Thank you so much to Alicia Cardillo for the videos and transcription from Mr. Charles Claiborne, our Sight Singing judge. Our singers felt proud and their hard work paid off.
Performance #1:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/9S5sh22837v8T3pj8
Performance #2
Young ladies & gentlemen,
My name is Mr. Claiborne. I've been a teacher for 50 years. I taught in high school, I never taught elementary school. What I heard today, I listened to your performance, and I found it extraordinary. You young people have been taught to sing with sophistication, with diction tone and energy. I see y'all, the parents. What's going on is not usual. What's going on at this point is that this person here, these children's teacher, is not the norm. It is special. I hope you all understand that. You understand that who are to be where you are <words I can't quite tell what he is saying> and I am so glad that this was the last person, the last group that we heard today. It was a nice performance. Thank you very much for coming.
From Ms. Turgeon:
I was surprised and completely honored by Mr. Claiborne's words—he'd been judging all day and we were the final folks he heard. He is well known in the Chorus circles in Georgia and sort of a legend, so his words of praise were deeply meaningful. Our work would not be successful if we didn't have parents and administrators and community who support our work, so Dr. Toney, Dr. Erickson (our APS Fine Arts Director), Millie Turek (our accompanist and my mentor who taught me how to teach sight singing), Ameeta (Aarav's mom and our violinist), and Arietha Lockhart (our recorder player and my ASO Chorus sister since 1992) and the HARD work of the kids made it all happen. Our GMEA show was Connection, because ALL of those folks are the reason for any success. I am so lucky to work with our amazing students who inspire me and who work hard to make music and help SPARK shine.
