What a week! 
We had amazing performances from all of our curricular groups, and it was wonderful to get to enjoy the Bands and Orchestras as well. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! As ever, if you have pictures or video of any of our concerts, please share them! I'll try to get audio up soon. 

I'm so proud of all of our singers!

Show Choir & Disney families, 
It has come to my attention that a few people are behind on Show Choir and Disney payments. Please keep an eye out for an email with details and do your best to get caught up quickly. I'd hate for your child to miss out!

Want to make sure you get a good seat for the Showtime concert at the BFAC on March 6? 
Ushers are able to get in first and reserve their own seats before they open to the public. 

This is the first year that Showtime will be combined, with Vocal Gold and 1501 (the RMS show choirs), Legacy and Swingsingers (the BHS show choirs) all performing. Chromatics, the BHS pop a-cappella ensemble, will also be there!
There will be about 170 student performers this year! I'm so excited to see what the RMS show choirs have been working on, and I love that the BHS kids get to cheer for them. I'm excited to show the RMS kids and parents what is waiting for them at the next level! 

To usher for this event, please follow this link!

We had a great time at the Manteno Main Event Show Choir competition last weekend. It was so cool to get our shows up under the lights, and Ms. O'Neill and I couldn't be more proud of the kids. Here are some images, provided by student Elizabeth Shiver and parents Denise Mroz and Christine Breiten. 
​

​WE ARE GOING TO CHESTERTON!
 
Here are just a few notes about competition.
Why we DO compete:

• To share our show with other groups
• To watch other groups and learn from them
• To get feedback about our show from professionals in this field

We do NOT compete:

• To win
• To “beat” other schools
• To be overly critical of other groups

 
You will get to see and hear a lot of different things at these competitions. All schools take a different approach to their shows. It is expected that you will represent Batavia High School and this program by treating every other choir with the utmost respect.


CHESTERTON HS “TROJAN CLASSIC”
 
The competition we’re attending this weekend is at Chesterton High School.
2125 South 11th Street
Chesterton, IN 46304
 
Note: Even though it is in Indiana, Chesterton is on Central time!
 
Admission prices:
$10 for preliminary competition
$10 for finals competition
$15 for an all day pass
Souvenir programs will be available for $3
 
SCHEDULE
 
ARRIVE AT BHS: 5:28 AM
DO. NOT. BE. LATE.  
There were far too many students tardy to their call time last weekend, and it will not be okay if that happens this weekend, because we will not have a buffer of an hour of rehearsal before we leave. You MUST be on time.
LOAD BUSES: 5:45 AM
LEAVE BHS: 6:00 AM
ARRIVE CHESTERTON HS: 7:30 AM
LEGACY DRESSED AND READY IN HOMEROOM: 8:05 AM
LEGACY LEAVES FOR WARM-UP: 8:25 AM
LEGACY PERFORMS: 9:00 AM
SWINGSINGERS DRESSED AND READY IN HOMEROOM: 10:40 AM
SWINGSINGERS LEAVES FOR WARM-UP: 11:00 AM
SWINGSINGERS PERFORMS: 12:05 PM
PRELIMINARY AWARDS CEREMONY: 6:30 – 6:45 PM

• ALL GROUPS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR FINALS HERE!

IF NEITHER GROUP MAKES FINALS
LOAD BUSES/LEAVE AT 7 PM (IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING AWARDS)
ARRIVE BACK AT BHS BY 8:30 – 9:00 PM

IF EITHER GROUP MAKES FINALS
FINALS TIME SLOTS: 7:30 – 10:05 PM
HOST GROUP PERFORMS:  10:30 PM
FINAL AWARDS: 11:00 PM
LOAD BUSES/LEAVE AT 11:30 PM
ARRIVE BACK AT BHS BY 1:30 AM
 
DRESS CODE
Attire for the competition is business casual. All school dress codes apply. Please do not wear jeans or sneakers. Please do not wear clothing with holes in it. Please do not wear anything inappropriate. Make sure you are wearing shoes you will be comfortable walking around in all day.
 
HAIR AND MAKE-UP
Legacy members we will have about a half hour to get ready when we get to the school, so please do whatever is necessary to be ready on time. Often, students will arrive to BHS with their hair still in curlers/pin curls, put their makeup on during the bus ride, and then use the time at school to get their hair put together and their costume on. If that will work for you, feel free. But please make sure you will be ready to go by the time listed above so that we can talk through some notes before we go to warm-up.
 
WHAT TO BRING
All costume pieces
Any hair supplies or makeup necessary
Pillow/blanket for on the bus
Money for food – concessions will be available to the students all day
 
WHAT NOT TO BRING
Anything valuable that you don’t want to lose – homerooms will be locked when we’re not in them, but there’s no reason to bring anything to entertain yourself. There’s going to be show choir happening all day!

The Music Department is in need of ushers for the BHS Music Week concerts in late February. The music department puts on three separate concerts featuring bands, choirs, and orchestras each night. We need six ushers for each event. Ushers should plan to arrive to the BFAC at 5:45 each night and need no preparation as they will be trained before the event. Ushers should wear all black for the concert. Ushers will be able to reserve seats for themselves and their guests for that evening's performance. 

Please sign up below:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0d49aea92ea0fe3-bhsmusic

Thank you for your help and support!

I want to consider as much information as possible when determining next year's choirs. Since this decision will determine a student's placement for a whole year, I don't want to leave it up to one 5-minute audition. Hence the audition process is a bit more convoluted. It's more work for me now, but I think it leads to a fairer result. 

One side note: The two Freshmen Chorale classes will be equivalent. I am not going to rank one as the more advanced. I will try to split one of them to make an SSA choir and one to be a mixed choir, but neither should be considered to be the top one. 
  
I will consider these factors when determining placements for 10-12 grade students:

Sight-reading Factory assignments
    Is the student improving in their sight-reading? Are they challenging themselves to keep growing, or are they content to stay where they are? I will look both at the accuracy and difficulty levels of their last several SightReadingFactory assignments. If we are better at sight-reading, we can do more music, harder music, and dig deeper in exploring the music we sing. 
    
Video Selfies
    Is the student demonstrating mastery of the songs they are currently performing? The Video Selfies we record in class will show this. Students will record a video of themselves singing a section of a song their choir has been working on. This is preferable to a traditional one at a time audition, since the student will be singing with the entire class, just as they always do. I will get a better idea of how they really sound than if I pull them aside one at a time. I will listen to these video selfies for Pitch & Rhythm Accuracy, Intonation, Tone Quality and Expressiveness. Please see this rubric which I will use when evaluating these recordings. 

Choir Climate
    This is more subjective than the previous two elements, but just as important. Do I get the sense that this student wants to work hard, or is choir someplace where they would rather just blow of some steam and sing with friends more casually? While I always expect students to improve and I have high expectations for every choir, students have varying degrees of how much they want to push themselves. Some students who are excellent sight-readers and have fine Video Selfies will request Varsity simply because they perfer a more casual climate. Other students have shown through their behavior in rehearsal that they want to push harder and reach for more music and more challenging music. When possible, I will try to give those students the challenge of Treble or Chamber. 

Student Schedule
    While we try to accommodate every student, and while I feel strongly that every kid in the high school is welcome in choir (not just the good singers!), sometimes we are limited by scheduling factors. Sometimes a student needs a certain class at a certain block, but we don't have a choir that fits their abilities or temperment. I will do my best to find a fit that is fair, good for each kid, and good for the overall program. Remember, that this isn't just about whether any one student is improving. Eventually I need to make classes of sizes that fit the over scope of the program and that fit the other staffing needs of the building. For example, if I were to have 150 students in Chamber, that would be a lot of PE teachers needed on the opposite day! 

Transparency: 
    It's important to me that the students understand what the challenges are, and have say in the audition process. We have talked about it in class a good deal, and students have many opportunities to give input. They may not be happy with the result of this process, but my hope is that students will at least think that they were treated fairly and with respect through the process. I have taken many pieces of student advice in order to come up with this process. I will also be happy to go over the audition with each student. 
One area where I will not be transparent: I will never speak about how one student did except to that student or her/his parents. Just as I will not talk to you (student or parent) about why another student was placed into their choir, I will not talk to anyone else about why you were placed into your choir. 

If you have questions or concerns about the process, I'm happy to hear your thoughts. Once the assignments are made, it's necessary to give a few days to let the news settle in, and then I'd be happy to sit down and go over your (or your child's) audition materials. 

Peter Barsch
BHS Choir

PS: I would love to have TA's next year. There is always plenty to do, and if I have experienced choir kids as TA's they can help with peer tutoring, running sectionals, or simple office work. If you have an empty slot in your schedule, please consider helping out!