Varsity Singers performed very well at SJSU's Invitational Choral Festival Friday evening, February 18th. This festival is incredibly good publicity for Pioneer's Choir Program. I was dubbed that evening by Dr. Charlene Archibeque "the bravest woman in the house" for bringing a choir there after only teaching for one year. I did not feel brave as I felt the opportunity was for the students and was not about me. The singers felt (and I agreed) that they sang the best they had so far this year, even though the group was only 22 mostly because of illness. The clinician, Rodney Eichenberger, worked with us on getting a more grounded sound. I realized that I need to teach with less dependence on the piano partly so singers can tune more easily to each other's notes, and are more used to watching me for musical cues.
Starting February 28th after break, we are learning new music in both choirs. Mostly aimed at the spring concert May 24th, but for the advanced choir, also for the tour to Anaheim April 8-11. For the tour, Advanced Choir/Varsity Singers are learning an arrangement of Shenandoah and a song called Chili Con Carne, both in 5 parts. I will add a Renaissance song for them either in French or English. All the singers have a lot of beautiful music to learn for the spring concert.
Advanced Choir was invited to perform in late March with West Valley College's Chamber Singers, but it conflicted with the 42nd Street musical so we had to decline.
One thing I am very happy with this year is teaching all my students to read music. Beginning and Advanced choirs are both learning about music notation, note and rest names and values, time signatures, dynamics, and will also be learning musical intervals and other terminology. They practice sightreading music almost every day during rehearsal. This is always a tradeoff because if I spend time teaching about reading music, we don't work during that time on learning specific songs. I feel strongly about teaching music literacy skills so singers can be more independent in the future and also so we can eventually learn music more quickly. Reading music is not a big mystery, but is just something to learn and become familiar with.
March 9-12 I attended a national choral director's conference in Chicago. It was full of useful information for directors, professional networking opportunities, and choral performances. I think I attended at least 8-10 hours of choral performances over the four days. I learned a lot, picked up some books and dvds, nurtured professional contacts, and enjoyed Chicago, despite it being colder than home. And since Pioneer doesn't have any extra money to support teachers in professional development, I paid for it myself.
Looking ahead, there's Advanced Choir's tour to Anaheim April 8-11 with the advanced bands and orchestra, CMEA (Advanced Choir) performance at Saratoga High School May 14th (which might change to the 13th), Spring Concert for all choirs May 24th (special dedication song kept a secret until then), and Graduation June 2nd (seniors perform Star Spangled Banner and Irish Blessing).
