"How's It Going?"

That might not be the best thing to ask right before concert season begins!  We've been a BUSY bunch this semester, and honestly, my brain is in full on "crisis management" mode right now figuring out how to get all of our performances ready in the limited time we have left in November.

That being said, we have lots of great things to celebrate about this school year so far.  Here is what will be shared with the Choral Parents tonight at their madrigal dinner planning meeting at St. Athanasius Hall.

October Events
We had a very successful month of performing last month!  Around 65 alumni from as far back as the West View High School class of 1948 joined our North Hills Singers for a full day of rehearsal, building tours, a dinner, and public concert.  Thanks to those of you who were able to donate your time to help with registration and the dinner.  I’ve received many positive notes, emails, and Facebook messages from those in attendance about what a good thing it was that we did.  We were able to honor the history of our music program and celebrate the current and future in the process.

The Carmina Burana experience was memorable.  It was great to collaborate with Mr. Lavelle and the Wind Symphony, to perform with them as well as sit in the audience to see “what they do.”  We got to work with Dr. Susan Medley from the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale and experience performing in the wonderful space of Carnegie Music Hall for the Festival of Choirs.  The Symphonic Choir is getting better with each performance – I’m excited to see what this group will sound like by the end of the year!

November
The Women’s Choir is off to a fantastic start with their first performance under their belts at the Women’s Choral Festival held at First Presbyterian Church of Edgewood, where I’m music director.  It was fun for me to be able to “show off” our ladies to the folks there as well as to give them the opportunity to see and hear wonderful vocal role models in the other women’s ensembles that performed.  Again, I can’t wait to hear where we go this year with this as our starting point.

We also have our Betsy Ann Christmas Candy sale in full swing right now.  Orders are due on December 2 (the day we return from Thanksgiving break), and there really isn’t much wiggle room for late orders as delivery is scheduled for one week later.

Concert with the River City Brass Band
December 5th is our concert at Carson Middle School with RCBB.  The concert takes place at 7:30PM, and we will join the combined choirs of Carson Middle School (approximately 90 students in grades 6-8) to make a large choir to sing with the band.  We perform on both halves of the concert, in a medley of songs written for RCBB called “The Spirit of Christmas” that we’ll sing with Carson.  We each get to perform a feature song of our own in between the band’s songs, and the concert ends with a carol sing-along as well as the “Hallelujah Chorus,” which of course we know from singing it at our holiday concerts each year!  We’ll meet at the school at 5:30 and travel by bus to Carson for a rehearsal before the concert.  We are also hoping to be able to work with RCBB music director James Gourlay the week of the concert so he can tell us what to expect from him.  Still debating concert attire as either just black and white or robes.

The ticket order form was sent out via e-mail and is also posted on the website.  The folks at River City strongly suggest ordering tickets ahead of time – these concerts have tend to sell out, plus it’s a discounted rate!

Madrigal Dinner
We’ve ordered the script and Thursday at 3:00 is the meeting for those interested in performing in the skit and singing.  I’ll have a sign-up sheet in the choir room for those who want to be servers – they don’t need to attend the meeting.  Thanks to all for helping with the decorations, meal, donations, baskets, and everything else that goes in to making this a successful night!

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy time over the holiday with family and friends.

---