We are a busy lot!!

We had many activities during the short school month of December. A highpoint was singing a piece by Handel with Tucson High. I am searching for a "mass chorus" picture and will post it when one becomes available. Next, to help pay for our trip to Phoenix, the chorus had to work parking for the UofA/ ASU game.

Ah, if only work was always this much fun!

We had quite a few people stop and enjoy the antics of our animated street "hawkers."

Next was our annual collaboration with the band and orchestra. When pictures come, they will be posted! That performance gives us practice for the annual trip to the Capitol where we sing the same set of music for Legislators and anyone who happens to be wandering in the Capitol building. Enjoy the pics and the very short video!

Our own Carlotta (Charlotte) preparing for her original "point" routine done to the song "Once Upon a December."

Walking to the performance area....

Photo op after a performance well done!

Phoenix Pictures

Phoenix time is here.... Fun for all, the children call, their favorite time of year!

Tomorrow we are finally going to phoenix! YES! We'll make our way to the bus at 8:30a.m. and we should be at the state capital at 11:00a.m. That means we're not stopping at McDonald's for breakfast.. Although, we will be making our way to Arizona Mills to eat, walk around, digest, and SHOP! So, definitely bring enough money for lunch. Come to school in your concert dress, Black and white. White on top, black on the bottom, or all black or all white. No, no polka dots. We will be taking our backpacks so, after we sing at the capital we can change into some casual clothes to go to the mall in. You don't need to wear your uniform! We should be back at Mansfeld at around 7:00p.m. Then we can all go home and hit the hay after a long day. :)

Stuff that matters.

Unfortunately there are few pictures for this post, but more will be coming soon. We had a great experience at Brichta elementary and plan to perform there again for the older students

This has been a very busy week performing and showing how excited we are to have the opportunity for vocal music; experiences that are enduring.

In the spring, those involved with educating these students will undergo another agonizing time with budget cuts. There is just too much to say about what this devastating annual practice will do to some programs. What really matters is what parents want for their children. Many wonder what they can do and most of the time all people and hear is money this and money that.

While money is necessary, it is not the only thing. There are TUSD board meetings, Mansfeld site council meetings and PTSO meetings. The next site council and PTSO meetings are scheduled for the first Thursday of January, site council at 4:00 and PTSO at 6:30. These meetings discuss possibilities and procedures. Being informed and creative outside of the realm of school can bring fresh ideas to counter those that are predictable. While those in charge may only see the bottom line, what is done with it is where the most help is needed. Please get involved and voice your ideas for what matters to you in public education. Music education and music literacy are what matters to me for my children and ALL my students.

Tucson High Performance

Mansfeld Chorus will be performing at Tucson High tomorrow 12/8/10 at 5:00 in the Tucson High auditorium. Today, we rehearsed and recorded the song we will be singing, See the Conquering Hero Come, with the Tucson High Chorus at Tucson High. Students should be at Tucson High tomorrow before 5:00pm to meet in the chorus room.

So many things to do...

There are a multitude of singing responsibilities for our chorus this December, ranging from promoting Mansfeld to a feeder school to supporting our instrumental department!! With so much to do, I created a link to download the information. (See Picture below)

The students should have brought home a hard copy of this (click here) . Please keep in mind that if you have any questions, please call me on my cell, 520-241-9329. I will try to get back to you as soon as I can!

This Thursday!!!

The Mansfeld chorus has been asked to help with the parking for the UofA / ASU game. Volunteer students should stay after school to work until about 7:00. I think that they can be picked up at that time. They (the students) should dress WARM!
This activity will assist the chorus in getting funding for our trips to Phoenix this school year.

Pictures of Tucson High rehearsal, 11/23/2010

These are the first rehearsal pictures...I stacked them on each other. Thanks to Spencer and her handy dandy camera on her phone, we have these. It was good to see so many former Mansfeld students in choir at THMS...AND THIS WAS ONLY ONE OF THE CHOIRS!!! More former students will be at the concert on December 8, I hope you parents will be there to see this event. I am really proud of our Mansfeld singers!!

We Went To Tucson High Today!

Well, we did it! We went to Tucson High and sang with their concert choir. We saw many of our old classmates in choir and reheased through Handel's "See the Conquering Hero Comes." The students were most impressed with Ms. Jurmin and with the sound from the THMS Concert Choir. I hope that they are inspired to do well here at Mansfeld! There will be some pictures of this activity coming on later tonight...Stay tuned!

Rats...

....hear that?....they are the winds of change....





The field trip to Tucson High has been rescheduled to next Tuesday, November 23, same time, same rehearsal site, different day.


It seems that there are many issues with grades and missing some classes at this time would not be advantageous to all. Yes, as I have said many times, grades do count!


We will be rehearsing our Winter show with the additional songs as well as more work on "See the Conquering Hero Comes" and a new piece for our already full plate, a collaboration piece with the Mansfeld band. The piece is called "I'll be home for Christmas" and we will sing it during the Advanced band concert.

Monsters Inc--We're M-I? @ Mansfeld!

Tucson High Tomorrow!

Today, we took a peek (By peek I mean we sang through the entire set list.) at what we will be singing in the future (and by future I mean next month) for the Mansfeld band/orchestra winter concert. I don't know about you but, I'm definitely look forward to that! Tomorrow we will be walking to Tucson High to practice singing See The Conquering Hero Comes with one of the Tucson High Choirs. We will depart from school in the middle of second period. We should be back before the end of third period, but for sure we will be back before fourth period. December 7th, we will perform with them for the Tucson High winter concert and, there is a chance we might sing our own song at the concert, but that's not up to us to decide.


By the way, Breanna G is the new student of the week!

Palo Verde Pictures

We Stopped by Wendys

Walking to the bus stop

Waiting for the bus

Outside of Palo Verde High School

Palo Verde field trip

Today was the Palo Verde trip! We did very well and so did all the other schools.

***Upcoming performances***

Important info on the upcoming performances we'll be having! November 3rd is the TUSD Choral Festival at Palo Verde High School. That's Wednesday! We'll be riding on the city bus there and back. Those of you that made it into the Advanced chorus will be going so, remember to bring in your permission slip! You will need at least $7.50 for the entire trip. $2.50 for the bus and $5.00 for lunch. Mr. Levario will call Palo Verde and give us more information on Tuesday.
The Tucson High Choir Performance will be sometime during the week of November 15th-19th. We'll get back to you on the exact date. We will leave to walk to Tucson High at 8:25 A.M. and we'll return at 1:00 P.M.
The Phoenix trip for the Seasonal Song Singing at the State Capital will be December 15th. We will leave on a chartered bus at 8:25 a.m. and return at about 6:00 p.m. We need about 3 adults to chaperone. Be sure to keep your grades up and your teachers happy so, you may go on the trip.

The Sight Singing Brooha (not Bruja)

Sight singing has been all the talk of complaints these past couple of weeks. Unfortunatley many students have been the recipients of the procrastination prize...being caught without practicing the songs. Remember, you will not have to work this out on you own yet. These first tests are to find those who need extra assistance and to weed out those students who are just not that serious about singing. They consist of the syllables Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do and how they can be mixed, repeated and sung at various speeds to create music. The order above are represented by the symbols on the picture below:


Eight notes, the first 7 being different, the last repeeats the first.

Singing exercises

For those of you that didn't quite make it into the advanced chorus, remember to practice the singing exercise for this week! Tomorrow you will be tested! If you pass this test you can go on the Palo Verde field trip.

Featured Student of the Week

This weeks student of the week is Reyna P! Check out the Student of the week column to learn more about Reyna.

CH CH CH CH CHANGES-turn and face the strange.

The next quarter the chorus is making some changes to its rehearsal venue and its practices. The rooms will stay the same, but the risers are moved into Room 225 for the begining chorus to use on Tuesdays and Thursdays for sight singing and fundamental practice.


Tuesdays and Thursdays will be the days that the Advanced Chorus meets in the Chorus room (222) Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays will be both beginning and advanced in room 222.

Additionally, Mondays will have the entire class sing the assignment/ test to prepare the beginners for their Tuesday and Thursday singing practice assignments, Fridays will be the beginners singing tests to help them be a part of the advanced group. The test will be what we sang on Monday.
Yup, you have to sing AND learn about music in Chorus!!

Sorry Charlie, no tuna for you! But you can tune a singer!

While the cats away, the mice... practice sight singing

Although Mr. Levario was out today, with the help of Charlotte, Reyna, Aja, and a few more students, the class was under control. We practiced sight singing and a few of the songs we've been working on in class.

Reid Park Zoo Pictures!

One down... much more to go..

After much practice, we finally performed at Reid Park Zoo. It was crowded, but that just gave us a bigger audience to perform for. Always look on the bright side! I dragged my little brother along with me so he could take some pictures for me to post on the website. (Thank you, Anthony) I have to say they're pretty good, but in order for everyone to see your beautiful faces we need those media release forms! Otherwise, your face will be blurred or swirly. Let me know if you turned yours in so I can edit the pictures. :) - Brigette

Festival of Schools: TOMORROW!

Tomorrow is the big day at Reid Park Zoo. The event starts at 9:00 a.m., and we will be preforming at 11:30. If you are in the performance be at the zoo by 11:00 a.m. so we can be ready to go on stage (..or grass). If you're not in the performance feel free to come anyway! Its free! How awesome is that? We'll be on the stage for about 15 minutes, but we should make it a great 15 minutes and show people what the mansfelds chorus/musical theatre can do! Hope to see you there. :)

New Student of the Week.

This weeks Student of the Week is..... (Drum roll please!) *Just.. imagine a drum roll.. or bang on the desk in front of you.. whatever works*...... CHARLOTTE H! Check out the top left of the website to learn about the lovely Student of the Week.

Want to be next weeks student of the week? Make sure to turn in your media release form to Mr. Levario! You can download it from this very webpage!!!

God, Thats Good!

Extra extra, read all about it! October 9th is the "Festival of Schools" performance at Reid Park Zoo from 9:00am - 1:00pm. The students that turned in their permission slips will be performing songs such as God That's Good, De Colores (with Ms. Chavez's class), On My Own and more.. Our stage time is about 15 minutes. Even if you're not performing you should still come and support the chorus. Any more questions about October 9th? Leave a comment..
In order to post pictures of our performances we need signed release forms! So, if you haven't turned one in be sure to do that! :) They are on the right side of this blog page..."Media Permission Forms" or get one from Mr. Levario

If we have anymore updates- or I forgot to post something, (Sorry, I'm a little slow sometimes..)
I'll be sure to add it- or Mr. Levario will...

-Brigette V.

Open House

Here we have a dedicated Choral member singing through a segment of "What I Did For Love..." It was related to the work done throughout the previous year to increase the general/vocal music classes from 1 to 3. It really was a labor of love.

As with many of our choral members, students love to show what they can do for their parents and how their skills at singing are developing. Our student here skillfully demonstrated her study of show tunes by singing a rendition of "Funny Girl." Barbra would be proud!

Open House Night

Two dedicated choral students just finished singing through a song of winter and Never Neverland from the musical Peter Pan. They entertained the hustling and bustling parents in the 7th/8th grade hallway.

VENI, VIDI, VICI

A small contingient of the chorus did an excellent job on Thursday evening! The pagemasters hope to post some pictures real soon!

Getting ready for open house...

The plan is to open the evening with the national anthem a capella in harmony.
It will still be a work in progress. We are also singing "Maybe this time" from Cabaret. Hope you enjoy this rendition of the song shown below...in case you would rather see Liza Minnelli's version, click on this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3rkLRJ0m0k

Brian, Mr Levario's son, created some simple riser choreography for the singers as well as discuss what type of motivation is needed to pull off a poignant song like this.

Not sure how the class will be presented in the classroom though...maybe students, parents and teacher will remain in the cafeteria for first period on Thursday evening.

AND THEY'RE OFF!!!!

Our first day of chorus gave us all a taste of sight singing and an experience with the well known spiritual folk song, "The Water is Wide." The group has great potential!

Day 2 is only mentioned because Mr. Levario was not in class and the song selection left for the students to work on was met by much trepidation. Choo Choo Ch' Boogie is not an easy song, and certainly not a song that can be ready in a couple of weeks. True, Mr. Levario should be there to help the students with the song, which he will throughout the weeks to come, but the song will not be performed until March 2011, by then, the group will have a show choir song that they can feel proud of....THANKS GLEE!! This blog needs some comments, so kids and parents please share your thoughts!

Slow to start

There seems to be some confusion about where to get information about the vocal "goings on" at Mansfeld. If there are questions, you should post to this blog. I read it all the time, also, if there is someone (parent) who would like to help run this blog, send me an email, thomas.levario@tusd1.org.

• Registration is on Thursday and Friday


• Chorus is first period as is Band, so there may be conflicts. Please contact me so you get the best of both worlds.


• If there are a few of you who want to help prepare the rooms for this school year, I will be at school during normal school hours starting next Tuesday (8/10/2010). Let me know what time you will be coming so I can get things ready for you. You can text me, email me or call me...(call each other for my number as I won't post it here)

I came, I met, I conquered...

Well, I met with the PTSA and listened in on a number of things. Looks like good news is afoot (or a spleen...whatever tough audience ) for this school year!

The PTSA is going to continue to help us create a Parent's choral booster club so that we can get funding for the activities we want to do this year! It will mean some fundraising work for all you singers!

The big shoe! It seems that we should start planning to perform our 8th grade/Chorus show at the
Leo Rich theater. (click on the name for info and images)
Contact Mr Levario (thomas.levario@tusd1.org) if you would like to work on this project. Our show will premier sometime in May 2011.

The New SchoolYear..

Well everyone, it is time to start thinking of the new school year and (students) plan to do some singing! This year, chorus will be doing some performing with the 8th grade music theater group for various performances as well as working on music and singing skills. Mr. Levario will be teaching

On July 23, Mr. Levario will meet with PTSA at "Rusty's" to discuss ideas and financial issues for the coming year. The following will be shared although due to time may not be discussed fully..

Ideas for the year-

• Another dance number for chorus
  
• New music-prices and themes...


• * Singing at the Capitol in December *


• Purchasing rights to perform "Guys and Dolls" in late spring


• The current state of the stage, temporary needs until actual funds can be generated for complete renovation.
  
• Performing venues at either "Leo Rich theater" or the "Temple of Music and Art" for end of year musical theater/ Mansfeld promotional event. THIS IS THE BIGGIE!


• * Advanced students in singing to represent Mansfeld in Phoenix choral festival. (April) *


• All "arts students" (at least chorus and musical theater) to work on purchasing tickets to attend "Wicked" in the spring. Tax credit would be great for this!

Any thoughts and ideas, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE comment on this blog!!!

* Transportation funds, ideas needed...

Choral and Theater Parents, would you like to add posts to this blog? Contact Mr. Levario at either thebobster14@gmail.com or thomas.levario@tusd1.org