December is coming FAST!
Our students did an amazing job on the Fall Concert! A large part of their success was due to parents helping their kids practice at home. We only have five rehearsals before our winter concert and tour. Practicing at home will be CRITICAL to our success! Practice files will be placed in google drive by the end of next week.
BATTERY OPERATED CANDLESAll students will need a plastic battery operated candle like the one pictured below for the Winter Concert. These can be purchased at Walmart, Lowes, CVS, and the like for $1-4. I have purchased some to sell in the choir room. For $3 they'll get their candle with the battery already in it. I will put their name on it and keep it in the choir room so they don't lose or break it, and give it to them the night of the concert right before they walk out with it.
HOODIES COMING SOON
Orders for hoodies are being taken from now until the end of next week. Be sure to place your order! The order form is embedded at the bottom of the newsletter.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Please make sure you're a Keller ISD approved volunteer by filling out this application. We will need a LOT of volunteers for the winter tour. And, we need volunteers for the winter concert and future trips and parties, so kids are supervised and therefore safe!
https://www.applitrack.com/kellerisd/onlineapp/_application.aspx?posJobCodes=1710&posFirstChoice=Volunteers&posSpecialty=Volunteer
DIVERSITY, AND HOW WE APPROACH THE WINTER CONCERT
In 6th grade choir class (and in honor choir, just not in as much detail) we discussed/will keep discussing how the VRMS Choir Department will approach winter concerts. At this concert you will hear songs that represent a lot of different things that are celebrated during the month of December. We will sing songs that talk about Santa, Hanukkah, snow and winter in general, and the story of the nativity. As our choir program grows, we will be able to represent even more facets of winter celebrations such as La Posada, Kwanza and more. We discussed and will continue to discuss how to respect and honor the traditions and teachings of ones own family while learning about the traditions and teachings someone else might have grown up with. If you have any concerns please do not hesitate to call me so we can discuss how we can work together to make sure every child and family feels respected and appreciated.
SUPER IMPORTANT CALENDAR UPDATES FOR VARSITY WOMEN AND MEN'S CHORALE
In the spring, Varsity Women and (most likely) Men's Chorale will participate in UIL Concert and Sightreading Contest. This mandatory event will be held during the school day on Thursday, March 7th. It is a contest that serves as the STAAR test for choirs. It assesses our students' learning of the major tenets of good choral singing, and their ability to read music they've never seen before (called sightreading). The choirs will present three songs for the concert portion of the contest, and then sightread 24 measures of music they've never seen in two parts for the Sightreading portion.
Leading up to this important assessment, we will have several events that will be mandatory. The first is a field trip (during the day) for a pre-assessment, called Pre-UIL on Wednesday, February 20th (accidentally notated as a Tuesday on the original calendar). Then, we will present our concert and sightread for parents at our own Pre-UIL Concert, held at Vista Ridge on the Learning Stairs (not the cafeteria).
On the original calendar published in August, the Pre-UIL Concert was scheduled for Thursday, February 28th. I have changed the Pre-UIL Concert to Tuesday, March 5th at 6:00 pm. We will most likely stay after school that day and enjoy a pizza practice, and stay thru all the way until the concert begins. It also says on the calendar that Men's Chorale may or may not participate. I am leaning toward having them do UIL this year, so please reserve this afternoon. The staying after school and the concert will be required attendance for every member of these two ensembles, no exceptions.
Lastly, I have hired a clinician to come and work with the Varsity Women to help us prepare for UIL. Please add Friday, March 1st, from 4-5:30 pm to your calendar. I need all the women to be present, so I am making this event required, even though it wasn't published in August. PLEASE mark this date on your calendars now so there are no issues in the spring. The clinic will be extremely fun, and we will have some kind of ice-cream sundae or fun and tasty treat, so they won't want to miss it!
