Fall Concert!

Dear Choir Students and Parents. This rather lengthy post contains all the information each choir student needs to be ready for our upcoming concert. Parents, if your student is younger or new to the program, I strongly encourage you to read the entire thing and to support your student in being responsible for their part in this group. If you have had a kid in the choir for years now, you probably know how all this works and you just need to scan the email for the parts that pertain to you. I could especially use some support from the parents in terms of getting all the singers to spend time on their music at home! You should be finding your student actively listening and singing and studying their score for at least 20-30 minutes a day as we prepare for Sunday. If they are not doing that, they are probably not contributing much to the actual product. There are elaborate online resources listed at the bottom of the post. I hope every singer will take the time to use those and to be ready musically for our first big concert of 2010-11.
Looking forward to seeing you all next Sunday.
Best,
Bill Liberatore

Gunn Choir Fall Concert One Week from today!!

Updates in this email:
I. Tickets
II. Publicty/Flyers
III. Program Ads/Donations
IV. Attire
V. Help with Risers
VI. Schedule
VII. Solos
VIII. Musical Stuff/Links to Study

I. Tickets: If you are among the 60 families that donated to the Choir Boosters, you should have received a Booster Pass that will get you into the Fall, Winter and Spring Concerts. Everyone else will need to purchase tickets. Students were issued a packet of 4 tickets to sell. You can also buy your tickets at the door. All unsold tickets and/or money are due back Thursday, Oct 21.

II. Publicity/Flyers: Sukey Bryan designed a beautiful poster for our concert. I have lots of nicely printed copies in the choir room. Students please stop by and take some with you. Let’s get them up all over campus. I have posted the PDF here: http://drop.io/FallConcertFlyer in case you would like to download it to include in your emails inviting people, or to print one yourself, or to use on your evite or Facebook invitation.

III. Program Ads/Donations: The deadline for ads is tomorrow, Monday, October 18. If you have not started to join in this effort, please find some time to do so before the Winter Concert. By the Winter Concert we really want to see that everyone going to Italy has tried to secure at least 2 donations towards the scholarship fund. You can download materials or read more about this at http://drop.io/Sponsorship2010

IV. Attire: Guys: Black dress shoes, black socks, black dress pants (no jeans or dockers), and the tux shirt/tie and cummerbund we bought for you. You also need to take home your tux jacket before Friday.
Girls: If you are new to the choir, you should already have taken your dress in to be hemmed by now. NO ONE IS TO HEM THE DRESS THEMSELVES. We have had really bad experiences with people hemming the dress at all kinds of different lengths. If you have not taken the dress in, please do so as soon as you can. Detailed instructions on how to do this and where to go were included in the package with the dress. (More detailed attire info is posted at GunnChoir.org).

V. Help with Risers
I need a team of kids who will help with the set up and break down of the risers. Your reward for helping will be a really great pizza party at lunch on Friday, Oct. 29th. The riser crew will need to meet me at Gunn on Sunday at 3:00 PM, load the risers onto the truck and help set them up at the church. We will also need to load them back onto the truck after the concert. (We can unload the truck Monday morning.) Write me back if you are able to help with that.

VI. Schedule

Monday: A Period: Treble Choir
Monday Lunch: Final opportunity to audition for the following solos:
Ah El Novio, What a Wonderful World, You Raise Me Up, It Takes a Village
7:30-9:30 Chamber Singers (We are starting later to allow kids to attend the college fair.) Anyone absent from this rehearsal will not be allowed to sing with the group on Sunday.

Tuesday: E Period: Concert Choir, A Period: Treble Choir
Tutorial: Advanced Women’s Ensemble

Wednesday: E period: Concert Choir and A Period: Treble Choir (German coaching on Wed!)
ONSTAGE IN SPANGENBERG to set riser formations
and to practice entrances and exits. Chamber Singers will set riser formation during brunch.
Wed Lunch: Soloists practice with Mr. Liberatore.

Thursday: E period and A Period onstage on the risers in Spangenberg.
Lunch: Advanced Women’s Ensemble

Friday: E Period Concert Choir
Lunch: ADDED CHAMBER SINGERS RUNTHROUGH ON THE RISERS. REQUIRED!

Sunday:
3:00 Riser crew will meet at Gunn and do set up for the concert. (I will need a couple parent volunteers to drive the kids from the school to the church once the risers are on the truck.)

4:45 ALL SINGERS DRESSED AND ON THE RISERS FOR WARM UP AND STAGING REHEARSAL AT THE CHURCH. (If you are not there for the staging rehearsal, you must have cleared this with me ahead of time. Otherwise you will not be allowed to perform in the concert. You have to know when and where to enter and exit and where we stand for each song. ) There will be pictures taken during the rehearsal so you need to be in full concert dress, with your hair done, etc.

6:30 DOORS OPEN, 7:00 CONCERT

VII. Solos
I have set some of the solos.
There is still an opportunity to audition for Ah El Novio/ What a Wonderful World/You Raise Me Up and It Takes a Village Monday at lunch.
Solos or small groups I have already assigned:
1) All Treble solos have already been assigned for a long time now.
2) Advanced Women: Cailin Kelly will sing the sop solo in Dirat On.
3) Ch Singers: Libiamo Soloists: Sophie Christel and Daniel Wolfert
4) Concert Choir:
Babethandaza Sextet: Delia Gratta, Mariam Helmy, Emily Simon
Shivani Rustagi, James Oh, Matthew Leong
Hit Me Baby Solo: Elias Kaufhold
Hit Me Baby Solo Trio: Daniel Wolfert (Top), Sam Hayward (Middle), Blake Vesey (Bottom)
(for the Hit Me Baby and Babethandaza people: you can access parts recordings of those at the following sites: http://drop.io/HitMeBabySoloTrio and http://drop.io/BabethandazaSoloGroup

VIII. Musical Stuff/Links to study
By the time you get to the week of a concert every choir member should be studying their music at home for a minimum of 20-30 minutes a day. If you are not doing that, it is unlikely that you will leave the concert feeling like you were vocally a person who really contributed. You will feel like you were there and like you sang along some or most of the time, but it is a very different feeling when you are on top of your part and contributing with energy and purpose throughout every song.
I am not planning on holding folders for any of the music in this program.
Again the order is:

Treble Choir: Soli Deo, Brahms (solo sextet can hold for their verse), Rise Up, Take Me to the Water

Advanced Women: Jubilate Deo, Dirait On, Salmo 150 (this group may hold on their 2nd and 3rd pieces since we have had a lot less rehearsal than the other groups.)

Chamber Singers: Ah El Novio, Ubi Caritas, Libiamo

Concert Choir: Jubilate/ Cantate/ Ave Maria/ Babethandaza

Women: Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World
Men: Hit Me Baby, You Raise Me Up

All: It Takes a Village

There are MANY online resources to help you study scores at home.
For Treble Choir:

Brahms: This youtube video is a fantastic performance of the piece! I strongly encourage you to practice along with these girls. It will help with memorization and pronunciation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f48GjZKrOY

Take Me to the Water: I think this youtube performance is GREAT!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN9kBhWmpSY

Chamber Singers:
Ah El Novio: A good recording of the University Of Utah singing it is posted here:
http://drop.io/AhElNovio

Ubi Caritas: Awesome Luther College performance here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNTDUIRrV-o

Libiamo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEg7BdnX_Aw
Of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV84o8ofZyU

Advanced Women:
All of your parts are posted here:
http://drop.io/AdvWomensEnsemble

Concert Choir:
Cantate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afiVr3bRFYE&feature=related

Ave Maria: There are two helpful recordings at the publisher’s website. You can hear Dan Hughes’s awesome choir sing it, or you can click on See and Hear, and you will hear just the parts played on midi. It is a great way to practice to sing your part with the midi file that has no vocals and make sure you have the words memorized!!
http://sbmp.com/DanielHughesSeries.html

Babethandaza: Right under Ave Maria at the same link is Babethandaza. Fantastic recording!! http://sbmp.com/DanielHughesSeries.html

Women:
Over the Rainbow/ What a Wonderful World:
Everything you need is posted here: http://drop.io/Rainbow_WonderfulWorld
Including parts recordings for Sop2 and Alto.

Men: Hit Me Baby and You Raise Me Up Parts are all posted here.
http://drop.io/Fall2010PartsRecordings
(The Ten 1 and Ten 2 parts to Babethandaza are there also.)
YOU HAVE TO HAVE THESE MEMORIZED RIGHT AWAY.

It Takes A Village: The best recording is at the publishers website
http://sbmp.com/HighSchoolFrameSet/HighSchoolFrame.html
Click on “I” and scroll down to find It Takes a Village.


I am looking forward to a great first concert!

Best,
Bill Liberatore

Gunn ROCKS!!!

How awesome are these? We have the most incredibly talented and spirited school anywhere!

Announcements/Updates

Choir Announcements/Schedules/Updates Wed Sept 29, 2010

Fall Concert Program

Treble Choir: Soli Deo Gloria/Brahms/Rise Up My Love/ Take Me to the Water
Concert Choir: Jubilate (Praetorius) as you enter/Cantate/Ave Maria/Little Man/Bathanandaza
Adv Women: Salmo/Dirait On/La LLuvia
Ch Singers: Ah El Novio/ Ubi caritas/ Libiamo
Women: Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World
Men: TBA
All: Music Down in My Soul (Moses Hogan), It Takes A Village

Treble Choir:
Solo Auditions were fantastic! I hope to announce by tomorrow. I may need to do a few callbacks and stretch that to Monday.

I will be posting the new parts recordings online (South African Songs and Music Down in My Soul). It will be important that you get those parts down ASAP. We are off to a great start, and I know the audience will be impressed with how great you sound so early in the year! I hope to be memorized on as much as possible, so try to memorize a chunk of each piece every day.

Chamber Singers:

Rehearsals Left
Sunday, October 3, 1:00-3:30 PM (No rehearsal Monday Oct 4)
Monday, October 11 6:30-9:00
Monday, October 18 6:30-9:00 (at the church)
The Concert is Sunday, Oct 24 at 7:00 PM

Extra Performance Dates so far (mark your calendars!!!)

Sunday, November 7th, Singing for All Saints Service at Grace Lutheran AM
Recording Session for Holiday CD: Tentative date is Monday Nov 15
Monday, December 6, Concert at the Creche Exhibit
Tuesday, December 14, BIG day, 3 concerts between noon and 6. Keep it open.
Dec 16 is the Winter Concert
Dec 18 is the Donkey Parade (afternoon)

Concert Choir:
Music still to learn: Little Man in a Hurry, Jubilate (easy), Over the Rainbow (Men),
Take Me to the Water (Women), Music Down in My Soul,

I will be posting your parts to Little Man to help you study that on your own.
You will be tested in small groups to make sure you have downloaded it and are working on it a little every day.

Solo Auditions will take place during class as we rehearse each piece. Don’t miss your chance to be heard!

DRESS REHEARSAL AT THE CHURCH IS FRIDAY, OCT 22 DURING MORNING CLASSES.


Advanced Women’s Ensemble:
Yesterday was fun! I am hoping to have parts taped by this weekend so you can have the pitches learned ASAP.

Rehearsal Schedule:
Tues Oct 5: Lunch (not tutorial that day), Thurs Oct 7: Lunch
Tues Oct 12: Tutorial, Thurs: Oct 14: Lunch
Tues: Oct 19: Tutorial ,Thurs: Oct 21 Lunch

I am also hoping that we can put our calendars together and do one night rehearsal the week of the concert. Perhaps the 19th instead of tutorial we do a longer evening rehearsal, or Wed the 20th could work as well.

Italy: Signups were huge!!!!! We are about to kickoff the ad sales and donations campaign. Start thinking about who you can solicit for a donation to the scholarship fund. If you don’t have a passport you need to take care of that ASAP. If you need a VISA to get into Italy, you need to figure that out ASAP.

Party Worth Crashing: Hope to start auditions soon. I will provide short segments of songs from the show for you to use for auditions. The goal is to cast a small group where each person agrees to learn and memorize 2-3 numbers for a 3 performance run in early January. There are many great performances by these composers on youtube. Look at the Kerrigan and Lowdermilk playlist to get an idea of what it’s all about.

Nuts and Bolts:
Please have your sheet music and a pencil in rehearsal every day.
If you are without a folder, please list your name on the white board today.
If you have not paid for your attire, you need to do so ASAP!!!

Chamber Singers 2010-11

Gunn High School Chamber Singers 2010-11

Sopranos
Hannah Alison
Mira Bertsch
Sophia Christel
Jenny Dally
Delia Gratta
Shaina Hammer
Mariam Helmy
Lauren King
Robin Oyung
Stephanie Richardson
Emily Simon
Cat Volpe

Altos
Mor Albalak
Alex Allen
Lainey Bustos
Michaela Gold
Nicole Grimwood
Elise Lee
Annette Marvin
Carly Neugass
Jeahn Paulasa
Shivani Rustagi
Julie Scrivner
Yuan Yuan
Audrey Yung

Tenors
Max Girod
Sam Hayward
Elias Kaufhold
Jun Yeup Kim
David Kou
Oren Kreps
James Oh
Kael Price
Harry Seo
Daniel Wolfert

Basses
Alex Barthelemy
Matt Brooks
Micah Brown
David Chang
Malik Gill
Gabe Greening
Ori Herschmann
Drew Kuokka
Matthew Leong
Matteo Lieb
Tyler Simons
Blake Vesey

First rehearsal is Monday night, 6:30-9:00.

Advanced Women’s Ensemble Auditions will be Tuesday during tutorial.
Many thanks to all who auditioned, and I look forward to a fantastic musical
year with all of you.

Italy Brochure and Appilcations are here!!

The Italy Brochures and Applications have arrived! Yeah. I have enough to send each singer home with their own copy of the brochure, and I am mailing one to each parent as well, but I thought I would post them here electronically for those who are anxious to see it!
http://drop.io/GunnItalyMaterials
For those of you hoping for some scholarship assistance, it will be important that your parent make an appointment to come in and see me so we can talk about it. Registrations are due September 14, so the sooner the better. I can be reached at GunnChoir@aol.com.

So many fun things in store!!!

Here are some of the highlights of the many great things we
have in store for 2010-11, with some awesome video clips of
past shows and concerts.
I. August 30, Monday 6:30 PM Chamber Singers Auditions
Here's a little taste of a typical Monday night rehearsal.
Great voices, a few too many laughs....

II. September 14, Italy Tour Sign Ups due
Here is the Gunn Choir singing in Rome 5 years ago.
(Caitlin Gjerdrum is the Diva!!)
There is nothing like Italy!

III. October 24, 7:00 Fall Concert, Grace Lutheran
I love the excitement of the choir's first performance. Here are
the 2009-10 Concert Choir men in their featured number.
Sam Putney is the amazing soloist.

IV. December 16, Thursday 7:30 PM Winter Concert, Spangenberg
Here's a clip from last year's Winter Concert.
We did Schubert's Mass in G with the awesome
Gunn Chamber Orchestra, and soloists Sophia Christel
and Micah Brown. Fantastic!

V. January 29/30, Choir Retreat at YMCA Jones Gulch
(Sorry, no videos. What happens at Choir Retreat, stays at Choir Retreat!)















VI. February 9/10/11, Wed-Fri 8:00 PM Choir/Staff Musical
Sometimes rehearsing the Choir/Staff Musical is as much fun
as the show itself!

And now the real number, from the 2009 And Then There Were Nuns

At Gunn, all prospective staff are asked to sing as part of their interview!
(Of course that's not true, but you might think it is when
you hear John Bulan sing!)
Duke of Earl from 2010's Heavenly Bandstand

The amazing Mr. Shelby with show stopping choreography by Gay Richard.


VII. March 27, Sunday 4:00 PM Mission Santa Clara
Invitational Choral Festival w/ The San Jose Choral Project
The Choral Project, conducted by Daniel Hughes, is one of
the finest choirs around. We are very thrilled to be
invited to sing in the Invitational Choral Festival.
Here is a clip of the Choral Project singing
in Mission Santa Clara


VIII. April 7-15 Italy Tour
Last year's trip to New York was a blast. Not only did we have
a great time, but all three choirs received Gold Ratings
at the festival! Here is the outstanding 2009-10 Treble Choir
singing "I Went to the Market" at Riverside Church. Awesome piano
work by Nahoko Hashimoto. (Sorry there's no video, but the
audio is really great!)

This year's tour is going to be amazing! Nothing inspires a choir to work
hard and sing well like a tour. Here is a wonderful
clip of the choir singing in Vienna in 2009. Jiri Teml's "Ave"

IX. June 2, Thursday 7:30 PM Spring Concert, Spangenberg
It's hard to imagine June 2, 2011. We will have had so many
great musical adventures together! I can hardly wait to get
started!!

Back to School Info

Greetings! We got the back to school choir packet out last week, so you should definitely have it by now. It's got lots of great information in it about the exciting musical year ahead of us.
I also posted the mailing here as a word doc for those of you who may not have recieved the packet or for those who like to keep track of your life electronically. http://drop.io/BTSchoirINFO2010



A video I made a couple years ago in a tech class at Foothill.