Well, the numbers are in, and the first Stromboli fundraiser was a huge success!  We sold a total of 1,973 stromboli, which is a profit to the group of $2,762.20 that will be credited to student accounts for the Disney trip.  Congratulations to the hard-working sellers out there.  Remember that pick-up is from 6:00-7:00 on Monday, September 30th in the auditorium lobby.  Mrs. Botterman will be there with her helpers to get your orders filled as quickly as possible.  And don't forget that we're doing the same fundraiser again starting on October 1st, so when you drop of the orders to your customers, see if they want to re-order.  Or, give them a few days, ask what they thought of them, and if they liked them, would they like to place another order (and maybe get a friend to buy from you as well!)?  

The North Hills Singers have performed twice at district events since the school year began for students - at Soccerfest before the boys' varsity game, and at the School Board meeting on Monday night.  We consistently receive high compliments from those who hear the group perform.  Our performance of "Circle of Life" for the Board was impressive given how complex the arrangement is and the limited rehearsal time we've had as a full group to put it together.  Since Monday, we've gotten the piece almost memorized, added percussion instruments, clapping, and listened to a recording of ourselves in rehearsal.  Thursday night will be our true test of the full performance for parents and staff at Open House.  I'm looking forward to this and the potential our select group has for our community outreach and public performances this year.  The level of musicianship is up, and that can only mean great things.

In all of the choir classes, we've been tackling rhythm exercises in addition to our songs.  While reading these rhythms may seem confusing to some, as we work through them, you will all become better music readers, which will make you better choral musicians, and as a result, better performers.  We'll be moving to ear training and sight-singing throughout the year.  Those fun Solfege warm-ups aren't just creative ways to get your voice ready to sing -- they have meaning and we'll put them into practice as the days and weeks progress.  This will be especially helpful as Symphonic Choir begins to work through movements from Handel's Messiah.

Finally, we've discussed in class the opportunities available through our new Academic Academies at North Hills High School.  The first meeting of the Academy for Arts and Communications is tomorrow morning during homeroom.  Anyone who has been involved in the choir, band, orchestra, art classes, theatre classes, journalism, and TV production that may be considering a future career in one of these fields should look into becoming a part of this Academy.  Much of what we already do in our music program through partnerships with universities and local professional musicians fits very well into the Academy model, so without even realizing it, you will have fulfilled some of the requirements just by participating in our programs.  Why not also put it on your transcripts and have other opportunities made available to you as a member of this Academy of Arts and Communications?  For more information, visit the CRC and pick up an application form.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Well, we made it through the first week.  Adjusting to the new bell schedule hasn't been too difficult, though hearing all of those random bells between 5th and 8th period is interesting!  For me, the hardest thing is adjusting to leaving my house a half hour earlier than I'm used to...which will be very hard during musical performance weeks when we're at school til 11:00.

I'm always amazed at how dramatically different the personalities of the choir classes can be.  We come together to make beautiful music at our concerts, but the day-to-day classes and rehearsals couldn't be more different from each other.  The Women's Choir will really develop their own identity this year because they're all in one class during first period.  Symphonic, however, is going to be a different story.  The morning classes, while smaller, have a lot more upperclassmen in them.  The 8th period class is considerably larger (like 10-15 more than the other 2 classes) and has a lot of newer members, particularly in the men's section.  I'll be very much looking forward to the after-school full group rehearsals to see what the the larger Symphonic Choir sounds like after we've had a month of class.

NH Singers are off to a great start for the year.  Both Mr. Lavelle and I heard consistently over the first couple of teacher inservice days that the band and choir were the best they have heard in years for an opening day performance.  Considering this is a "young" group with over half in the group for the first time, I'm very hopeful and excited for the future of our select ensemble.

Last, but certainly not least, is our trip and fundraising.  Our trip meeting is Tuesday night, and we've officially started fundraising with the September Stromboli sale underway.  Get out and raise money to help with the cost of the Disney trip.  I hope as many of you as possible are able to go on this trip -- it will be one you'll remember for years to come!  Happy Labor Day everyone.  Enjoy the long weekend, and see you in class on Tuesday.