You gotta sing when the Spirit says sing!

5-6 Choir Hall of Fame

2012-01-24T14:05:00.001-06:00

We have a new Hall of Fame for 5-6 choir. Every rehearsal or performance I will name one or more students to the Hall of Fame, recognizing their participation in the rehearsal, their contribution of fine singing, of good ideas, of appropriate behavior, of Christian kindness.

Drum roll, please.
SUNDAY, JAN. 22
Natalie
Ben H.
Both worked very hard to lead the choir in learning "Come Follow Me Forever" in just four rehearsals

TUESDAY, JAN. 24
Caiden for contributing ideas about "ethereal"
Sophie for contibuting an ethereal "loo" to "O Gracious Light"

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 25.Sing for chapel
Paige, Drew and Cameron for soloing.

THURSDAY, JAN 26
Drew and Katarina
Special thanks to Ms. Dennen for leading the rehearsal

TUESDAY, JAN 31
Cayla for good work
Anastasia for good work in the front row

Take a look at Thwacked

2011-09-28T23:40:00.000-05:00

Watch the end of another group of kids' production of Thwacked.

How will our show be different?

Letter to parents and students

2011-08-16T13:45:00.000-05:00

Dear Parents and Students,

I am looking forward to working with the fifth and sixth grades this year, in choir and in the fifth and sixth grade play this fall.

The date for the play is Friday, October 21. Mark your calendars! The evening performance begins at 7:00 p.m. There will also be a morning performance at 9:15 a.m. at which parents and guests are welcome. I’ll tell the kids more about the show in a couple weeks, but already I can promise it will have singing, dancing, acting, and comedy, as well as some things to think about.

In choir we will learn music that spans the centuries and the globe. Fifth and sixth graders are ready for musical challenges--I’m looking forward to accomplishing great things with this group of singers. Something new this this year--we will have regular tests, related to the music we learn for each performance.

The choir needs everyone to be present for performances. This is part of your student’s obligation to the school and to his or her classmates. When students fail to attend performances, it makes it harder for the students who are here to do a good job, and it makes it difficult for all of us to take pride in our work. Watch for reminders about when we sing for worship in the Friday principal note and in classroom newsletters. If your student is unable to attend a worship service when the choir is singing please let me know with an email or a note at least a week ahead of time.

Choir and dramatic performances are activities where students work together as a community. We bring different talents, different levels of ability to this process, but we apply our varied gifts to a common goal, supporting one another along the way. It requires focus and concentration. It isn’t easy, but it’s often fun--and it’s good practice for life.

Making music and putting on plays are also ways of praising God our Creator and imitating Christ’s Creative Spirit at work in the world. With God’s help, we will grow in grace and wisdom this year as we serve God’s people through the performing arts.

Ms. Gotsch
ggotsch@graceriverforest.org

Getting ready for the 2011-12 school year

2011-08-01T12:39:00.000-05:00

The beginning of the school year is three weeks away. I'm still enjoying summer, but thinking about what the fall will bring--including a drama presentation by grades 5 and 6 on Friday, October 21, and the 5-6 choir's first performance in Sunday worship on October 30. I will be directing the 5-6 choir this year, and I'll also be directing the 5-6 play. Stay tuned! I'll use this blog, as well as the usual email and paper channels, to keep parents informed.

Meanwhile, listen to what kids' choirs can do!
Toronto Children's Chorus singing a Newfoundland folk song
Free downloads from the American Boychoir

And we begin . . .

2010-04-12T20:56:00.001-05:00

Actually, we began working on the show several months ago--learning the music in choir and using drama elective time to work more on music and staging.

But now the clock is ticking. Can we put the show together in four weeks of rehearsal? How good can we make it?

Click on the link to the right to see the rehearsal schedule.

Looking ahead to Once on This Island

2009-12-31T16:53:00.005-06:00

Once on This Island is the junior high musical this year. Performances are on Friday and Saturday, May 7 and 8. It's the story of Ti Moune (tee MOON), a poor girl who lives on an island in the Caribbean, where poor people live very different lives from the grandes hommes--the rich people. Ti Moune saves the life of a rich boy, Daniel, and falls in love. What is her fate? The people of the island, the birds, the trees, and the gods of earth, water, love and death tell the story.

Read about the show and listen to the songs here.

Here are links to some other junior high and high school productions of this show. Take a look--but remember--our production will be uniquely ours!

Opening: We Dance

Mama Will Provide

One of the slow songs: Part of the Human Heart

The big number at the end: We Tell the Story

Singing for Christmas

2009-12-17T08:45:00.002-06:00

I heard this story on Chicago's NPR station (WBEZ, 91.5 FM) while driving to school this morning. Listen to a seventh grader talk about singing and especially, singing for Christmas worship services.

Junior High Choir in December

2009-11-23T16:05:00.000-06:00

Junior High Choir Performances in December

The Junior High Choir sings for worship on Sunday, December 6, in the 11:00 a.m. worship service. Students should be in the music room, robed and ready to rehearse, at 10:30.

The Junior High Choir also sings for the Grace Christmas Concert on Sunday, December 13. The concert begins at 4:00. I will let you know what time the singers should arrive—probably around 2:45.

The Junior High Choir does not sing on Wednesday, December 2, as originally scheduled.

Meanwhile, in Senior Kindergarten

2009-10-16T12:50:00.008-05:00

Last week the senior kindergartners visited the teleidoscope in the Grace Garden. (JK and preschool came too. That's Mrs. Pascavis and the three-year-old preschool class in the picture.) SK had music right after that, so we sang made-up songs about the colors and patterns in the "rainbow garden." I can't reproduce all the tunes the children sang, but Mrs. Schnack did write down the words. Here's what the students sang:

It's so beautiful in a flower garden. It's like a rainbow. I love the rainbow scope. (Rachel)

I don't know anything about the rainbow scope. (Zion)

There was blue and pink, green and yellow. That's what I saw. (Adam)

It was a big cylinder. It had some black coming out of the bottom like a telescope. (Chuck)

I had fun looking at it. I loved it. (Carina)

A rainbow scope has pumpkins and red pepper in it. When you look inside the rainbow scope there's all different colors. (Emily)

We spin it while we look at it. Looked really pretty. There were pumpkins, flowers, and I think that's all. (Erika)

It was a telescope mixed with a periscope. When the gourds and flowers spin around it looked like squares and quarters and patterns going around in a circle. (Grace)

I saw flowers. And I saw blue flowers. A I saw yellow flowers, orange flowers, blue, and I saw purple, then I saw red flowers. And then I saw green flowers. (J. J.)

Doesn't remember. (Alexander)

It had a pumpkin and it has lots of plants. (Griffin)

Flowers that move around into shapes and look cool. No black. Beautiful flowers, orange, green, white, blue and yellow. (Stephen)

The rainbow scope is so colorful! It is so beautiful in the flower garden. All the colors of the rainbow are for you! The flowers are red like apples, orange of the sun, yellow like bananas, green as the trees, the aqua blue of the sky and ocean, too, and purple of the evening sky,

The rainbow flowers are for you.

(Could this be written in a song that the bell choir could sing? Max)

First it has pink and white and yellow and purple flowers. Then it changed into pumpkins and peppers and turned into carrots, I think. (Jahnaya)

I look through the rainbow thing when the bowl spins around. When you look in the microscope it changes colors and shapes. (India)

There was pumpkins. It was black. That's it. (Aiden)

I saw flowers, pumpkin and I saw tree plants. (Sebastian)

All the colors of the rainbow are good and nice. We can pick flowers for our mom and sister. Orange is for pumpkins and have fund with colors. (Naomi)

It had a lot of flowers and had some orange things in it. (Matthew)

I like it. I like looking in it, and I like when it spins around and I like seeing it. (Jordyn)

It makes the stuff in there turn colorful when turning around. (Jack F.)

Laudamus te from Vivaldi's Gloria

2009-09-20T22:10:00.004-05:00

The junior high choir has been working on "Laudamus te" from Vivaldi's Gloria. Here are some performances. Listen, compare, learn. Which do you like best?

Adult women as soloists in this one. You can follow the score as they sing. Listen for the trills and ornaments.

Child soloists from Paris. Not always perfectly accurate.

German boys. You can hear more from this choir at their web site.

Oops--a correction

2009-09-18T09:43:00.003-05:00

The paper calendar for Junior High choir that was distributed at the beginning of the school year says that the kids will sing at the 11:00 a.m. service on Sunday, October 25. Actually, they sing at the 8:30 service that morning. The bell choir performs at 8:30 as well.

An updated pdf file with the schedule can be downloaded from the Parent Quick Links page of the Grace School web site.

Sorry for the confusion--Ms. Gotsch

Thank you!

2009-08-25T19:58:00.003-05:00

Thank you to Ellie, Rebecca, Olivia, Olivia, Sarah, and Dan for singing in the choir at Opening Service. Good job! See you Friday (well, most of you) for our first choir rehearsal.

Junior High Choir Schedule 2009-10

2009-08-24T13:17:00.003-05:00