"If arts have a place in society, they must be a part of a community. To be an artist is not the privilege of a few, but the necessity of us all." –Robert Lawson Shaw
Congratulations to Abby E., Malic H., and Lucy S. for representing SPARK at the first annual GMEA Fifth District Honor Chorus event! The students rehearsed for weeks before the concert, and all day Friday and Saturday to present a fantastic concert featuring some of the best 4th, 5th, and 6th grade singers from public and private schools in Atlanta and Fulton County. The students worked with clinician Suzanne Logue from Hightower Trail Middle School in Cobb County and performed
"Thanks and Praise" by Ruth E. Dwyer
"Stars" by Tom T. Shelton, Jr.
"Allunde, Alluia" arranged by Margaret Campbelle-Holman
"The Moon" by Bret Silverman
"Monster" by Brian Tate
Saturday Warm-up
Some free time with books and friends from Drew Charter and Holy Innocents'!
From Gwinnett Gladiators President, Steve Chapman in an email on 10/23/13:
... I wanted to let you
know that your rendition of O Canada this past weekend was absolutely
one of the best performances that I have heard. It was truly
outstanding. All of our players were impressed as well.
As you can imagine, our Canadian players truly appreciate the
performance and our French-Canadian players were especially
appreciative.
I'm going to guess by your last name that you have
some French heritage and the combination of the French and English in
the song was outstanding.
Please pass my comments along to your choir and tell them that we were all impressed with their performance.
We hope that you enjoyed the game and that the money raised will go to good use at your school.
My best,
__________________________________
Steve Chapman
Team President
Gwinnett Gladiators Professional Hockey
ECHL Affiliate of the Phoenix Coyotes
Welp. The video is blurry, but the sound is good!
Anybody have a better video to share?
Send a link to me via email and I can put it here!
And in the meantime, here's something happy to watch!
Obviously, I had some camera focusing issues, but here are some photos:
Pre-game singers
The kids made it onto the big screen.
...and got to hang out with Maximus
And got props on the Gladitators' game day thread (thanks Mark Jordan, whoever you are!)
Sadly, the game did not have the outcome we'd hoped for--a 3-1 loss. But we still love our Gladiators!
Don't forget October 19th HOCKEY! Advanced Chorus at the Gwinnett Gladiators (scroll down for details)
DATE CHANGE! Week of December 2nd (previously week of Nov. 18th)—2nd Quarter
Music Project “Say, Play, or Display” due. Say, Play, Display Info HERE!
DECEMBER CONCERTS!
Monday, December 9thSPARK Band and Orchestra Concert in the SPARK
Cafeteria 6:00pm
Wednesday, December 11th“Cocoa
and Caroling” with SPARK Chorus and AC at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center (optional)
Wednesday, December 18thSPARK and Mary Lin
Choruses 6:00pm in the Mary Lin Auditorium
(Chorus and AC Call time 4:30pm) All Chorus & AC members are expected to be present.
Be sure to let Ms. Turgeon, Ms. Valkova, or Ms. Moore know if your
child is NOT available for any of these performances ASAP! Every musician is
important!
And some comments about last year's performance from the President of the Gwinnett Gladiators, Steve Chapman:
"...I wanted to congratulate you and your chorus on your performance this past Saturday [January 2013]. I have been involved in professional hockey for twenty years. I have heard the Canadian National Anthem performed hundreds of times. The [Springdale] Park Elementary Choir performance was truly one of the best renditions that I have ever heard. It was excellent.
I am not Canadian, but having grown up with hockey, the song has a special place in my heart. We have it performed or played at our games to honor our team members that are Canadian. I can tell you that - to a man - each and every one of them was impressed with the performance.
I hope that you bring your choir back to join us in the future and, honestly, I hope that you continue to sing the Canadian anthem as it is a pleasure to listen to your choir perform it..."
My best,
1
Steve Chapman
President
Gwinnett Gladiators Hockey
1.APS Honor
Chorus (APS HC)—currently on hold until further notice.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2.Georgia
Music Educators’ Association--GMEA Fifth District Honor Chorus (GMEA 5D HC)—Friday & Saturday, November 1-2, 2013 at Roswell
Presbyterian Church. The best Chorus singers from District 5 are invited to
participate (up to 6 from SPARK) Clinicians and repertoire TBA. Cost: $35
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3.GMEA State-Wide Elementary Honor Chorus (GMEA SEHC)--Closed--the choirs reached maximum capacity a week before the registration deadline.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
4.American
Choral Directors’ Association--ACDA Treble Honor Chorus (only 5th
graders are eligible)-Thursday
& Friday, June 26-27, 2014 at Spivey Hall Caroline Crocker, Fairfax Choral
Society Cost: TBA
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
PLUS Advanced Chorus will participate in the Community Children's Choral Festival February 1st AND LGPE in February!
For
information about these community choruses go to:
Advanced Chorus is offered to ANY 4th or 5th grader who wants to do more singing, sight-reading, harmonizing, and making music. There is no audition. If you'd like to participate, please bring a note to your homeroom teacher indicating that you will bet attending AC rehearsal on Fridays.
(click hyperlinks to see AC kids from last year!)
Please note: All events are optional, but please give 2 weeks notice if your child cannot attend!
The choices and additional information are listed below.
5th graders who were in Band or Orchestra last year will be automatically re-enrolled in their chosen ensemble.
Also, scroll down to see examples of performances from each ensemble!
Band--choose from Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba, and some percussion
Orchestra--choose from Violin, Viola, Cello, and Bass
Extra Art/Music/Spanish--attends EXTRA Art, Music, and Spanish classes on a rotating schedule
Advanced Chorus --Performs with the Chorus AND attends after school rehearsals on Fridays until 4:30pm
Chorus Performer--Learns Chorus music during Music Class, performs in concerts
Chorus Non-Performer--Learns Music during Music Class, but does not choose to perform
For More information, photos, other Music@SPARK info go to our other site:
http://musicatspark.weebly.com/http://musicatspark.weebly.com/
5:30pm Chorus & Advanced Chorus(call time 4pm—students may stay after school
with a
parent note, snack, and uniform)
Island
Music from the Atlantic, Caribbean, and
Pacific 3rd, 4th, or 5th graders who did the Stick Game or Hula for the project may perform with us--your call time is 5-5:15pm Please wear/bring your hula attire
6:30 Orchestra (call time: 5:00pm)7:05
ish Band
(call time: 6:30)
New text and arrangement by amazing human and Atlanta Composer, Elise Witt
Open the window, children.
Open the window now.
Open the window, children.
Open the window, let the dove fly in.
1) Mama and papa are fightin' like snakes
2) Baby is a-cryin' like her heart will break
3) Neighbors lock their doors build fences so high
4) Don't see what's to discover on the other side
5) There're borders 'round the countries, borders 'round the sky
6) The only border close you in is the border 'round your mind
7) Some people have money, some people have none
8) what use is having money if your heart's gone numb?
9) This big old world's in a great big mess
ALL) Let's open the window find peace and rest
The
Gladiators recently paid a visit to Springdale Park Elementary to
present the SPARK chorus program with a check for $676.80 for their
participation in the Gwinnett Gladiators fundraising program. The SPARK
advanced chorus under the direction of chorus teacher Brianne Turgeon
performed the Canadian Anthem prior to the January 12th game vs.
Kalamazoo. According to Turgeon, the funds raised were used to help fund
the advanced chorus’ participation in Large Group Performance
Evaluation (LGPE) and the Community Children’s Chorus Festival (CCCF).
The money was also used to purchase sheet music and offset
transportation costs to the chorus performances.
From a previous blog post:
Click here for a link to the Talk Up APS article about the AC's performance at the Gwinnett Gladiators game!
and some comments from the PRESIDENT of the Gwinnett Gladiators, Steve Chapman:
"...I wanted to congratulate you and your chorus on
your performance this past Saturday. I have been involved in
professional hockey for twenty years. I have heard the Canadian
National Anthem performed hundreds of times. The [Springdale] Park Elementary Choir
performance was truly one of the best renditions that I have ever
heard. It was excellent.
I am not Canadian, but having grown up with hockey,
the song has a special place in my heart. We have it performed or
played at our games to honor our team members that are Canadian. I can
tell you that - to a man - each and every one
of them was impressed with the performance.
I hope that you bring your choir back to join us in
the future and, honestly, I hope that you continue to sing the Canadian
anthem as it is a pleasure to listen to your choir perform it..."
On Wednesday, February 13, 2013 GMEA Middle/Elementary LGPE Festival was held at Mays High School.
LGPE is an excellent opportunity for choirs, bands, and orchestras to have outside adjudicators rate their progress. Students perform two pieces, and each of three judge provides ratings and comments on their progress.
Springdale Park Elementary School’s Advanced Chorus performed the following selections, accompanied by Leanne Hermann on piano and Paige Mathis on flute.
“Manx Lullaby” arr. Lori Ann Doloff
“Hine Ma Tov” arr. Henry Leck
All judges, concert and sight-reading, provide comments and a score. The scores are:
1-Superior
2-Excellent
3-Good
4-Fair
5-Poor
These scores are then combined to give one overall rating using the same scale.
Ms. Turgeon is SUPER proud of the hard work of our SPARK kids. There are very few elementary choirs that participate in LGPE, and even fewer that attempt the sight-reading activity, so each singer should be commended for their dedication and focus.
Repertoire Rating: 3 judges= 2 Superior ratings + 1 Excellent rating=SUPERIOR OVERALL for Repertoire
Sight-singing rating: Excellent
so our outcome (according to the kids) was SUPEXCELLENT!
The obligatory post-LGPE bus-singing featured Taylor Swift songs, "The Wheels on the Bus" and a spontaneous rendition of the "SPARK Song" as we returned to school. :)
Huge THANKS to Mr. Witkowski, who provided the video below.
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