Instrumental CD, Part Preferences

Hi Everyone!  Mrs. Green here.

If you haven't started practicing with the Instrumental CD yet, then start.

If you have a preference for Chorus 1 or Chorus 2 in "Together We Must Stand", I need to know that TODAY (Wednesday).  If you prefer the low, middle, or high notes (or very high note) in the last phrase, please tell me that too.

If you have trouble posting directly on the blog here, then you can tell me on the Facebook page (Wolf River Homeschooler--Performing Arts), or email me at Jen@ngyc.org.

If I don't hear from you, then I'll assume you have no preference.  If you've already told me, then you don't need to tell me again.  Thanks for your responses.  = )

See you tomorrow!  I've missed you all!

"Spies" Singers

Guys from Scene 17 (Raphael, Henry, Coulter, and Evan)
Please be ready to work on the song "Spies" on January 5th.  While others are working on Scene 16 (2:00-2:45), I'll take you aside (either in one of those side rooms or upstairs) and we'll work out who is singing which notes when we get to "They're everywhere...."

Girls from Scene 17 (Michelle, Lindsey, Allie, Micayla, Juliana, Erin, Trisha)
Please be ready to work on parts for the "Spies" song right after warm-ups on January 12th.  We'll decide who is singing which notes, and also practice singing both melodies at the same time (last half of song).  Other cast members will be working on Scene 18 in the main room at this time, so we'll go in a side room or upstairs with my little keyboard.

Guys & Girls from Scene 17
As is already on the schedule, Jackie Holbrook will be staging your scene from 1:45-2:45 on the 12th.  My hope is that we'll be able to put the whole song together within this time.

Thanks,
Mrs. Green

Song Notes (Get it? Notes? For songs?)

Hello singers!  (Mrs. Green here.)  This is a bit lengthy, but someone asked me to write down what we talked about on December 15th.  So, here it is.  Most of you wrote these notes in your scripts already, but if you were absent/late, then you'll need to know this.  And all of you should read through this, just as a reminder.  If there's something new just for you, I've written your name in red.

Page 3

• If you are in Scene 1, then you sing this entire song.  If you're not in Scene 1, then you come in where it says "COMPANY".
• This entire song is to be sung as forte, which means "loud"--except for the very last line.  Under "And the good ol' U.S.O.!" you should write cresc. underneath or draw a crescendo symbol (it looks sort of like a thin, open-ended triangle with the larger end toward the right).  At the end of the line we should be singing fortissimo--"very loud".  You can write ff there.  That's the symbol for fortissimo.
• There are two places where we have the line, "In every nation, on land or sea".  Please don't take a breath after "sea".  Rather, take a quick one after "nation" if you need it.  If we take a breath after "sea", then it's quite difficult to get "They bring a big..." in there clearly.  
• When we sing "They bring a big warm welcome from the land of the free," I want you to think of those last words as "lan-dove-thuf-free".  Really link those words together please.  This line happens twice as well.

Pages 6-8

• Only those cast members who are in Scene 4 sing this one.
• Really enunciate the verses.  Overdo the consonants a little.  Usually I wouldn't say that because singing is all about the vowels, but these words will get lost if we don't.  For words like "jitterbug", "Saturday", "gotta", and "little", I'd like for you to sing those as "jidderbug", "Sadurday", "godda", and "liddle"--otherwise, sing the /t/ (i.e. "cats", "eight to", "fast", "last").  And guys, sing "Cud-a-rug".
• Guys, it's difficult to hear on the CD, but when you get to the floy-floy/oh, boy part, the notes change somewhat.  We'll go over this next time we rehearse the song.
• We will keep the word "shiners".
• Pop those bahps!  Sneak a breath between the two bahps, when you need to.
• Smile!  Practice singing in front of a mirror.  It helps.  = )

Pages 33-34

• "Together We Must Stand" is to be sung slowly and majestically with patriotism and pride.  It starts softly, growing louder and louder throughout the entire piece.  Sometimes we will add voices to get louder, sometimes the same voices will simply sing louder.
• Sloane (Ruth) did a lovely job on the 15th.  That being said (and deservingly at that), the solo there is just too long.  We're going to try adding Angela (Rachel) and Elisabeth (Rebekah) at the first "We are one!" part.  So, Sloane, Angela, and Elisabeth, can we get together early on Jan. 5th to try that out?  Could you be there by 11:45?  Let me know here or email me (Jen@ngyc.org).  Thanks.
• Bailey (Gladys) and Marie (Rose) will come in at their respective places.
• ALL ONSTAGE ACTORS ~ Okay, we won't know for sure who these people are exactly until we stage scenes 18 & 19.  So, please bear with us until this happens.  Whoever these cast members are, they will need to crescendo on the word "stand".  We're building up to forte here.
• ALL ~ So, this is the entire cast, except for Kilroy and the two M.P.'s.
• At the top of page 34, there's a space after "We are the land of the free!"  There is a key change here (also called a modulation).  After the key change, we will sing very loudly--fortissimo--ff for short.
• There's a mistake in CHORUS ONE.  The correct words are in green below:
• (Sings.)  We are one!
• We are the United States of America,
• We are one!
• We are the United States of America,
• We are one!
• We are the United States of America,
• The yellow highlighted words are those which have different notes compared to those same words in the rest of the song.  The reason those notes are different is so they can match up with CHORUS TWO.  Listen carefully to your CD's and you might be able to hear it.
• We will crescendo on the very last line.  Everyone sings this together.  It's supposed to end in fortissimo possibile, which means "the loudest possible".  Keep in mind that this is the loudest possible singing we can do--not screaming.  = )  The symbol for this is fff, if you want to write that by "free!" in your script.  By the way, watch your "ee" sounds.  Don't make them too bright.
• I know I still need to decide who is singing which CHORUS.  Let me know if you have a strong preference towards Chorus 1 or Chorus 2.  I'll try to be accommodating, but I can't make any guarantees.  Same goes for the very last line of this song.  Let me know if you prefer low part, middle part, or high part. Give me a 2nd choice too, please.  (The very high note at the end--I'm going to hand pick just a few people for that one.)  If I don't hear from you, then I'll assume you have no preference.  Reply here or to Jen@ngyc.org.  I just need it in writing--otherwise I'll forget.

Thank you!  And congratulations on reading it all! 

A Few Reminders

Just a reminder that Mrs. Green will be going over 'Don't Say No to the USO', 'Together We Must Stand', and 'Jitterbug Saturday Night', at this week's practice.  It might be a good idea to bring a water bottle along because you'll be doing lots of singing.  We'll also be doing scenes 14 & 15, and then running through scenes 1-15.  So everyone be sure to brush up on all of your lines.

I'm hoping to be ready to do some more delegating in early January.  Also in early January, be prepared to get your ad assignments.  We need to start on that earlier this year, since the performance dates have been moved up.  As a reminder, every family needs to sell a full page of ads or pay $50.

Scenes 10, 11 & 12

I’ve scheduled some extra people to be in the background at the newsstand, and then do some dancing in Scene 12.  If you are scheduled for these scenes, but don’t see any lines for your character, it’s not a mistake.

I wasn’t very clear about that, and I apologize for any confusion.

Updated December Rehearsal Schedule

My husband tells me that every new teacher doesn’t schedule enough for their first day.  So, at least I’m not alone.  J  I guess Prepared Students + Skilled Assistant Directors + Short Scenes = Early Finish Time.  I want to say again how pleased I was with the work all of you guys did yesterday at rehearsal.  I also appreciate the fact that you were so willing to go over the additional scenes that we hadn’t scheduled.  It makes my job so much easier when I have people to work with who have such great attitudes.

I’ve adjusted the schedule for the next couple of weeks.  Next week, Abby will start working with the Harmony Brothers learning how to use their harmonicas.   Besides doing Scenes 6, 8, 9 & 10 next week, I’ve moved Scene 11 up from December 15, and added Scene 13 to the schedule. 

As a reminder, use your CD’s to learn ‘Don’t Say No to the USO’ (everyone), ‘Jitterbug Saturday Night’ (Scene 4 people only) and ‘Together We Must Stand’ (everyone) for the December 15 rehearsal.  I’ve also added Scenes 14 & 15 to that day’s schedule. 

I know it probably seems like we’re moving very fast, but we’ll slow down once we start learning our dances.  Be prepared to do a lot of dancing in January & February.  J

Lindsey Stratton will be choreographing Scene 2 for us on January 5.  I’m hoping to schedule Kilroy Was Here for January 12 (the Carys will be doing the choreography).  I’ll get a January schedule to you as soon as I’m able. 

Thanks again for the great job everyone!  Given the caliber of yesterday’s rehearsal, I’m very excited about us putting on a great quality show!

UPDATED Schedule for December 2011 Practices:

December 8:            12:00-12:20       Additional Grid Assignments, Warm-ups, Distribution of Harmonicas                                 

                       12:20 – 12:45   Scene 8                 CS (Up)

                       12:20 – 1:30     Scenes 10&11      JH  (Down)

                       12:20 - ?           Abby Holbrook will start teaching the Harmony Brothers how to use the  harmonica (downstairs room)

                       12:45-1:45        Scene 9                 SK  (Up)

                       12:45-1:00        I have a couple of new lines from an Act 2 scene.  I'll want to work with Sarah Reinke & Henry Stuewer on them at this time

                        1:30 – 2:00      Scene 6*               CS  (Down)

                                                (*Lines only)

                       2:00 – 2:30       Scene 13               SK (Down)

                       2:30-2:45           Scenes 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13

                       2:45 – 2:55       Feedback

                       2:55 – 3:00       Dismissal and Directors Huddle

December 15:  12:00 – 12:15  Warm-ups

                        12:15 – 1:00    Practice songs for Scenes 2, 4, & 19 (no dancing, just music)  

                          1:00* – 2:00 Scene 14               SK

                          2:00 -  2:20    Scene 15               CS

                          2:20 – 2:35    Scenes 1-15 (no choreography/no Scene 12)                                      2:35 – 2:45 Scene 19  (music only)

                          2:45 – 2:55    Feedback

                          2:55 – 3:00    Dismissal & Directors Huddle

*Boughtons and Stuewers will be late to practice on 12/15 because they’ll be attending A Christmas Carol at the PAC.  Starting Scene 14 may have to be delayed until the Boughtons arrive.

Clarification on My Decision Regarding Devotions at Rehearsals

Wolf River Homeschoolers is a Christian support group.  But, we need to respect that not everyone in our group has exactly the same set of doctrines.  We are all Christians.  However, we have many different denominations within our support group.  We have Baptists and Catholics, Non-Denominationals and Lutherans, Assembly of God members and I’m sure some other denominations as well.  What seems obviously true to one member might not be so apparent, or it might even be offensive, to another member.  One person’s church might encourage prayer between different denominations as a statement of unity.  Another person’s church might discourage it, because it implies an agreement on doctrine. 

There is a time and a place to have your child lead devotions.  It is my opinion that a better place would be within the context of your own church body.  It is my opinion that devotions are a form of worship and can lead to division within our group.  As a support group, we need to focus on the areas we have in common.  As long as we are all Christian, I feel it is our role to respect each family’s religious preferences.  We exist to support and encourage each other in our homeschool journeys.  We don’t exist to decide what devotional material each child should be taught.

As homeschoolers, by nature we have strong opinions and generally have a strong sense of the beliefs we want to instill in our children.  That is how it should be.  God placed each of our children in our respective families for a reason.  He wants each of us to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord as the Holy Spirit leads us. 

The decision to not have devotions was something I struggled with over the summer.  It was my decision, made with my husband’s counsel.  I’m sorry if I blindsided some of you with that decision.  I guess I got caught up in the many logistics of getting everything ready for practice and didn’t communicate it as well as I could have.  However, I feel strongly that a child’s parents should be the ones who have the final say about what devotional material their children are taught.  Since my name is down as director, I am the one who is ultimately responsible for the content of the rehearsals.  I felt this was the only decision I could make in good conscience. 

I would highly encourage all of our parents to lead their children in prayer and/or devotions before each rehearsal and performance.  Either I or one of the directors will lead the entire group in a prayer before each session.  We will also be having a more involved music session at the beginning of each rehearsal, which I’m sure you will find to be God-pleasing.    

WRHS is set apart as a Christian group, not by the 5 minutes at the beginning of each rehearsal, but by the entirety of our time together.  It’s not the devotions which define us as existing for God’s glory.  Rather, it’s how we behave during the three hours of practice.  It’s how we prepare at home.  It’s how we learn our lines.  It’s how we act towards each other and encourage each other.  It’s how the children behave towards the adults, and it’s how the adults behave towards the children.  It’s the language we use with each other.  It’s how we act when we are going into the community and asking businesses to put ads in our program.  It’s how we behave during performances, both backstage and in front of the audience.  It’s how we greet our audience members at the end of the show. 

Again, I’m sorry I mishandled the communication of this new policy.  I truly apologize if I offended anyone.  Rest assured that my top priority is that every aspect of our time together should be to God’s glory.

Char Stuewer