A year later...

Well, it has been an entire year since my last blog.  I had better change that! Today was a very good day. We took 47 students to the West Region Vocal Music Contest. We spent the day at Century Baptist Church. (and we learned a few things - like...carpet doesn't resonate, and...Baptists don't believe in the saints) OK - anyway... I get to post results for the day and share some thoughts.

First... ALL OF THE SENIORS ARE GOING TO STATE! 

Next... 27 students will be at University of Mary on April 27. 

Also... I have 59 certificates of superior rating in my possession. 

I will start with solos!

Congratulations to:

Catherine Bopp - O del mio dolce ardor

Jessica Johnson - Quella fiamma

Alexandra Streifel - Alleluia

Juliana Keller - Ah, Love But a Day

Dominick Goettle - Lydia

Ben Porter - I Attempt From Love's Sickness

Kendra Weigel - Chanson d'amour

Rachel Goettle - La volubile

Sara Friedt - Die Forelle

Now, on to the ensembles:

Pie Jesu - BVE3

Frobisher Bay - GVE3

Crucifixus - GVE2

I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked - MVE2

Ave Verum Corpus - MVE7

Caresse sur l'ocean - GVE12

Dulaman - BVE12

O Vos Omnes - MVE12

And... there you have it! Congratulations to all singers. 

Those NOT listed above received either a I or a II rating. I will hand out ballot sheets on Tuesday. Please be thinking of a time when your ensemble can practice on a regular basis before state.  I would like to work toward a couple "best of the day" awards, because you are the best part of my school day! ;-)

West Region Vocal Contest Results

Wow! What a day. The Singing Saints participated in the West Region Vocal Contest. It was held at McCabe United Methodist Church on April 7. I'm posting results for the state bound students. They will be traveling to Jamestown April 29 and competing with other vocal solos/ensembles throughout North Dakota. Lots of hard work, late night practices and major memorizing went into this process. I am so proud of the many who put in additional time outside of the choir class to prepare! That's what makes a difference. OK... We'll celebrate in class and the ballots will be available for review.


BVE 2-3...
3 Ave Verum

BVE 4-6...
5 Quiet Joys

BVS...
Dominick Goettle- Widmung
Michael Berger- Bright is the Ring of Words

GVE 2-3...
2 Tulerunt Dominum meum

GVE 4-6...
6 Heidenroslein
6 Heart, We Will Forget Him

GVE 7-12...
12 In Paradisum

GVS...
Alexandra Streifel - Seguidillas Religiosas
Amanda Wentz - Se tu m'ami
Brittany Dunnigan- Non so piu
Juliana Keller - Die Mainacht
Rachel Goettle - Amorosi Miei Giorni
Sarah Porter- Vaghissima sembianza
Sommer Wild - Chi vuol la zingarella

MVE 2-3
2 Wir gehn nun
2 Ave Maria

MVE 4-6
4 Legenda

MVE 7-12
8 Ave Verum

Singing My heart out.

Valentine's Day is just around the corner. The choir is working on Midwinter music for our February 27th concert. We are singing Chesnekov, Randall Thompson, Calwell & Ivory, and Klouse's "The Prayer of the Children". News worthy items about this year? The choir is sending 4 students to the National ACDA Conference in Chicago! Bravo to Christian Boechler, Rachel Goettle, Nick Van Sickle, and Nicholas Boechler. We also just had our ND ACDA Conference in Dickinson. I had the pleasure of taking 11 students. 6 guys in the Men's HS/Collegiate Honor Choir; Jace Carroll, Christian Boechler, Michael Berger, Dominick Goettle, Alex Willey, and Ben Porter. 5 students in the JH/MS Honor Choirs; Rachel Goettle, Alanna Carlson, Jenna Smith, Nick Van Sickle and Nicholas Boechler (though I can't claim Nicholas any more - he is Miss Jessi Maher's student). She is a former student of mine. How cool is that? They were fun! The drive home was not! Snow fog=scary!
We participated in the University of Mary Jazz Festival. I have been a part of that festival since 1983. Yikes. Vijay Singh and Michelle Weir were awesome. I had the youngest high school choir with the newest students and they upheld the tradition of excellence for St. Mary's. We debuted our first ever guys group. Fun! The NDMEA All State lists came out. We have 9 students in the choirs and 1 alternate (we're hoping to get him in too!) Jazz Choir= Brittany Dunnigan, Kendra Weigel, Christian Boechler; Mixed Choir=Rachel Goettle, Sarah Porter, Dominick Goettle; Women's Choir=Alexandra Streifel, Juliana Keller, Maureen Bry. Way to go Saints!
Here's hoping you have a beautiful time with someone you love in the next week, celebrating Valentine's Day.

Wonderful Start

We are just completing the first quarter of school. Last spring is still a fog. I can't even remember who recorded the spring concert. Wow. It was such a difficult spring. The tour was a success, but it was tough to give myself permission to have fun. My heart still aches when I look across the room. But I have been truly blessed with the best students. They are great people with personality. It is going to be a wonderful year. I auditioned them for the NDMEA conference. We used last years pieces. (minus the spring concert - never did find it) I know that so far they have risen to the challenges. I'll try to keep people posted on this year's journey.

Links to NYC tour site.

Hi everyone! We have 1 day before we depart. Here is a tinyurl to get to our site. This will be active during the tour and shortly afterward to share photos. http://tinyurl.com/2b2belr Otherwise you can type in the long name. http://sites.google.com/site/singingsaints2010/
We depart at 9:00 a.m. Sunday. Enjoy!

Choir Tour 2010

Hi everyone. We are counting down the days until choir tour 2010. We actually have 12 days as I write this post. We depart Bismarck on June 6th. I'll keep in touch a bit as we go. I'll see what I can do about a picture gallery. You are welcome to join us for a Tour Mass on June 5th at St. Mary's Central High School. Prelude music begins at 8:00 (our idea of a concert). Fr. Joshua Waltz will celebrate mass. We are traveling to NYC; Sandusky, Ohio; Mackinaw Island, MI. Stay "tuned" for more details.

Ratings posted... advancing to state!

OK Everyone. We have had a crazy month. First of all... thanks to all the awesome students that have auditioned for honor choirs this year. You are amazing! Congratulations to the 12 wonderful vocalists that were selected to North Central ACDA. Also, NDMEA All-State? Can you believe that 14 students were selected? I can! You are to be commended for you hard work and dedication. The concerts were so enjoyable. Rosanna Eckert, Dr. Seelig and Eugene Rogers sure must have been great to work with as conductors, because you all progressed quite nicely from the first rehearsal. Now... The NDHSAA West Region Vocal Contest results. Not much time to get ready. I hope you felt like you could all take something away from today and will be better singers. Here is the list that will go on to state in Jamestown. I will bring the ratings to school tomorrow. I will take time in class and you'll get a chance to view the rubrics. I felt there were a couple others that might have been selected to advance, but I'm not the judge. So... Enjoy the list and congratulate each other.

• Sarah Porter - Ridente la calma GVS
• Rachel Burckhard - Sebben crudele GVS
• Alexandra Streifel - Vergorgenheit GVS
• Paige Willey - Helft mir ihr schwester GVS
• Christian Boechler - Si tra i ceppi BVS
• Catherine Bopp - Du ring an meinem finger GVS
• Kendra Weigel - Nel cor piu non mi sento GVS
• Brittany Dunnigan - Che fiero costume GVS
• Juliana Keller - In torno all'idol mio GVS
• GVE 5 - Bright Morning Stars are Rising
• BVE 5 - The Lord Bless You and Keep You
• GVE 2 - Bel tempo che vola
• GVE 11 - Je le vous dirai
• BVE 2 - Zion Hears the Watchmen Singing