Welcome to 6th Grade Choir 2016-2017 at Brock's Gap Intermediate!

Welcome to 6th Grade Choir 2016-2017 at Brock's Gap Intermediate!

Hi 6th Grade Choir Parents,

My name is Lindsay Walker and I am the Choral Director at Brock’s Gap. If your child attended Brock’s Gap last year, they went to music twice a week, once with me and once with Lisa Vines. In the past, Lisa has taught choir with me, but this year she is returning to teaching in the EMT rotation. I am happy to announce that Micah Brooker will be teaching choir with me this year. I am excited see all that he will bring to choir this year. We are so happy your student has chosen choir as their elective! We are going to have a great year together. Your child will benefit greatly from having two teachers for choir.

My philosophy as a choral director is that everyone can sing and singing is a teachable skill. Whether your student has a lot of experience singing solos in front of a crowd or just sings in the shower or with the radio, we are all going to get better at singing and reading music together. 

 Requirements for choir:

There are no tryouts for choir. We are happy to have your child in choir no matter what their ability level is. However, your child must be willing to try to sing and follow directions given by the teacher(s). Choir, like any performing ensemble, requires discipline and focus. Choir does not conflict with athletics. This is a very common misconception. There are two evening concerts a year that are required (for a grade), one in December and one in May. Everything else is during school hours. Please talk to me if you have concerns with this. You will be given these dates months in advance to ensure that you can plan for these dates accordingly. Band also requires students to attend two night concerts a year. Choir is a performance based class and performance attendance is graded. We will have a few field trips (day trips) where we perform at a venue other than the school. More info about grading procedures, discipline, an auditioned extracurricular show choir, field trips and uniform will be given out the first week of school.

Your child needs to bring a 1" (one inch) white 3 ring hard cover binder for choir. This is not on the school supply list. The flimsy covered binders do not work for us. This binder will stay in the choir room and cannot be shared with another class.

I will be emailing you frequently throughout the year. In fact, email will be my primary method of communication with you. I want to go ahead and get some dates to you so that you can begin to have an idea of what our choir calendar will look like for this school year.

Please note the following dates for the first months of school on your calendar:

Thurs., August 25th: (Meet the teacher night at BGIS) Choir Parent Meeting 5:15 in the choir room

Sept. TBA: BGIS Show Choir Tryouts (optional) in the BGIS Choir room (for anyone who did not tryout in May)

Monday, November 7th: BGIS Choir Field Trip: Alabama National Fair Choral Competition in Montgomery via charter bus. Depart at 8 am, return to school at 4:30 p.m.


I will be sending out more info on the above dates very soon and the calendar will be discussed at the Choir Parent Meeting on the 25th. If you need to contact me prior to the first day of school, please contact me via email.
We are so excited your child is going to be in choir with us this year! I met some of you last year and I look forward to meeting all of you personally soon. We will also need your help and support throughout the school year. Micah and I are committed to making choir a positive experience for your child this year!


Sincerely,

Lindsay Walker
Choral Director
Brock's Gap Intermediate School

BGIS 6th Grade Choir Spring Concert Reminder May 19th

BGIS 6th Grade Choir Spring Concert Reminder

Thurs., May 19th 6:30, BGIS Gym, Spring Choral Concert- REQUIRED FOR ALL CHOIR STUDENTS (counts for a large grade) 

Athletic practices or lessons are not excused, so please reschedule those. Coaches are required to excuse a player for a school event that is graded. Students must have an excuse in writing (preferably doctor's excuse for sickness) should they miss the concert due to sickness, family emergency or approved prearranged absence form with the school. No other excuses will be accepted. Cadence clinic will end by 5:15 at the latest to allow our students trying out for Cadence to get over to BGIS. 

Call times:

Students report at 6:00

Doors open to parents and friends at 6:20. Parents, please wait outside the gym until we open the doors. We must do some rehearsing before you come in.  The concert will last about an hour.

Attire for choir students: Black Choir t-shirt, khaki pants with belt and tennis shoes

Attire for show choir students: Grey Show Choir t-shirt, khaki pants with belt and tennis shoes

 

 

Tues., Dec. 15th

Fall Concert 6:30p.m. @BGIS, student report at 6:00, (show choir students report at 5:45 p.m.)

 

Doors open to parents and friends at 6:20. Parents, please wait outside the gym until we open the doors. We must do some rehearsing before you come in.  

Attire for all students (show choir and choir): Black Choir t-shirt, khaki pants with belt and tennis shoes

 

 

If students feel bad during the concert, they have been asked to sit down right where they are. We will not move them off of the platforms unless we feel there is an emergency. Sometimes students just get hot....

Please silence cell phones upon entering the gym. You are allowed to video the concert if you would like, but please restrain from using flashes or doing anything that would distract the students. After concerts, we have had students tell us all sorts of things that were happening in the bleachers that they felt caused them to become distracted during the concert. Please do not get up in the middle of the concert unless it is between songs.

Choir Announcements November

BGIS Choir Updates - November

I am extremely proud of our choir students. At the Alabama National Fair Choral Festival, our group not only placed in the top three choirs during the morning awards ceremony, but also earned 1st places scores among the top 3. Thank you for your support. Thanks especially to the parents that rode down with us to chaperone and the ones who drove down to support us. If any parents have pictures, please send them to me so I can put together a slide show for the students. 

We have had a great start to our school year! Here are the next things coming up on the calendar:

Tues. Nov. 10-Choir peforms at Veteran's Day Assembly 8:45 a.m. (NO Choir t-shirts, DRESS YOUR BEST)

Thurs., Dec. 3rd- Perform at SSCES and DVES (8:00-10:30)

Fri., Dec. 4th- Perform at TCES (8:00-9:20)

Mon., Dec. 14th-Choir performs during school (Holiday Assembly)

Tues., Dec. 15th- Fall/Holiday Concert 6:30 p.m. @BGIS (students report at 5:45 p.m.)

Please make sure these dates are on your calendar. These events are mandatory and students receive a grade for these performances. For all of these performances, students will wear their black choir t-shirt and khaki pants. There is no cost involved in the elementary school performance field trips. The above dates are all during school performances, except the evening concert. Please invite family and friends to our concert. If for some reason you can't attend our evening concert on Dec. 15th, please arrange for your student to ride with a friend since all students are required to attend.

Our Trip to the Alabama National Fair Choral Festival

BGIS Choir did an awesome job at the Alabama National Fair Choral Festival! We placed in the top 3 choirs and our scores came in 1st place! I'm very proud of our students! Thanks to all of the parents who came and supported us!

Mrs. Walker and Mrs. Vines accepting the trophy

September Announcements

Choir Announcements for September:

• Everyone needs to pay for a choir t-shirt. Go to myschoolfees.com to pay. If you have a brother or sister whose shirt you can use, you do not have to pay for your own. The cost is $15. 
• Everyone needs to pay for the field trip to the Alabama National Fair in Montgomery. Go to myschoolfees.com to pay. The cost is $40. It must be paid by the end of September. If this is a financial hardship, let me know.
• Show Choir Auditions are after school September 24th and 25th. I will take Show Choir Audition forms and audition fee ($5) until Friday, September 18th. See the previous post on the blog for more audition information. 

About Show Choir Auditions.... 

Show Choir Clinic and Auditions are after school Thursday and Friday, September 24th & 25th

1. Students must individually sing one minute of a song of their choosing 
2. Students will learn a choreography routine on Thursday and audition with it on Friday in groups of 4 students at a time. (I designate the groups.) See details below. 

Each student will receive a score from a judge not associated with Hoover City Schools. 

If your student is chosen to be a part of the group, practice will be on Mondays after school until 4:30. 

Accompaniment For Your Audition Song
There are three choices when it comes to accompaniment:
1. Sing a cappella (no instruments or recorded instruments).
2. Bring a recorded accompaniment (CD or flash drive).
3. Accompany yourself on the piano, guitar or ukelele.

Your Audition Song Should Show Your Strengths First
When given a choice, always choose the best song you have to offer. Don't necessary choose a song you like, but rather a song that shows the strengths of your voice. There are plenty of songs I like but don't perform well, because they are not in my range or don't show off my voice. Choose an audition song that is within your comfortable singing range – this is not the time to stretch for a note, either too high or too low. The judge will expect you to show off the very best you have to offer, and this means performing a song that is well rehearsed. For some ideas, search You Tube Karaoke.

Choreography  
The choreography for the dance part of auditions will be taught during the clinic after school on Thursday. Students will be put into small groups for the dance part of the audition. Students will be scored individually on choreography even though they are in a small group. Individuals will not be penalized if others within their group do not perform well. Each student is responsible for executing the choreography well on an individual basis.