Choir Newsletter; October 23, 2015

Choir students and families,
Here's this week's newsletter. Key points and new information are in bold type. 
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A link to each post will be sent through the choir Twitter and Facebook accounts, to whatever parent emails I have on file, and to the students through Google Classroom. 

The beginning section will always be about curricular choir and the following information will pertain to the extracurricular activities, so you only need to read what applies to your student.  The most updated and comprehensive calendar is always on bataviamusic.org. 

Curricular Choir

• Wow! What a fun concert! I'm so proud of the singers, and I'm so thankful for the fun, supportive crowd that joined us. See you at the next one! If you have pictures or videos of the night and are willing to share, please pass them along!
• Support the BPS101 Music Boosters next week and treat your family to dinner!
  Batavia Music Boosters has teamed up with Enticing Cuisine for a Dining Night on Wednesday, October 28th. Mention Batavia Music Boosters when you order so Enticing Cuisine will donate a percentage your sale to Music Boosters! Orders should be placed by Monday night by calling (630) 761-0399. It's bacon wrapped meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans on the side for $22.50. All meals will be packaged for 4 servings. 
• MusicTheory.net (MTN): Students will periodically have assignments on MusicTheory.net to work on issues like note ID, key signature ID, Intervals, ear training and more. It will all be set up through Classroom. We walked through a couple assignments this week. Those will show up in PowerSchool under the "Written Assignments" category. Here's a link if you want to give it a try! 
• The Grade Level Expectancies (GLE's) will also use SightReadingFactory, as it is important for the test to look like what they've been practicing. On weeks when GLE assignments are due, the normal Thursday assignments will no be there. Instead, students will have two SRF drills that are matched to the difficulty level of their choir. These GLE drills will be due on certain Fridays at 5pm. The next GLE is due on November 13.  It will be available to students on Friday, November 6. 
• Lisa Fredenburgh visited Varsity on Monday, 10/19. Dr. Fredenburgh is the Director of Choral Activities at Aurora University. I got the chance to work with her this summer at a graduate class I was taking, and I'm so excited to have her right next door! We learned a ton from working with her, and it really helped us get ready for Thursday!
• The syllabus for all choirs is on the choir page of the BataviaMusic.org. Students received a hard-copy in class. You should have been shown the syllabus and signed off on it. You can see if your student has turned theirs in by checking PowerSchool for the "Syllabus Contract" assignment, due 9/4.

Help wanted! 

• I'll need a few more people to help take leadership in specific ways and make Festival of Carols a reality. Please read the Madrigal section below. 
• I'd love to update the website and social media with pictures from last year. If you have any you would be willing to see displayed publicly, even if it is a student who has graduated, please send me the picture or a link.
• If you are willing to help in any way, please contact Mr. Barsch at peter.barsch@bps101.net or sign up directly at www.bataviamusicbuffs.org (click "Volunteer Sign-up" from the home page).

Showchoirs

• We had a Parents' Meeting about Show Choir in the choir room on Thursday, 10/8. Here is the Powerpoint from that evening.  
• Showchoir rehearsals will start on November 9, but we may have informal vocal rehearsals as our songs arrangements come in. Ideally, we'd like to be able to focus on the choreography as soon as possible once the season starts. 

• The most updated and comprehensive calendar is always on bataviamusic.org. Just select the groups you are interested in, and you'll see their rehearsal and performance schedule. If you find what you believe to be an error or discrepancy, please bring it to my attention!
• Volunteer sign-ups will be set up on www.BataviaMusicBuffs.org soon. 

2015-16 Concerts

• Tuesday, December 8: Kaleidoscope Concert Dress Rehearsal – During school day 
• Wednesday, December 9: Music Department Kaleidoscope Concert 
• Thursday, Dec 10: Festival of Carols Dress Rehearsal at Shannon Hall (TBA) 
• Fri-­Sat. Dec 11-­12: Festival of Carols at Shannon Hall (Chamber & Treble) 
• Tuesday, February 23: BHS Music Festival­ Concert 1 (Chorale & Alpha) 
• Wednesday, February 24: BHS Music Festival­ Concert 2 (Treble & Varsity) 
• Thursday, February 25: BHS Music Festival­ Concert 3 (Chamber) 
• Thursday, May 5: Spring Choir Concert (This date is still tentative)
• Thursday, May 12: Music Senior Awards night (This date is still tentative)
• Other Important Dates:

Saturday, November 7: ILMEA Senior Festival               
Saturday, November 14: ILMEA Jazz Festival               
Wednesday, March 2: Showtime! 
March 7-­11 ­Curricular Choir Placement Auditions

Madrigals

• Madrigal Season is fast approaching! Initial plans for the event are under way. This year, every student in Chamber and Treble Choirs will be performing at this magical event. 
• We had a Parents' Meeting about the Festival of Carols in the choir room on Thursday, 10/8. Here is the Powerpoint from that evening. 
• We still need a few parent volunteers to help with this event. More specific requests will come soon.
• All volunteer sign-ups are on the www.BataviaMusicBuffs.org (Click Volunteer Sign-up). If you have any questions about how you might help, please contact Mr. Barsch at peter.barsch@bps101.net. 

Did you notice...

• ...the Enticing Cuisine Dining Night on Wednesday, October 28th? Good!