Springdale Park Music: February 2022

The day began with a beautiful sunrise with gorgeous light creeping through the clouds. I called for the singers to come to the bus loop. Our bus pick up time at 8am came and went. An APS bus on route to another school came and went. A MARTA bus came and went. The kids asked if we could chase it down and catch a ride.

A garbage truck came and went. The singers cheered when it emptied the Dumpster.

They asked if the driver could give us a ride.

Apparently APS Transportation had a large number of bus drivers who called out sick, so our bus was quite late. Thankfully, Dr. Sara Womack (APS Fine Arts Coordinator) and Sarah Erickson (also works in the Fine Arts Dept) were able to expedite a bus getting to us at all. The LGPE organizers (Kevin Hill, Caroline Reitzes, and more) had to rearrange our schedule to a later time, but that meant our accompanist could not stay (she had an appointment) so she called friends who were on site who could play for us. Suzanne Logue, a retired middle school chorus teacher and accompanist was able to step in, and sight-read our music beautifully.

Our late bus gave us the opportunity to get in some final rehearsal time, and "pretend you see the bus coming!" gave us a great example of how to internalize excitement and put it into the singing.

Despite hiccups and frustration we used the time to rehearse a bit more, and the results were satisfying. Our bus rehearsal genuinely made our bus driver get teary eyed. He was quite moved and impressed with the team's singing, and really, that means as much as fine ratings. Our goal is to make music that is meaningful and that touches people.

The last major performance for a SPARK Chorus or AC was Feb of 2020; although, we did do our K Campus Holiday Sing Along. It was amazing to sing for a live audience in our Midtown HS community, and we got to see many alums along the way, many of whom are still making music in middle school and high school. A very special, and important alum, was our flautist, Howard MS 8th grader Zoe D-W. Zoe has kept in touch and is a relentless and passionate music maker. She agreed to play flute for us, and I am grateful for her beautiful contribution to our performance. We also saw Mr. Kevin Hill, Midtown HS's Chorus teacher and Mr. Artis Staton, Midtown's Band teacher.

Our LGPE team worked very hard and put in lots of afternoon rehearsals and at-home work, and it paid off! The singers expressed the meaning of the music instead of just notes and rhythms, and the audience really enjoyed the performance. Our reading of the 6th grade sight-singing example wasn't perfect, but our judge was impressed with the skills of counting and using hand signals to decode written music. Thanks to Chandler and Lev for getting us back on track.

SUPERIOR ratings, overall.

Judge #1 Your tone is nice & free. Thank you for bringing an elementary choir. You looked great, and I enjoyed hearing you!

Judge #2 Nice supported and controlled sound for these very young voices. Excellent preparation and performance. Good good good diction! This group was into the music making and it showed in the performance! Outstanding choir.

Judge #3 Such beautiful voices. Perfect placement--you are learning to hold those long notes! You sang lovely when you divided parts. I loved it! Fantastic diction--you made us smile. Lovely flautist! (Zoe Diamond-Wilding, current Howard MS 8^th grader!!). You look and sound amazing! Keep up the great work!

Sight singing Judge: You know exactly what to do! Yay! Nice strong singing! Lovely!

Bus driver: Wow. I wasn't expecting that. That was really beautiful, and I nearly got teary in that first song. Beautiful! What time are you singing? I might be able to come listen.

Manx Lullaby arr. Lori-Anne Dolloff

Accompanied by Suzanne Logue, Piano & Zoe Diamond-Wilding, Flute