle Cannon	Robert Hunt	Alan Jones
Olivia Parsels	Kelsey White	Orlando Dotson	Harry Madison
Julia Dixon	Lesley Beck
Mary Catherine Loftis	Victoria Kooker
Bria Mitchell	Alisha Nicks
Rya Wooten	LaCarrie Waller
Taylor Abbey	Nichole Cheatham
Alli McElhaney	Alli Shepherd
Olivia Holtzman	Zoe Zelonky
LeeAnn Bailey	Helen Zehng
Tessa McCall	Taylor Abbey
Brianna Hopper	Sheliza Aman
Ebony Watkins	Caitlin Triplett
Jasmin Jones
Kristen Bell

Women's Chorus
Soprano	Alto
Alia Snyder
Chariti Watson	Aminata Diallo
Chelsea Rainey	Brittish Rogers
Janae Upshaw	Shakiyla Hill
Alee Harvey	Tamara Gillom
Jenashia Henderson	Danesha Carter
S'Ance Lloyd	Megan Bradford

IT'S A.....

Introducing Juliana Caroline - currently weighing in at about 11 oz. Isn't she a cute little blur?

VOTE NOW!!

On Wednesday, May 4, Mr. D finds out if they're having a boy or a girl. What do you think? Vote on the poll to the right. The poll will stay open until 4:00 PM on Wednesday after which Mr. D will post what they found out! Vote NOW!!

(oh, and become a "follower" of the blog while you're at it)

New Rehearsal Tracks online

I've got "A World About to Turn" on the Chorale and Chamber Choir rehearsal track pages. Chamber, I also have "Walking in Memphis" full track. I'm working on making individual tracks.

Katie Armiger

I hope Chamber and Chorale enjoyed Katie's visit! I know I did. She should be sending some signed head shots back to us. I got the following note from her manager:

"She just called me and said your choir's version of the song was the best she's ever heard by a high school!! Y'all must have a great Vocal Music Director!! ...wink " ~Pete O'Heeron, President, Cold River Records

Here are a couple picture from the event. There will be more posted on our choir page. They will be sending a framed picture of the class with Katie back to us soon.

Katie's biggest fan.

Jeffrey and Nick creeping in the back.

Even Dylan's guitar got into it.

Eric Whitacre Virtual Choir 2.0

Hey everyone! I hope everyone is being good while I'm at all-state (yes, I mean you). Anyway, I didn't realize until 4th period yesterday that I had been telling all of my classes that the release of "Sleep" was last night, but it wasn't I hope no one stayed up waiting for it. Well...it was released tonight! It's amazing! I can't see me, but I know I'm in there someone (my name is in the closing credits). Here's the vid! Enjoy!

Rehearsal Tracks

Some of you are having trouble finding the rehearsal tracks that I keep mentioning in class. Here's a direct link to the tracks. Click Here to go directly to the page in question.

And, since this is a rather boring post, here's a fun little comic (about Eric Whitacre...yes, him again) that I found the other day. It's from a comic called "TONE DEAF" that is a music-based comic.

Choir T's and Hoodies

I have put pictures up on our website of the choir t's and hoodies. Here's a sample to wet your appetite. There are more pictures on the Albums page.

Here's the promo for "The Secret Garden." Remember, all Out of Class Events this 9 weeks must be about the play.

Duct Tape Tie

Thank you Ruthie and Paige for this awesome Red and White (go G'town!) duct tape tie!

New Pics on the Website

I've added some new pictures to the choir website. Check out the Photo page as well as the albums. I have some pictures from Pops in the Park (yes, they're old, but oh well) and some from the recent piano building project from Chorus I.

Enjoy!!

New Message...finally!

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple weeks. As you know I've been busy with the play. I just wanted to let you know some things coming up this semester.

FIRST) no class has gotten 100% Practice Logs yet. The first class to achieve this will get cookies. Good luck. May the best class win.

SECOND) on April 12, Katie Armiger is going to come talk to us about making it in the music industry. Katie is an up-and-coming country artist. She's based in Nashville.


Here's a video of her song, "Leaving Home"

Katie Armiger

More CMT Music

More CMT Music Videos

THIRD) On May 5, the Young Ambassadors, a show choir from Brigham Young University (BYU) will be coming to Germantown to give a performance at GPAC. That afternoon, from 12-2, they will be meeting with/performing for our students. I'm very excited about this!!

Go HERE to watch videos of their performances.