Notes From the Common School, February 2007

Kudos to Kayla St. Pierre (8) Clarinet, Zach Hartnett (7) Alto Saxophone, Chelsea Abbott, Peter Rainville (6) & Clay Roberts (5) Cornet/Trumpet, Kyle Messier & Will Roberts (6), Trombone and Philip Hann & Danielle Kennison (7), Percussion for their outstanding performances in the 8th Annual Lester Bowie Jazz Festival, Monday, April 10th! Great playing from everyone! Northwest Vermont Middle School District Music Festival which takes place on Thursday, February 8th & Friday, February 9th at Mount Mansfield Union High School. We have 22 students who will rehearse and perform in the Middle School Chorus. This is a great way to submerse oneself for two days in music, make friends with students from other schools and to present large scale pieces under the baton of great guest conductors. Congratulations to our Maple Festival Youth Talent Show finalists: Rachelle Perrault, Voice, Grade 1; Lauren Howe, Voice, Grade 3; Chloe Johnson, Dance & Audrey Rainville, Clarinet, Grade 4; Clayton Roberts, Piano, Grade 5; Gibran Kamal, Piano & Peter Rainville, Cornet, Grade 6. Please come out to see, hear and support these wonderful students and wish them the Best of Luck at the Talent Show which takes place on Friday, April 28th , 7:00PM at the B.F.A. St. Albans Auditorium! The Maple Festival Parade takes place on Sunday, April 30th @ 1:00 in St. Albans. The Band, Flags & Banner carriers, Pep Squad, & Candy Tossers will march for the 11th year! Mrs. Julia Jobber, is coaching the Pep Squad. If you have any of our Tie-dyed T-shirts please return them to Miss Scott so we may wear them for our performances. Our outfits are black pants, black socks, black shoes and our tie-dye shirts. Our Kindergarten classes have pretty much firmed up their program for the Spring Concert preparing “On the Good Ship Lollipop”, “Baby Beluga” & “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo”. These are very challenging pieces but these students sound great! First graders are singing “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” from “Cinderella”, “Give a Little Whistle” from “Pinocchio” and “Wheels on the Bus”. Very tough songs! Second graders will be singing “There’s Music in You” from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical “Cinderella”, and “When You Wish Upon a Star” from “Pinocchio” plus one more to be determined. Great class!!! Third graders are preparing “Talk to the Animals” a two-part choral arrangement from “Doctor Dolittle” as well as the song “So This Is Love” from “Cinderella”. Fourth graders are learning “If I Were a Rich Man” from “Fiddler on the Roof” and “The Work Song” from Disney’s “Cinderella” plus “The Sweetest Sounds” from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical of the same name. Lots of serious talent and enthusiasm in these classes!!! Fifth graders are preparing “Consider Yourself” and “Pick a Pocket or Two” from the show “Oliver!” and “Getting to Know You” & “I Whistle a Happy Tune” from “The King and I”. Our Middle School students are preparing five pieces, Circles, Danny Boy, Gaudeamus Hodie (in latin), Sing a Jubilant Song and Yonder Come Day, in two, three & four parts, plus solos and percussion parts, for the 2006 Northwest District Music Festival. It is a huge amount of work and a ton of music to learn in such a short time, but we will perform these pieces at our Spring concert, too! It should be an amazing sound with approximately 90 students singing together in a classic choral setting!! Band rehearsals are on Mondays after school from 3:00 – 4:30. IF ANY BAND MEMBERS ARE UNABLE TO MARCH IN EITHER PARADE I NEED TO KNOW NOW!!! I will call each and every student, but it will be a lot easier on me if you just let me know immediately. Participation is very important…when instruments are missing it really affects the ensemble! The crunch is on! Lessons are going great for most students and we have some really serious players! EVERYONE NEEDS TO PRACTICE AT LEAST 15 MINUTES A DAY!!!!! The June Dairy Day Parade takes place on Saturday, June 3rd, @ 10:30AM in Enosburg Falls. We will be performing in the Band Competition which is slated for 12:00….. Spring Concerts Grades 5 – 8 & Band Monday, June 5th @ 1:00PM in the Gym Grades K – 4 & Band Tuesday, June 6th @ 1:00 PM in the Gym In June we will present the 8th Annual Fairfield Variety Show! Everyone from the community is invited to perform so if you would like to share your talent please call 827-3071 to register! We would really love to have adult community members share their talents! We already have 28 acts signed up from our students!!!!! S p r e a d t h e w o r d! The Washington, D.C. Band trip is on for June 19th, 20th, 21st & 22nd, 2006. Mandatory rehearsals are scheduled for Friday, June 16th and Saturday, June 17th from 8:00AM – 3:00PM at City School. I know this impacts our graduates, but these dates have been etched in stone….We will present a 45 minute concert at the Smithsonian Museum, then tour the city, enjoying its culture and sites for four days and three nights!! Thank You to Mrs. Nancy Wells, Hannah Earl’s Grandmother, for her incredibly generous gift to the Music Department and again and again for the bottle donations from Diane Sweeney, Mrs. T. Hale, Mrs. J. Messier, Mrs. M. Larose, Gerald & Cindy Hann, Lawrence & Lisa Howrigan, Mrs. S. Tully, Ms. Sally Jason, Shawn & Kim Earl, & James & Kenderlyn Phelps plus the mysterious angels who deposit bags of empties on the Common School doorsteps! Your kindness is glorious! We gratefully accept your support! Please know that every penny is used to repair instruments, purchase music, equipment, parts, pieces and services. Without these extras we wouldn’t be able to survive!!!! Please feel free to drop your bottles and cans off in front (or back) of the Common School or call and we will pick them up! Many thanks!!! concert DVDs are @ $15.00 each and I have them in my room. Always feel free to stop by the Common School to chat or call 827-3071. . Musically Yours, Joanne Scott