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Hello SPA families and friends, and welcome to my new vocal music blog! On this website you'll be able to view pictures, videos, news, and event updates. Since this is my very first post of the year, there's lots to share. Here is a little "table of contents" to this post, and immediately following are all of the juicy bits that you'll want to soak up:
Visiting Guest Artists
CMEA Choral Festival on March 23
Barnes & Noble Gig on April 14
Practicing & Sing Tests
Singers Needed For Upcoming Opera Production
Tour options for 2019
Notable Events
VISITING GUEST ARTISTS
To date we've been visited by two guest vocal artists - Meghan Michelle McGovern and Allison Lloyd. Ms. McGovern is a lyric soprano, teacher and director who works extensively throughout the SF Bay Area. She provided our first vocal workshop and choral clinic on Feb. 7, and she will return on April 17 to work with our Concert Choir I and II. Here's a brief video sample of her working with our Concert Chorale students:
Allison Lloyd performs with a number professional choirs including the American Bach Soloists and Vajra Voices. She also happens to be the mother of one of our high school vocal majors, William Lloyd! Mrs. Lloyd visited our Concert Chorale students this past Friday to give them an introduction to IPA and French pronunciation as we began our work on Gabriel Fauré's landmark choral piece, Cantique de Jean Racine.
Bay Area singer-songwriter, Eli Conley, will be our next vocal guest artist. Mr. Conley will be teaching a songwriting masterclass on Tuesday, March 13 - stay tuned for more details!
CMEA EAST "A" CHORAL FESTIVAL, MARCH 23, 2018
Our Concert Chorale (high school only) has been scheduled to participate in the CMEA East "A" Choral Festival at Acalanes High School on Friday, March 23. Unfortunately, we received the last performing slot of the festival, and we will be performing pretty late in the evening. Students are expected to arrive directly at Acalanes HS at 7:00 pm so that we may observe the performances of other participating high school choirs. Our warm-up will begin at 9:00 pm, performance at 9:25 pm, choral clinic at 9:50 pm, and group pictures at 10:20 pm. Parents are welcome to drop-off students or to stay and watch the festival. Formal black concert attire is required, and all of high school Concert Chorale singers are required to participate in this performance. Please speak with Mr. Lim ASAP if your family has any existing schedule conflicts.
BARNES & NOBLE GIG, APRIL 14, 2018
Once again we've been invited by Barnes & Noble in Antioch to provide musical entertainment for a special Educator Appreciation weekend on Saturday, April 14. This event is open to all instrumental and vocal music majors in middle and high school. All music students who are interested in performing should contact me directly to schedule an audition time. As an added bonus, SPA will receive a small percentage of all purchases in the store when our school name is mentioned at the counter! Families can use this coupon (on the right) to get a discount on any shopping you do in the store during the event. Of course, online shopping is also an option - simply click the “Bookfair Order” box upon checkout and input your bookfair ID code (Bookfair ID: 12331799).
SPRING CONCERT, MAY 23, 2018
Our Spring Concert is scheduled for Wednesday, May 23, 7:00 pm in the Multi-Use room at SPA. This will be a one-night-only event featuring only our vocal music ensembles, so stay tuned for ticket purchasing information. We are also planning to have a pre-concert music assembly for the entire school on Monday, May 21. All middle and high school music majors are expected to perform in this concert. As with all required events, please notify Mr. Lim ASAP of any schedule conflicts your family may have.
PRACTICING & SING TESTS
All vocal music students should now be practicing a minimum of 15-30 minutes a day, or 30 minutes to 1-hour every other day. As we prepare for our upcoming gigs, festivals, concerts, and tours, it is inappropriate and unacceptable for students who are majoring in music at a performing arts school not to be practicing at home. In my next blog post I will discuss in depth what a vocal music practice routine should involve. For now, our students have access to all of the resources that they should need via their specific Google Classroom. Remember, simply listening to recordings of the songs that we are studying is a form of practice! In fact, students can take advantage of the countless videos on YouTube of vocal lessons (like Justin Stoney's Voice Lessons to the World) and practice aids for standard choral repertoire. Students will also be given weekly sing tests to demonstrate how engaged they've been in rehearsals at school and in their practices at home.
SINGERS NEEDED FOR UPCOMING OPERA PRODUCTION
Solo Opera in Concord is looking for singers for their THE GIFT OF THE MAGI production by David Conte to be performed Nov. 30 - Dec. 2, 2018 at the Lesher Center for the Arts. The opera will be conducted by Alexander Katsman. Rehearsals will take place in November. To be considered for a role, please send your resume/photo/and recent recordings or links to solomail@pacbell.net The opera cast features a lyric soprano in the role of Della, a mezzo soprano for Maggie, baritone for Jim, bass baritone for Henry, and a trio of MAGI (tenor, baritone, bass). Stipend offered. Local singers preferred.
TOUR OPTIONS FOR 2019
We are planning SPA's first music tour to Southern CA for our middle school music majors next year. Here's a recent quote to give you a sense of how much to budget for next year's trip. Stay tuned for more details as we continue to work through the beginning stages of planning this awesome tour! But wait - that's not all. We're also planning SPA's first-ever music tour to Hawaii next year for our high school music majors!!
Also, here's a letter from Adina Holland, our tour lead parent, and me:
Hello HS Concert Chorale Families, I am Adina Holland and I have been appointed the Hawaii trip lead parent. No, I'm not going with them, however I'm here to answer questions and to provide information as I get it or I will find out the answers (I hope).
SPA Concert Chorale has been invited to participate in World Projects' Pacific Basin Music Festival, March 23-28, 2019. There are groups from all over the world that participate in this festival, and all in the spirit of making beautiful music together! Our students will have multiple opportunities to perform on a variety of stages in Honolulu, and may even be considered for a command performance at the closing concert.
We are estimating that this trip will cost about $1700-$1800 (without meals). The estimated $1800 includes the airfare and ground transportation in Hawaii, hotel room and the official festival activities. The total may perhaps be closer to $2000+ (with all meals paid for); this is purely for your planning purposes only. Trip at a Glance: The hotel is the Hilton Garden Inn (included) Ground transportation from the airport to hotel and back (included) Festival recording (included) Tour of the USS Arizona Memorial (included) Airfare (once we make the reservations - you will be notified) (included) A formal dinner banquet meal and dance with opening ceremonies (included)
A luau with all participating festival groups (included)
There is the possibility we can include more site seeing opportunities for the group at an additional cost. In order for SPA to participate we are collecting a deposit which includes the commitment that your child will be going. We are hoping to collect a $150 per person deposit by March 19. Please check back on this blog for a direct link to complete an online letter of intent form for this trip. Thank you in advance for your understanding and support.
Adina Holland, PBMF Lead Parent
Joe Lim, Director of Vocal Music
NOTABLE MUSIC EVENTS (Outside of SPA)
The Women's A Cappella Association (WACA) is bringing SheSings 2018 Vocal Festival to Berkeley on March 9-11. SPA is not officially participating in this event, but please let me know if you're planning to go. I might just go and check it out with my wife!
Paul Simon's farewell tour, Homeward Bound, is coming to Oracle Arena (Oakland) on May 25. Our Concert Chorale and Concert Choir II have been rehearsing Kirby Shaw's arrangement of Bridge Over Troubled Water, a piece that Paul Simon released in 1970.