Cindy's Common Time Choir Notes

A long Break

2013-12-06T08:39:00.000-08:00

Choir Ups and Downs

2012-02-22T17:20:00.000-08:00

Notables
We've got some choreography well underway, and that song is on track to be ready for March 16!

We have some pretty big challenges for the song "Come to the Music". I may have been too ambitions on this one-it is mostly in 2 part harmony, but there are a few measures of 4 part. The kids do just great when they sing their own part alone, but when we put it all together, poof, it falls apart. Soooo, I hope to come up with some brilliant strategy to solve that problem for next week! Last week, we separated each group and stood them far apart in the room, but we can only do that so long! It would be very helpful if people would MEMORIZE the song while listening to the recording and really practice at home.

Please go to vpafoundation.org click on the tab for choir members only and choose the March 16 concert.

Enter the password sherwoodvpa
Scroll down to Notables and Come to the Music with the appropriate voice part.

PLEASE, HAVE YOUR CHILD PRACTICE AT LEAST 3 TIMES, OR UNTIL THEY ARE MEMORIZED AND CONFIDENT IN THEIR PART. I think it will make a huge difference if the kids do this, so I implore you to pass this info on, and encourage them to sing at the computer!

FYI--new music was passed out for the May concert, but we won't be starting it until the first week in March. We need to focus on our current music first!

Children's Choir
I'm happy to report that these kids have their songs for the March concert memorized! Wow! We worked on the risers to add some variety to the rehearsal, and to give them some challenges with added choreography! Next week we will begin our new music for the May concert, so that will be exciting. We did not pass it out at rehearsal yesterday, so don't look for it just yet! I hope all the sick kids will feel better and be back next week, and we don't have any new sickies! Have a great week.

Choir Goals

2012-02-09T21:58:00.000-08:00

This week I revisited some choir goals and rules with the choirs. I reminded them that our goal should be to sing as much as possible during the hour--that means the less talking the more singing!

I also added that there should be

NO EATING, or GUM CHEWING during choir.
Use the restroom before choir, please don't ask to leave rehearsal--the school might be locked, and the portable toilet may or may not be available. Lately, they've been gone!
Please don't come into the choir room before 3:00, unless an adult is already there.

Children's Choir

These kids are really doing well learning harmony and following the director! We played kind of a game to see how well they could follow me with tempo changes, fermatas, and dynamic changes. It was amusing, but effective in getting their attention! They have their music nearly memorized, and are being responsive to my cues about where to breath, and where to cut off phrases. I'm pleased with their progress and enthusiasm!

Notables

We're attempting to learn a few measures of 4 part harmony. It's tough to get them to hold on to their parts. They sing their lines great alone, but when we do them all together, many of them loose it. I recommended that they use the website to practice at home, and gave them practice slips to return to me for candy. I'm going to give it about one more week, and then I'll simplify the song to 2 part harmony. Please encourage your child to practice! It would be really cool if we could sing those measures full out!

FYI--we have about 12 girls on the average are dancing from 3-3:30 each week. They are learning some fun routines with Ms. Sam. I'm taking roll of who is participating, as it will be interesting to me to see who ends up auditioning for Footnotes choir May 24th. I'd suggest if anyone is serious about auditioning, they should be dancing...More on that later.

Footnotes

They have 2 songs memorized for notes and words. Now the fun begins as we refine and polish. They are learning a song in Latin, and it has been a great learning piece for diction, dynamics, and strong/weak accents. I'm happy with their responsiveness to my direction. Additionally, they are to memorize Lullaby of Broadway from p.7 to the end. They got about 1/3 of the choreography blocked for the song as well, so things are well underway for them.

Choir Recordings

2012-02-02T22:09:00.000-08:00

We have recordings of our songs for March 16th on this website page:
vpa choir recordings

I sent out mp3 attachments while we were waiting for the website, but only about half the e-mails were able to receive them apparently. Sorry about the inconvenience. You can right click on the song and save it to your computer, then download it to an ipod or mp3 player, OR you can just play it directly from the website and sing at the computer, OR you could burn a CD! I hope it's easy for you!
Here's the deal I made with the kids, if they bring in a practice note signed by a parent saying they practiced, I give them candy.

Signed note=candy

If they forget one week, they can bring it the next week and possibly get 2 candies if they practiced the next week as well. It's easy, and a lot of kids think it's worth it! I believe practicing at home improves rehearsal significantly, so I hope you'll encourage it regardless as to whether your child responds to candy motivation!

We have had a good week of rehearsals, I'm pleased with the progress we've made.

Notables and Children's Choir Started this Week

2012-01-12T11:31:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!
We are back in session with our kids choirs. I'm looking forward to another growing and fun music season.

Notables

We started off with a half hour of dancing with Sam. Here's a few photos from that!

I'm happy that we had 2 new girls join us who participated in our INTO THE WOODS production last Fall, and had sung in our choirs previously. Welcome Mikayla and Rebecca!

We began 3 new songs for our March 16 VPA Showcase concert. One of the songs, "Come to the Music" was the title song for our concert in 2006 with our first children's choir, which was made up of 4-6th graders. I had created posters to teach the song by rote, instead of using music. Luckily I found the posters in the back of one of my closets, and solicited the help from our parent council secretary to create a new document, so each singer could have a copy to practice with, and so that it would run with no repeats back to another poster. Here is a copy the first 2 of the original posters. You can see that these 2 posters are the first page of the music your child has. It's pretty cool!

This song has interesting multi-meter rhythm 6/8+2/4 every other measure. There is a lot of ink on the page, and I felt initially that I could teach it with symbols more effectively that trying to teach kids to read the music. So I created symbols that helped me teach the rhythm with some clapping gestures, I wanted to show some melodic contours, some unison singing, and some harmony splits. At the end of the song it splits into 4 part harmony, which we may attempt, which we didn't attain in the previous choir. This choir however, has some kids that have been singing in choir for years, and they are pretty solid, so I'm hopeful. We got off to a good start. I will be e-mailing some practice mp3 files out to help with the learning as well.

We started a song from the musical RENT, called Season's of Love. Ask your child how many minutes are in a year. See if they can just spout it off to you. After one rehearsal, they should know that fun fact for LIFE!

Children's Chorus

We've added 3 new students to the choir, and I'm looking forward to getting to know them.

We started out exploring some harmony possibilities by learning a silly little song I wrote a few years back called "We've All Come Here to Sing". The folksy little melody says "we've all come here to sing a-ping-a ding..." using so-do intervals (which we are emphasizing in our warm ups), and lots of stepwise motion all to a lilting 6/8 meter to get them moving. After learning that tune, we divided the group into 4, and taught a simple accompanimental ostinato with the other 3 parts, complete with actions to enhance the silliness, and also to create definition to the rhythm. We'll continue exploring the song another week or two, working on diction with new alliterating words, changing the actions, and strengthening the harmonies. Fourth and Fifth graders are fun!

We also began 2 other songs for our March 16th VPA showcase concert. Both are songs our Children's choirs have sung in the past, so it will be fun for me to revisit them. Corner of the Sky from the musical "Pippin" is mostly unison singing, but introduces some simple harmonies on a few phrases. Last Fall our harmonies were mostly in the form of partner songs, and this term we will be working on actual harmonies that aren't separate melodies. We'll sing an artsy song called Morning which has a little more harmony, but is mostly unison. Both songs lend themselves to understanding song forms and structure. Your kids are great people-and they learn so quickly! I'm excited to teach them again and see what another 5 months will accomplish. I can't wait!

Children's Chorus and Notables this Week

2011-11-17T14:05:00.000-08:00

Concert Publicity

Please watch for 2 postcard type invitations for our concert to come home. These are to share with your family and friends, and more are available upon request.
Also watch for a sample Christmas card for our fundraiser, with information about how you can order those.
You will also be given information about ordering your 2 complimentary tickets to our show.
Please like us on Facebook, and refer people to vpafoundation.org. Spread the word, and help us to sell out our 2 shows! We need everyone to sell tickets and promote the shows, they are going to be very enjoyable, and will really help you get into the "Spirit of Christmas"

The Children's Chorus kids are so awesome! They sing with enthusiasm, and they are so quick to learn the music. They are really getting into the choreography, and I think singing "It's the Holiday Season" with Dave Sweeney, our Master of Ceremonies will be very fun. Here are some choir assignments and decisions for the show that will be fun to know.

Soloists for "The Angels Came to Sing" are:
Rachel, Maya, Alena, Lizzy in that order. It was really hard to choose the solos, because everyone did such a nice job auditioning. Over half the choir auditioned--and they were all really strong singers. WOW!

Artists
Connie and Lizzy will be providing the art for 2 large pictures postcards we will use in the concert for "The Christmas Tree Feud". I had the kids draw pictures for memory visual aid for "The Angels Came to Sing". I chose the artists based on what I saw, and who wanted to do the art-but they all did a nice job making pictures

Actors
There are a few scripted lines before the "Christmas Tree Feud". I had everyone who wanted to read for me, and then I chose Jacob and Maisie for the parts.

Sign holder Britan will carry one of the postcard signs and have a bit part giving it to the postal woman in the show.

Notables move! What a happy group!
Most of the kids were off the music this week, and they really began to sound like a real choir, watching me for cut offs, and singing in a unified way. I'm happy to see the progress that they have made since last week. Thank you for encouraging practice at home--please continue to encourage it, and I will continue to have candy for those who bring me a note from you saying they practiced.

We are working on a major entrance for "The First Noel/Pachelbel" arrangment. They are dancing on to stage holding battery operated candles. It should be pretty effective, but we have a lot of refining to do! Please encourage your child to head over to the portable as close to 3:00 PM next week as they can. We are having rehearsal Tuesday Nov. 22 for sure!

Have a great week!

Christmas Concert Coming Soon!

2011-11-07T18:05:00.000-08:00

Hello Choir Families--
We have just 3 rehearsals left until we start performing. The kids should be memorized by the end of rehearsal tomorrow. Please encourage them to practice at home. Remember they can easily practice with the computer playing the songs if you go to this webpage: http://jerryjan.com/sherwoodchorale/mainpage You can also right click on each song and save them for your ipod or mp3 player.

Please encourage your child to practice at home!

We have performances for the kids choirs coming up on.

Dec. 2 6:00 PM at Washington Square Mall, call time 5:40 PM.
Dec. 3 4:50 PM at the Sherwood Tree Lighting ceremony, and at the parade at 4:00 PM. Call time for the parade is 3:30, then we go straight to the Tree Lighting ceremony. We are FIRST on the program before the lighting.

Notables Girls will have a blouse fitting this Tuesday during and before rehearsal.

Busy Week with Into the Woods Production!

2011-11-07T17:56:00.000-08:00

Last week was crazy with choir rehearsals on top of tech week for our VPA production of Into the Woods Junior. The show was a great success, and I'm happy to note that of the 38 cast members, 27 have either been in a VPA choir or are currently in a choir! Considering how strong the ensemble music was in that show, which is a Stephen Sondheim score, I can see why they managed it so well! It was a pleasure to direct such a group! It's very validating to our program to see that kind of continued support as we branch into new performing opportunities for the kids. Thanks to all the parents who supported their children in this project which required 3 afternoons each week in 2 hour rehearsals, on top of our choir rehearsals! It took a lot of effort, but was sooo worth it! I'm still just relishing the memory of the weekend shows! Here are just a few pictures of choir members.

Lucinda and Cinderella are in Footnotes

Jack is in Notables and one of the boys is in Children's Chorus

Jack's mother is in Notables

Little Red is in Children's Chorus, and 3 Flowers are in Notables, and 1 is in Children's Chorus, and 2 trees are in Notables

The Finale

Singing "Children's Will Listen" a powerful song in the Finale

Good bye October

2011-10-29T21:44:00.000-07:00

We had a great week of rehearsal! I hope all singers will practice at home every week. The recorded music is available on line, and they can either sit at the computer and sing, or you can download to your preferred device. If you would like a CD, you can e-mail me with the request at cindyachristensen@gmail.com. Here is the website address and link: http://jerryjan.com/sherwoodchorale/mainpage

This week quite a few kids from our choirs are involved in the VPA's production of Into the Woods. I hope it's a great experience for them all week. Please take time to go see the production on Thursday Friday or Saturday! For cast members who are in the Children's choir--I'd like them to stay for choir until 5:15, and then head over to get ready for the evening rehearsal. It is slated to start at 6:00 with the 5:00-6:00 hour for getting into costumes, so I think it will be okay to compromise on that last 1/2 hour of practice and split the difference.

Children's Choir
It is so interesting how using spacial movements with the arms helps kids recognize and sing correct pitches. There is a certain repeating phrase in "The Holiday Season" where the ending note is one pitch higher on the second repeat. The kids struggle in singing both phrases with the different ending note, but when I go back to the gestures that I used when teaching it initially, they do it accurately! Now I've got to figure out how to keep them remembering without the gestures, because they really aren't choreography! These kids are really singing well, with heart and soul. It's really very fulfilling to me to see them develop confidence in those melodies, and then to sing them like they own them!

Notables
Singing Jingle Bells in 2 different key signatures simultaneously makes for a very quirky rendition that the kids thing is so fun. They did a good job this week at holding on to their parts and not getting distracted. I also had them sing it in 2 groups by starting the song 4 beats apart. It sounds crazy, but it's so good for them to learn to be independent. Next week I will try it again, with 3 groups which will be quite a challenge I'm sure. I love warm ups! The kids are getting better at solfege, and I'm finding in all the choirs that it clarifies a lot of little issues in the music that come up. I can quickly explain some interval pattern, and they respond so well correcting misunderstood notes. Our music is coming along well, but we need some practicing at home to happen in order to have things ready to choreograph in the next week or so.

Footnotes
For only having 8 girls, they are so strong. I'm very pleased at how well these girls are harmonizing. They are learning very quickly, and they have a very nice blend. They love warmups that have a lot of harmony, and are always asking me to repeat things from previous weeks! I threw in a "name that tune" warm up of "thumpity thump thump" from Frosty the Snowman.. It was a little too slow to recognize at first, but they got the interval so-re, which is a little tricky, and that made my day! They have quite a lot of music to learn, so memorizing at home is pretty necessary this week. Please encourage them to use the CD if they have it, or go online for the recordings there.

We had a great outing to get character shoes at Dance Togs and they are giving us a group discount. Afterward we took a little side trip to Beaverton Bakery for some delectable treats. I found it quite amusing that 2 of our little petite girls split a pumpkin pie-and ate the whole thing! Way to celebrate the season, and take advantage of an opportunity.

Chorale
We have A LOT of music, and with only 12-15 minutes per song in rehearsal that means we've got to work smart! Our focus from here out should be on blend, tuning, interpretation, dynamics and cleaning/tightening each song. That means memorization is starting this week, and fishing for notes is over! Please take time to do a little wood shedding on your parts this week! Here are some suggested areas to work on to nail down some notes on a few of our songs:
It's Beginning to Look...p. 12 to the end
Jazzy Bell p. 4--especially tenors
Snow Carol--women German from mm5 to mm16
Pata Pan-p. 10 to end

Thanks for your continued enthusiasm and support. I certainly enjoy working with you each week!

This Thursday, I will come to rehearsal late, but choir is starting at 7:30 with Russell directing. Please come review the music, I will have specific things for you to work on with Russell.

NEW SEASON Off to a Great Start!

2011-10-17T21:28:00.000-07:00

Hello Choir People-
We began rehearsals for our choirs the 3rd week of September and we have been going strong ever since. We have 3 kids choirs now, and I'm very happy to have Jill Spencer, Shelley Christensen and Samantha Cirilly working with me. Jill is assisting with the Children's and Notables choirs, Shelley is teaching a dancing segment during the Footnotes rehearsal, and Samantha is teaching a pre-rehearsal, optional dance class for the Notables choir. Also we appreciate Hannah Simpson and Kristin Chicoski accompanying our choirs.

Here's a little run down for each of the choirs with a few pictures from our first performance just 3 weeks after we started rehearsal! This was a fun way to get us out into the community at the annual Onion Festival sponsored by the Sherwood Chamber of Commerce. It was a low pressure gig, and I think the kids got the year off to a good start. Thanks to everyone who came out to support us!

All Choirs at the Onion Festival October 8, 2011

Children's Choir
We started the season by learning a round--I Put Music in My Life. The added gestures helped the kids gain a sense that the melody for each phrase is in a different register, low, medium and high. It also helped them see a clear distinction between each phrase and each entrance for the round. They learned it quickly, and it was enjoyable for them to hear harmony on the first day.

We also learned a partner song, This Little Light of Mine to help them gain some further exposure to harmony. A partner song presents a melody for a verse, then a different melody for another verse, and then the 2 melodies are sung simultaneously to create harmony. It's a very simple, and effective way to teach kids to learn and hang onto a voice part. With the added choreography, it became even more fun and challenging. The arrangement we worked on is from a book of partner songs entitled "All Aboard the Partner Express" and it includes choreography suggestions, which were very useful for a very busy choir director to grab onto!

The third song we worked on was Kids of the Future from the movie "Meet the Robinsons". To keep expenses down, I just provided them with a page of lyrics with a few musical hints and notations. I added some gestures that helped them gain some melodic contour understanding, and I was pleased to discover that some of the words really fit a few solfege signs that were accurate with the actual notes. It was gratifying to see how easily they picked up the song while using these gestures. There is a lot of unison or repeated notes in the song, and the gestures helped them to notice that, as well as the general up and down contour. I took out some of the gestures for our performance at the Onion Festival, but some where just too fun, so we kept them in!

Children's' Choir singing "Kid's of the Future"

Notables Choir
This choir also learned the round and partner song that the Children's choir learned so that they could perform them jointly at the Onion Festival. Additionally they learned Into the Light from the movie "Tangled". This was a big hit as far as choir enthusiasm goes. They learned this song by wrote with lyric sheets only, and a lot of cues from the director for rhythm and pitch. I also wrote in many musical hints on and around the lyrics to help them learn the song. This was a good song to get the ball rolling and work on singing in unison and following the director.

Notables Choir singing "I See the Light"

Footnotes Choir
This group of 8 girls began right off the bat learning a choreography for Hakuna Matata from "The Lion King". They quickly caught on to the group songs for the Onion Festival, and spent most of the rehearsals on Hakuna Matata. I was pleased with how easily they learned the harmony, and focused on the choreography that Shelley taught to them. They are really engaging well in rehearsal, and I expect very good things to happen in the weeks to come.


Footnotes "Hakuna Matata" final pose w/ 7 of our 8 girls!

The Sherwood Chorale is back with 36 voices strong! We decided to sing at the Onion Festival as well, which enabled us to not sing Christmas songs on Sept. 22 when we started rehearsal! That was just a little too early for "It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas". Some how I just couldn't do it, so I made some revisions on my arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner, we revived Riversong from our Spring concert 2 years ago, and got our selves ready to sing at the festival. Now we are at full steam ahead working on our Christmas music--and with the weather change, I think we can handle it!

Sherwood Chorale singing "Riversong"

Robin Hood Festival

2011-07-26T13:45:00.000-07:00

First of all, THANKS to everyone who contributed to the float for the parade. I know the people who decorated it had a good time, and those of us who were in the parade had a lot of fun. I think we sang "I Put Music in My Life Today" 150 times or so during the parade, and the line from "Tomorrow" certainly fit the weather...(the sun 'll come out, tomorrow...)! Yes, the weather was cloudy, but the rain subsided right before the parade, and stayed at bay all day. I was so grateful that it warmed up and we were able to sing on the family stage in very pleasant conditions with NO coats on. We had a little technical difficulty with the IPOD arrangement for accompaniment, but once we sang, it all went well. We had about half of our singers there to sing, but they did a fine job. Thanks to everyone for your support in our last performance of this season. See you in September!!!

Hello!

Sherwood Children's Chorus

Footnotes Girls Choir

Music Education Beginnings

2011-06-05T16:19:00.000-07:00

On Friday my sister invited me to come to the culminating event for Art Literacy at her son's school. She has been teaching art literacy to the volunteers for 3 or 4 years, and "Culture week" has been a big event which she has been the master mind behind. This year they studied Egyptian art, and they had a large pyramid built in the gym, a food booth, and several art projects along with all displays of the art they had done in the art lit classes. It was really fun, and really impressive.

So interestingly, this school was McKay Elementary in Beaverton--the school I went to in 4th, 5th and 6th grade. The gym is right inside the main doors, and after I had seen the exhibit, I decided with the encouragement of one of the teachers I had been visiting with, to walk around and see if I could remember anything. I guess it's been 36 years since I walked those halls, since I don't remember going back after I advanced from 6th grade. Well, I wondered if anything would trigger any memories. As I stood in the doorway of the library, gazing around, the librarian saw me and asked if she could help me find something. As we visited, she took me down stairs to a little office and storage room where there were some boxes stored with all the class pictures from bygone days. There in the box were pictures from 1972-73, 1974-75, 1976-77 with my class mates and me! It was fun to know the schools repository still contained a record of little me!

She mentioned that in this little room, now an office, they had taught beginning strings. That sent a twinge of memory through me, this is where I began playing the viola. This is where I gained a little feeling that I was special, and that I had some talent for something. My teacher was so encouraging, and she gave me special attention because I was the only viola player in a group of violins--and viola was her first love.

We walked up stairs and my guide took me into the music room, and then left me with my thoughts. Here is where I loved general music from "Miss Morris formerly Mrs. Mouldy". We did a little production on this stage in 4th grade, something about a rabbit, with music--it was a play. I remember singing on that stage for class, and feeling bad that I couldn't be in the choir, because I was playing viola instead.

At this window, maybe even on these book cases, I remember the autoharp with song pages and chord changes. I sang "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands", and "The Ink is Black, the Page is White". She set up little stations around the room where you could do independent music activities sometimes. I remember loving to play the autoharp and singing. I loved music class.

This is where it all began, at McKay Elementary. This is where I began to learn and love music outside of my home. Wow. Somehow going into that room sent a flood of emotion over me. Feelings of gratitude for a time when music was really valued in the schools, a time when I was the recipient of so much instruction, a time when I was thirsty and ready to learn all that I could.
I'm so glad I had music class. I'm so glad I have had music as a major part of my life for all these years. I'm so glad that I have the opportunity to give back a little something to the music world through the Voices for the Performing Arts foundation. I'm so glad for an unexpected moment of reflection in a little empty classroom, on a random Friday in June. Sometimes it's the little things that happen that mean a lot. Aaahh. Life is sweet.

Memorial Day Service may 30, 2011

2011-06-04T18:09:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who sang at the Memorial Day service at the Middleton Pioneer Cemetery. We had 24 of our 36, and that was great for a holiday I'd say.

The choir sang, The Lord is My Shepherd arr. by Howard Goodall, followed by

The Star Spangled Banner--newly arranged for this event by-- me! It was hot off the press, or printer at our rehearsal Thursday night. After a few edits, I think it's set--at least until next year. Fun.

We concluded with John Rutter's for the Beauty of the Earth. It was a beautiful morning, and we were so blessed that it didn't rain, and we didn't freeze in our short sleeve shirts!

I have to say that singing, being outdoors, and listening to the three speakers really had a profound effect on me that day. I felt grateful for having that time to reflect and feel gratitude for the sacrifices that so many have given in behalf of our freedoms in this great country. Thank you for being there with me. I hope we can make this an annual even--I'll even select some music just for it.

Thank You for a Wonderful Concert!

2011-05-21T22:58:00.000-07:00

Small Town Big Talent Contest

Concert Portion

May 13, 14

Sherwood Children's Choir

I was so pleased with the performance to these kids! They were so cute, and they knew their stuff. The "playing" throughout the song was believable, and fun, and they sounded great.

You've Got a Friend in Me--Friday May 13, 2011

Dream Keeper--Friday May 13, 2011

Check out those arms--all up on time, and with the same angle. YAE!

Dream Keeper-Friday May 13, 2011


Ordinary Miracle--Friday May 13, 2011

I enjoyed the smiling, happy faces in this family portrait pose. They sang with feeling and warmth. good job Children's Choir--you were delightful.

Footnotes

Go the Distance

I was so happy with the tone quality and expression of these girls.

They blended and sounded beautiful.


When You Believe

The dance was executed with finesse. Way to go!

Final Pose--When You Believe

Swingin' With the Saints

I'm so glad the girls were able to perform this song.
They were under pressure at the end, but they pulled it off.

It was great how the audience joined in with the clapping too!

Swingin' With the Saints

Sherwood Chorale

As always, I love directing the Chorale. You focus, you give, you respond to me. I love feeling the music right there in my hands as we nuance and shape it. Thanks for being there with me!

Dream a Little Dream

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Don't Rain on My Parade

Not While I'm Around

Lean On Me


Lean on Me

Thank you for your support!

I'd like to especially thank and recognize the following people

for their commitment to the Chorale:

5+ concert participants received a 16th note pin at our party

5 concerts-- Polly D., Timberly M.
7 concerts--Lee M., Craig W., John B.
8 concerts--Elizabeth E., Corey K., Bill R., Patti B.


10+ Concert Recognition

10 concerts--Nathan D.
11 concerts--Larry S., Brian W., Lynnette S.
12 Concerts--Vicki B., Jan C., Bernie D.,
Robyn F., Alicia M., George S.

ALL 13 concerts-- Sarah G., Russell G., Jean S.

SEE YOU IN THE FALL!
Next concert: Dec 9, 10, 2011

Kids Final Rehearsal

2011-05-21T22:55:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos of our final rehearsal before dress rehearsal, and before the concert

Children's choir

Footnotes

Pre-concert warm up

Accompanist Cindy

Accompanist Jenny

Accompanist Lynette ready to go

Nice Job at the Senior Center!

2011-05-10T10:04:00.000-07:00

Performing at the Senior Center on Monday was a wonderful way to get our feet wet and prepare for the concerts this weekend. The kids focused well, and sang their hearts out! They looked great in their new concert attire too. I've heard nothing but praise for the performance, and I hope they are all stoked about performing this weekend! See you at rehearsal Thursday--3:00-4:00 for SCC and 3:10-5:00 for Footnotes at SHS.

Here are a couple of pictures from my video camera yesterday!

Sherwood Children's Choir

Footnotes Girls Choir

Footnotes Practice Help

2011-05-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

Hi Girls and Parents of FOOTNOTES choir. Below is a video of Swingin' with the Saints choreography. It starts a few pages into the song, but the first bit, you know--it's just clapping and leaning starting LEFT! Please practice till you know this independently, AND remember always start with your LEFT foot for leaning, clapping, jazz square, Charleston etc. See you next Thursday at 3:10 or as early as you can get to Sherwood High for rehearsal. Thanks for practicing!

sweet chariot choreography

April 28 Rehearsal

2011-05-03T21:14:00.000-07:00

Children's Chorus
Wow--we had a lot of kids gone, I guess the day of school off took it's toll on choir that day! 10 of the 19 kids were absent! We had a good rehearsal with kids who were there, but I'm a little concerned with the fact that we only have one more rehearsal before we perform at the Senior Center! I'm sure we'll be fine if we have good attendance this week.

I had a rehearsal video, but my internet isn't working well right now, so unfortunately, I haven't been able to upload it yet. Maybe later....

Senior Center Performance is at 12:10 PM on May 9. Information is coming about the logistics of that. You will be given a form for your child to take to school so they can be excused from class, and the parent council is working out car pooling.

Footnotes
Good rehearsal! We made a lot of headway on the music. I'm concerned about the choreography for Swingin' with the Saints, but the choreography for When You Believe is very close to being ready.
I had a rehearsal video, but my internet isn't working well right now, so unfortunately, I haven't been able to upload it yet. Maybe later.... Thanks!

We'll be passing out the vests at choir this week before rehearsal, so get there early!

Senior Center Performance is at 12:10 PM on May 9. Information is coming about the logistics of that. You will be given a form for your child to take to school so they can be excused from class, and the parent council is working out car pooling.

Chorale
Fun rehearsal on stage! I think we are going to be ready for the concert! This next week we will work on stage as well, and we will have our bass and drum combo with us. Please be ready to go at 7:45. Could a few people arrive at 7:30 to set up the stage with risers and the piano? This is the week for NO MUSIC, so practice and take the chance! See you Thursday!

My Vacation!

2011-04-25T16:20:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all my subs on April 21! I hear things went well, and I'm looking forward to rehearsals this coming week April 28. We are on for the same time at the same place--even though there is no school that day.

See you then!

Cindy

April 14 Rehearsal

2011-04-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

Children’s Choir

We began rehearsing with some platforms, and getting our blocking worked out even more. The kids are just about memorized, so we are in great shape! We did some video taping which was fun. Next week they will watch the clips and evaluate what they see.

Footnotes

We made great progress on the Hebrew dance, and I showed them a bit of choreography for Swingin’ with the Saints. We are in the practice, practice, practice mode. Next week they should plan to practice the dance from 3:00-3:30 with Elizabeth, then they will rehearse with Rachel and Elizabeth on all the songs during our regular rehearsal. I won’t be able to be there this week, but they will be in good hands, we have a plan. Remind them to practice and memorize!

Chorale

Good rehearsal—I was glad we didn’t have all the sickness this week. Next rehearsal will be on the stage, and since I won’t be there, the emphasis will be on the choreography and using the stage space. I’ve given Russell specific measures to work on based on what I heard on the recordings. This week you should be out of the music for Dream, Rainbow, Not While, and Parade. That leaves Lean on Me for next week. Please play your recording in the car, while you groom, and anytime you can! Memorize during those spare minute that happen throughout the day. Good luck!

PS—make sure you have your concert attire all ready to go. Talk to Jean and Matt if you have questions.

April 7 Rehearsal

2011-04-11T14:23:00.000-07:00

Well March 31's rehearsal came and went without comment because I was so excited about welcoming my son home from Australia, and having my daughter and her family visiting. It was awesome! I'll recap a bit now about last week's rehearsals, and we'll keep on moving forward from here!

Children's Choir
I loved the beginning of rehearsal when Emma asked if we could sing "I put Music in My Life" and started singing it. So I just joined in, and soon everyone was singing, and we turned it into a round as we went! I love these kids! We had started some choreography on March 31, and I continued and built on that. We set the choreography for Dream Keeper, and got some good things going on You've Got a Friend. These kids have enthusiasm! I keep having to dream new things up to keep them engaged, and moving forward. They have really risen to the challenge, and I don't want them peaking before the concert, so I'll keep adding challenges! The kids should be singing from memory now, and they should be reviewing with the CD using the tracks that have both Part 1 and Part 2 singing. The mom's passed out the concert blouses on March 31. I haven't heard any complaints, so I hope they all fit! Plan on the black skirts, black tights and shoes for the girls, and black pants, and white button shirts for the boys.

Footnotes
What a productive rehearsal. We reviewed 'Go the Distance', and the Part 2 girls discovered they had some wrong notes in their heads. Hopefully we cleared that up, but I'd like them to review on their own this week with the CD. Please encourage that! We blocked the Hebrew dance in 'When You Believe'. I was impressed at how quiet and attentive they were when I explained how the dance worked, and when they got up to try it out, they had very good attitudes and effort. I asked them to use the time just before the next rehearsal between 3:00 and 3:30 to work on it in any available space that there might be at the senior center. After talking with the senior center, I don't think there is a space except outside, so we'll see how that goes. My friend Elizabeth is coming early to help them with that while I'm in the Children's choir rehearsal. We DID NOT rehearse Swingin' With the Saints, and that is unfortunate! PLEASE ASK YOUR DAUGHTER TO PRACTICE THIS WEEK! We really need to get that one committed to memory ASAP. Last time we practiced it it wasn't even close to memorized, so we have much to do there. The song is begging for choreography, and I hope we get to it!

Sherwood Chorale
I hope all the sick people are feeling better this week! We had 12 absences YIKES!
A note about concert attire:
Women--wear the sparkly blouses and jewelry, long black skirts, black closed toed shoes and black hosiery--no exceptions! Men wear black shirts, slacks, socks and shoes, and a silver tie. If you don't have the blouse or the tie, check with Jean or Matt.
Memorization--This week Dream, and Not While I'm Around. Next week Rainbow and Parade. April 28 Lean on Me. Feel free to be memorized ahead of time!

Here's a run down on our last rehearsal:
Not While I'm Around-

Men check the note at mm 21, it wasn't off last week, but it's downright wrong this week! :)
Altos check mm39 again, I hear no pitches on the first 2 notes!
mm73-76 we'll work on unifying 'around' so the diphthong matches
we need to work on phrasing, eliding consonants, and having overall support in the lines, I think we will make much more headway on it when it is MEMORIZED. So work on it this week.

Lean

It was cleaner than last week! Progress is happening!
we need confident entrances as mm 22, 26, 33, 35, 61, 67
Get in the groove! I think this will click in a while. Let's work on clarity and precision now, and style will evolve out of that.

Dream

Nice! This is getting into the performance mode!
Men mm 61 g to g# isn't precise. Get that in your head first, then you can sing it out loud.
MEMORIZE this. No music this next week. We'll block it.

Rainbow

Bass m24 sing out with more confidence
Sops m61 you've got the right style and character! Let's get the tone placed a little higher (saggy pitch), and it'll be perrrrfect.
last 3 measures need the ritard synced with the duet and choir all together.

Parade

This was FUN! We choreographed the whole song, and I think it's going to be a crowd pleaser. If you were not sure of notes, please get them nailed down, and be ready to get out of your music this week as much as possible. You're out for sure by April 22. Good job Emily-you're gonna be a good diva!
The recording is from March 31. Here are the notes for that recording:
mm 11 softer, mm 39 is mp
get the 't's together at mm 19-20, 56-57 and 82
bulls eye pitches at mm 91, 92, 94

Have a great week, and be healthy--we need you!

March 17 rehearsal

2011-03-19T08:37:00.000-07:00

REMEMBER NO REHEARSAL NEXT WEEK--HAPPY SPRING BREAK!

Children's Chorus

Our focus was on memorizing words, and clearing up some stray harmony notes, and we had a good rehearsal! I drew the same structure I drew last week on the wipe off board for the words to "You've Got a Friend." I was pleased that they remembered what the drawings were from last week, and they were happy to draw them again. I'm hoping those images will stay with them and they will remember the order of the verses. We made a structured list of words that went with the song "Ordinary Miracle" as well. They were able to sing all of the songs with out music today. I pulled out a "stop and go light" as a visual aid, and they sang out loud for the green "light" and in their minds for the red "light". That got a lot of smiles as I tried to make it tricky. The stop light gave us a reason to repeat the song, and challenged them with something new to think about.

Footnotes
In order to drive home the rhythm reading concepts we've working on, I composed some new 'Patschen' exercises for the girls. These are 4 measure rhythmic pieces that use clapping, slapping, and stomping to stretch their rhythm reading abilities! Have your daughter demonstrate the following example that we worked on in rehearsal. It's just enough challenge to be fun, and I think it reinforces in a new way the rhythms that we are learning. I think I will adopt this into our regular routine for a while.

Footnotes continued...
As far as last week's assignment goes...over half of them put a pencil in their music folder, but only a handful attempted the other 2 assignments. So I handed out a few hershey bars, and we'll see how the next assignment goes which is:

Practice and memorize. Sing while listening to the opposite part and keep it going!
Swingin' with the Saints--using pencil, write in where the beats fall in measures 1-20. Over which notes do beats 1, 2, 3, 4 go? For example:

This was challenging for them, and although I helped many of them in rehearsal, and I did a group explanation, you may want to show them this example to help get the job done. I hope I get to lighten up my Hershey Bar load, I better not eat them all!

Sherwood Chorale
I'm sorry so many of you had sickness and troubles yesterday. We missed you, hopefully you will all be okay and back with us next time! Thanks to everyone who came for being flexible with all the commotion with the SHS concert going on and the parking lot being full. It's good our rehearsal didn't start until 7:45 since it timed out well with the intermission of the concert.

I recorded the final rendition after our work session of each song. I have those clips here with some comments. I hope you can take time to listen and evaluate them as well... Hey you could listen while you check your e-mail! Have a great spring break, and I'll see you back March 31!

Dream a Little Dream-the brighter, focused "ee" vowel really cleaned up the sound--it sounds so much better! There were some nice crescendos, and the accents on the da,da, da, da, da part at mm 61 was nice. We still need to work on diminishing the volume of the "s" of the word 'kiss' and 'miss'. Altos and tenors--more breath support, and warm up the tone mm 30-35. Men don't be late at mm 54 Ooh.

http://www.jerryjan.com/sherwoodchorale/rehdream.mp3

Parade--Men accent the first beat of each section starting mm 11 and 29. Check notes at mm 22, 35, 59, 94. Everyone sync the entrances especially at mm 47. Men--we're missing the first word at mm 53--"I'm"! At mm 77 I'll conduct better! There was better intonation, in those problem spots. It's coming along

http://www.jerryjan.com/sherwoodchorale/rehparade.mp3

Rainbow--some nice dynamics are happening, and it sounds pretty solid. Everyone who has a moving 8th note line needs to be more melodic, and more in sync as a section. We'll work on stylizing it more and giving it a little more ring, and tightening up the chords.

http://www.jerryjan.com/sherwoodchorale/rehrainbow.mp3

Not While--it has a plodding quality... :) I think we'll up the tempo to help overcome that some! In general the lines need more direction (sing to the climax of the phrase, have strong weak syllables, keep the breath moving), melodies need to be smoother, and unisons tighter. Check notes at mm 43, 50. Listen for pitch on the word "can" at mm 32, and "time" at mm 71. Listen for chords "jelling" a the beginning of phrases. There should be a new memorizationl recording on the Chorale website soon.

http://www.jerryjan.com/sherwoodchorale/reharound.mp3

Lean on Me--Ya, just keep working on it! Don't be late at mm 35, 32 second time, and 61! Go to http://jerryjan.com/sherwoodchorale/mainpage and click on the link to buy Lean on Me online for $1.29, then email John jgbarrow@gmail.com and tell him you bought it. He will then e-mail you YOUR part superimposed on the recording with the piano. Happy practicing! It's gonna be good!

http://www.jerryjan.com/sherwoodchorale/rehlean.mp3

By the way, I picked up copy #9 of Lean on Me off of the piano. Let me know who to give it back to!

THANKS EVERYONE FOR SINGING, COMING TO REHEARSAL AND PRACTICING. I APPRECIATE ALL YOUR EFFORTS! IT'S A LOT OF FUN DIRECTING YOU!

March 10 Rehearsal

2011-03-12T17:56:00.000-08:00

Children's Chorus
We're continuing our routine of vocal exercises, solfege hand signal reading, and singing familiar folk songs in 2 simultaneous keys (they love doing that--its so funny), and patschen. They are getting better and better at these skills, and I think they enjoy it too! Here's what we worked on for each song, in case your child wasn't there, or you're curious to know my teaching strategy!

Ordinary Miracle-I checked for accuracy of notes by having part 1 sing independently while the part 2 "sang in their head" and directed the melodic contour of the song with their hand. Then we reversed the process. This kept everyone engaged and thinking while we focused on only part of the group. I found that part 2 had some wrong notes they couldn't not seem to hear until until I had them stand up and while singing, bend their knees at the point the note went lower. After about 3 times they had it. It's interesting how using the whole body helps define the abstract concept of pitch direction.
You've Got a Friend in Me--I drew the structure of the song on the wipe off board:

Then I chose volunteers to draw a picture a key word for that section in each of the 4 boxes. I asked them what they thought the arrows meant, and they said "it's when the song goes up or down". I was pleased because that is what I've been drilling over the last few weeks with the arm gestures for the song. Now they have a visual reminder, and I won't have them do the gestures much any more. This structure will help them remember the words to the song and subtle melodic changes for the words "you got a friend in me".

Dream Keeper--they knew this one well enough to "perform" it for the parents and Footnotes kids who were sitting in the back waiting. We are working on dynamics and memory. Good times!!

Footnotes

I tried something new for ear training. After doing a solfege exercise with hand signals, I played some mostly stepwise exercises like do re mi re do, or do do mi re and then had them sing them back to me while they signed the appropriate syllable. They did pretty well, and I think I'll continue to do this increasing the difficulty over the weeks ahead. I reviewed the Hershey Bar Rhythm with an overhead summarizing the relationships between rhythmic values.

We moved on to subdividing the beat into 3's, and then clapped exercises I projected on the overhead that were from the music we are singing. Although not all the girls were able to clap the examples accurately, I felt we made some good progress in understanding the concepts. I want them to understand the notation of the music, so I will continue to devise exercises and activities to help them learn to read music accurately. This exercise lead into the first song of the day:

When the Saints--we started the first section for the first time. It's written in 12/8 time, and I've been laying the ground work for this, the hardest section these past weeks. They did very well singing it with me, probably due to their practicing with the CD, so I'm really grateful for that tool.
When You Believe--we sang the Hebrew section and they did great! This is the first time I've heard them sing it since I assigned it because we only worked on Go the Distance last week due to the performance last Saturday. I was pleased with how well they sang--I think, they think they are cool that they can sing in Hebrew!

I GAVE THE GIRLS 2 ASSIGNMENTS FOR THIS WEEK, IN ADDITION TO PRACTICING:

When the Saints--mark the beats 1, 2, 3, 4 in the appropriate places for the first section up to measure 20 only. I didn't tell them this, but I will be giving each person who does it a mini-hershey bar. I'm serious about them knowing what they are doing!
When You Believe--Part 2 only is to listen to the recording and cross out words we don't sing, and write in the words we do sing in the appropriate places.

Please encourage your daughter to practice and do these assignments. Believe me, this music is challenging and they need to be prepared for rehearsal. THANKS!!!!

SHERWOOD CHORALE

Thanks to everyone who has come in early to audition for the solos these past 2 weeks. You've all done a wonderful job, and there were several choices I could have made for each solo that would have been just wonderful. I'm glad I had recordings, as I had to listen to a few people a few times before I decided!
Here is what I decided:

Dream a Little Dream--Vicki
Parade-Emily
Somewhere Over the Rainbow-Polly and Nathan
Lean On Me-Niqui and Matt

John giving Cindy the checks for the VPA donation!

Now for more BIG news! John Barrow presented the VPA with a donation of about $2200 which was the result of an auction held by employees from McAfee. The winner of the auction determined which charity the money was to be donated to. John won the auction with his winning bid of $650, and he decided to donate the sum to the VPA for use in the schools. He says that McAfee will match the donations of employees, so it's likely when all is said and done that the final donation will be around $5000. We are THRILLED to have the donation which will help a great deal with the scholarships and grants we award this spring. THANK YOU JOHN! John also announced that he has taken a new job with the LDS church overseeing the translation of their written curriculum into foreign languages and integrating it online. This is such a wonderful opportunity for him, but will require a move to Salt Lake City Utah. We will miss the Barrow family tremendously. It was kind of a bitter sweet moment for us with all that news! WOW.

March 3 Rehearsal

2011-03-04T14:22:00.000-08:00

Children's Chorus

It was so great to see the kids, and sing again after our week off. The thing that tickled me during the warm up section was they wanted to sing a song with "Chinese" music. True, a lot of Asian music is full of parallel 4ths and 5ths which is how we sang last week. I had them guess what song I was leading them through with solfege hand signals. They guessed correctly, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Then they sang as two groups in solfege again, but with the home note DO, 3 notes apart. That made for interesting harmony, and the awesome thing is they stuck to their part, and were not pulled away by hearing the other group! This is so essential for building harmonizing skills! Another aspect of our warm up that I haven't mentioned yet is the rhythmic reading & skill building exercises. I learned the concept of 'Patschen" in college, and devised my own exercises a few years ago, which I use with overhead projections. The kids read the rhythms, AND multiple lines of music at once, teaching them to stretch their field of vision which is very necessary in piano or choral music. There are 3 lines they follow simultaneously, clapping, knee slapping, and foot stomping. They keep a steady beat, read accurate rhythm, and use multiple body parts thus engaging both sides of the brain in the activity, AND it's fun. That's the best part, they are gaining music skills, and to them it's a fun 2 minute game! Here's an example for your viewing pleasure. Take a minute, and try it out, you might have some fun too!

Footnotes

We spent the entire hour preparing for our Saturday performance. I was concerned that things would be pretty rough since we missed rehearsal last week. I don't think a huge amount of practicing at home happened, but enough happened so that we could progress in rehearsal. The girls focused well, and even though we spent time a lot more time on the details than we normally would in one practice, the time seem to fly by. I feel like the performance will be fine on Saturday and will be a good push off for this season. We will do more for the concert on that piece, but it will be fine.

It's hard to sing early in the morning for some people. So here are the tips I gave the girls:

Be well hydrated Saturday morning--drink a glass of water right when they get up, then drink another after they shower and get ready, then eat breakfast and don't forget to go the bathroom!!!
I recommended that they don't drink milk or orange juice for breakfast, instead apple juice or water is a good choice. I also said to be sure and eat, and not skip breakfast.
Lipstick and lip gloss can be throat drying, so vaseline is the best bet for dry lips.
A good nights rest is a plus too.
My last recommendation is to sing in the car with the CD on the way over, this will help them warm up the voice, and it will wake up their brains, and help them remember the song. Please don't forget that detail.

Thanks for your support. We are planning on all but 3 of the girls to be there. Parents can come and watch if they want. Afterward we are meeting at Shari's in Sherwood for a little socializing. I'll post a picture of the performance later! I'm looking forward to it!

Chorale

Thanks to everyone who came out for the solo/duet auditions. You all did a wonderful job. I can think of many possibilities to fill the solo roles, so we'll see what happens later. I will wait until after next week's round of auditions to make the decisions.

I was pleased at how much of Dream a Little Dream you had memorized. Were you surprised? We will keep working toward that end, and begin adding choreography at some point soon on that one. For 'Lean on Me', I think the new voicings would be a lot less tiring on your voices, but I'm willing to leave it the way it was for the sake of simplicity as per your requests. We'll see if we stay happy with that!

Remember auditions are at 7:15 next week, and rehearsals start at 7:45. Keep practicing!

No Choir Feb. 24!

2011-02-23T18:53:00.000-08:00

SNOW DAY!!!!

9:00 AM Thursday

I hope choir members will take the rehearsal time to practice the music with the recordings. Here are some suggestions for using the recordings.

Children's Choir--Go through each song at least 3 times with just your part only.

Ordinary Miracle--Listen carefully to page 5,6,7 three times without singing it. Just watch how the notes move up and down, and follow with your finger in the air as you listen to it. Then play the recording and sing along with your part only.
You've Got a Friend--Listen to page 5 & 6 only several times, then sing it a couple of times. One way you can do this by singing everything until you get to page 5 & 6, then listen to those pages, and then sing page 7 to the end. Do the actions if you remember them.
Dream Keeper--Review and do the actions if you remember them

Footnotes-Go through each song at least 3 times with just your part only.

When You Believe--work especially on the Hebrew section by listening 3 times before you sing it. Remember "i" sounds like "e" as in "me". "ch" is a throaty "k" sound. All the "a"s are "ah". Sing it 3 times with the recording. If you don't feel like you are getting it, just listen and think it with the recording without singing out loud. When you think you understand it try singing again.
Go the Distance--we need to perform this March 5, so you need to start memorizing. This can only happen if you work on it! Go through it multiple times!
Swingin'--focus on page 7 to the end, that's tracks 6,7,8 for Part 1 and tracks 17,18,19 for Part 2. Don't do the beginning yet, I have some things I want to do in rehearsal for that. Only sing your part, don't listen to the other part yet!!!

Have a happy snow day!!!! Sing, sing, sing this week! I'll look forward to seeing you next week!

Chorale
No rehearsal tonight! Stay warm and cozy! You might want to review by listening to last week's rehearsal online at http://jerryjan.com/sherwoodchorale/mainpage