Piano Guys - Let It Go/Vivaldi's Winter

Fine Arts Banquet...and More

Tickets for the Fine Arts Banquet are on sale now. You may visit the box office in C Building to purchase tickets, call them at (901) 755-7775, or go online to http://ppp.org/box-tickets.html.

Seniors, I've been working hard on your gifts for banquet. It's taken about 4 hours so far. It's not candy; it's something that I think you'll enjoy for much longer.

As for soloist in O Sifuni Mungu:
Opening solo - Orlando Dotson
1st Female solo - Ellie Ballin
2nd Female solo - Kelsey Dolman
Male solo - Vincent Nutt

"When in doubt, duck" Write that quote on your practice log tonight and receive a bonus point tomorrow.

Choir Roster

Here's the roster for next year. Have a good weekend.

2014-15 Choir Roster

Things are ending quickly!!

Hey gang,
Just a couple reminders:

Chorus I, work on memorizing Dies Irae (and the other songs for that matter).

Chorale: Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I'm going to have to axe "Alleluia." If you're in Chorale next year, I would like to do it as part of my 10 year celebration, so don't give your hopes up yet (see the bottom of this post about information about next year). We need to focus on Les Misérables, Deaf Old Woman, and O Sifuni Mungu. It seems like there's something else, but I can't think of it at the moment.

Women's Chorus: I think America is the one furthest from being memorized, but Johnny's a Soldier needs some attention as well. Keep working Like an Eagle on your own. I don't plan on really touching it much between now and the concert.

Chamber: Keep practicing your Boomwhacker part (if a Boomwhacker is the instrument, what do you call someone who plays the Boomwhacker? Boomwhackerist? Boomwhackerer?). Also, work on memorization of In Rememberance and O Sifuni Mungu.

For O Sifuni, I have to audition people on Monday for the solos. If you want a solo, don't be absent and don't ask to do it on Tuesday. It's a do or die situation at this point...but don't die.

Lastly, for next year's roster, I plan on posting it before I leave tomorrow afternoon. I'll put the link on the blog. You can look at it over the weekend and cheer and/or cry before Monday.

Cheers!

Congrats...and More

First off, Congratulations to all who went with us to State Choral Festival. We had a great time and you should all be very proud! I wish I could give you all awards at the Fine Arts Banquet, but I can't. maybe I'll think of something else...Any ideas?

Secondly, Congrats also need to go out to all those inducted into the Tri-M Music Honor Society yesterday. You should feel proud of your accomplishment!

Lastly, as promised, here's a re-post of the O Sifuni Mungu video.

Tomorrow's the Big Day

So, tomorrow we're all going to State Choral Festival. Count yourselves fortunate. It's the first time since I've worked at GHS that all three choirs have qualified for State. It's very exciting.

Don't forget, come to my room right after 1st period - don't go to 2nd. We're going to leave at 8:10. I anticipate 3 stellar performances from 3 superb choirs.

Congrats on getting this far. Here's hoping for tomorrow!!

State Choral Festival reminder

Just a reminder that I need to have all payment ($10) for State Choral Festival by tomorrow (4/17). I also need permission forms. If you've lost your form, here's a picture of it. Print it out and get it signed.

Never Saw This Coming!

Thank you to everyone who nominated me for the Lynn Warren Taylor Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching. I'm glad to know that I've made an impact in your lives. That means more to me than the award itself.

Just something interesting

I don't have a lot tonight, but I thought you might find this interesting. Here's a recording of my high school band when I was a freshman. The song is called American Civil War Medley. I'm playing the baritone.

Solos

Whew! I almost forgot to post today.

Here are the soloists I've selected for Les Mis and Tece Voda Tece (Women's):

Dream a Dream: Madison Croft, Sydney Armstrong
Do You Hear the People Sing: Clayton Pace, Maclean Mayers, Jacob Miller
On My Own: Raneem Imam
Bring Him Home: Renee Blevins, Reggie Taylor
Finale: Evan Hoover, Kelsey Kimble, India Ratliff

Tece Voda Tece: Sop: Taylor James; Alto: Cierra Stevens

Have a good night!

All-State Wrap Up

I know most of you won't make it to the All-State concert tonight, but I wanted to give you a little taste. Here's the Men's Chorale final rehearsal.

Joshua Fit the Battle - Preview

Here's a fun preview of what Chamber Choir's working on. We're not done with it yet, but we're having fun with it.

All-State Update

Just wanted to say hello from All-State. I missed being at school with you all today! Here's a picture of us at lunch today.

Chamber Choir tracks are up

Hey gang,
I finally got the tracks for the Chamber Choir Choral Festival performance. I've put them online here.

And since that was a short post, here's a re-posting of our Harlem Shake video.

Lux Aurumque...in Reverse

I thought you might like this. Here's Chamber Choir's performance of Lux Aurumque from St. Peter Catholic Church, but the track has been flipped and is now playing backwards. It creates a whole new song. It's interesting to listen to.

"Ah, music, a magic beyond all we do here!" ~Albus Dumbledore

I have this quote hanging up in my house. What is your favorite music quote? Post it in the comments!

Armadillo

Here's my word song that I performed for you in class on Friday. My words were Armadillo, Invisible, Fly, Shoe, and Earth.

Word Songs

So, today in class you had the opportunity to create songs based on lists of words. Here are the lists (in case you're trying to tell your parents about our activity).

List #1: Elephant, Sleepy, Swim, Blue, Party
List #2: Camel, Cry, Ocean, Ambitious, Yellow
List #3: Giraffe, Frighten, Piano, Majestic, Red
List #4: Monkey, Carry, Hat, Exciting, Green
List #5: Donkey, Lift, House, Meticulous, Purple
List #6: Armadillo, Fly, Pink, Invisible, Cloud

We had some great songs today! I really enjoyed hearing what you came up with. If I get enough comments on this post, I'll post the winners up here.

Comments and More

Hey, if you ever see anything on here that you feel needs a comment, you are allowed to. Just click the comments link below each post. It's the only way I'll learn who is reading the posts.

I think I'm about ready to decide on the choir rosters for next year. Not yet...but soon. You'll have to wait with bated breath (which is different than waiting with baited breath - which just means your breath smells like worms).

Here's BYU Vocal Point singing Happy:

State Choral Festival update

Hey gang,
I know I mentioned this in class today, but I just want to put it here as well so you can keep track of deadlines. Since I didn't include state choral festival in the choir fee, I need to assess a $10 fee from each student. This needs to be paid by April 17.

I'm in the process of uploading the tracks from Concert Festival for your listening pleasure. I'll let you know when I'm done.

9:20 PM UPDATE: I just finished getting the tracks uploaded for Chorale and Women's Chorus. I'll put Chamber up as soon as I have them. Click Here to listen.

Accompanist

Are there any choir parents out there who play the piano well enough to accompany the choir? I've never really asked this question, but thought I'd throw that out there.