ON TO THE CAPITOL!

As of last night (12/8/2011) the chorus has been sponsored to go and participate in the yearly caroling at the state capitol building on December 16. The Mansfeld PTSO graciously offered to cover our past debts and sponsor us for this and future trips to the state capitol. We, as chorus members, parents and maybe even friends, are to support PTSO fundraising efforts whenever we can, especially working the parking lot events for the U of A games.

Mr. Levario went on to explain the yearly expenses of running vocal music and theater programs. Initially, it can be a little expensive, so other ways of funding are going to be researched like "tax credit" and some donations.

Many chorus members attended last night as a show of support for the program and it was good to see them there, ready to share their views on why these type of activities have enduring lessons and memories.


A great big "Thank you" to the PTSO's support! We will sing to you hopefully just before your February meeting!

ON A RELATED POST_____

Members of the Advanced chorus will be performing at the Viscount Suite on Sunday to raise more money for our trip to Phoenix. Details and pictures coming soon!!!

Getting Ready for the Capitol!

Here we are again at that time of year when we dust off those winter carols and holiday songs to share with those politicians in Phoenix. We will be sharing our "Holiday Set" with you on December 1, 2011 for the Band/Orchestra and Guitar Concert. Join us in song, cheer, and maybe buy a little water from us as we are still fundraising for that trip. There will be pictures following soon!!!

STAY TUNED!!!!

6th Grade Performance on Tuesday!

Not only is there an advanced chorus, but there is a 6th grade chorus who, along with the 6th grade performing arts and the Mansfeld dance class, will be performing on Tuesday evening, 6:30 p.m. in the Mansfeld cafeteria!!

Click here for your own copy of the flyer above!

I hope to see many students participating and many parents attending this fall performance. All the students have been working diligently on songs, dances, and instrumental keyboard pieces (some are original!) to share with everyone. It should be a great night! Please support our chorus department by buying a bottle or two of water! They are .75 cents each!

See you there!

Sorry, it has been a while...

Hello to all who follow this blog site. Sorry that it has been a while since there has been a post. The students have been a little lax in updating and I have not been checking for posts.

We currently have had some events pass that followers should have known about and some events coming up. I hope to have some information posted later this week that will showcase those activities.

Open House-Chorus and Musical Theater perform for parents early in September.

November 1-Festival at Santa Rita

Advanced chorus members travel by SunTran to Santa Rita to participate in a wonderful TUSD choral festival.

November 15-Evening concert featuring the 6th grade chorus, works from the 6th grade performing arts class, performance by the Mansfeld Dance class.

December 1-Caroling the halls for the Band/Orchestra concert

December 16-Caroling at the state capitol.

More to come! Pictures will be coming soon!

Mr. Levario

Preparing for fundraising!

Hello everyone!
We are busy getting signs together for our sales on Thursday (10/20/2011) of hot dogs, parking and water!

Thumbs up for making money for our bus to Phoenix this December!!!

Stop by the school on Thursday afternoon, buy some water or a hot dog or two, and maybe park for what may be "the first UofA win" in a while :)

Time is Tickin!

Hey fellow Chorus members and followers! Just to keep up on date, we have our first show planned already, wow! Our first show will take place at Santa Rita High School (Go home of the Eagles!) on November 1st this year.We will be singing at least 3 to 4 songs which is : Erie Canal, Sixteen Tons, Wiegenlied (Craddle Song) and finally a well known song, Fireflies! :) Time is moving and we are working on our Phoenix trip coming in December, chorus members be ready for that and make sure to turn in your money! ($20.00) We will be running fundraisers to gain some money for our bus, more information to come! Keep up on the good work guys, this years going to be a good one!

We aim to please

Welcome to a new year of chorus!! As you can see from our illustrious members, we are full of energy and excitement for the coming year. I have recently sent a letter home with your child, outlining the expectations for this class and will be sending home more info. regarding performances, trips and fees. If you didn't receive the correspondence, please come back to the webpage as I will post it on the right underneath the caption, IMPORTANT INFO. The caption may be there now, but the letter(s) will not be until at least Monday evening (8/22/11).

One item of importance is the completion of the Audio/Visual release form for your child. This year, I need them signed and returned whether they have permission or not. I would like to keep them on file to be sure that the confidentiality of ALL participants is respected.

In these very fast technological times, photos and videos are easily caught and posted without regard to student privacy. Like last year, there will be a student in charge of posting information and pictures and I want to be sure that they have proper permission to post images of their fellow choristers. I look forward to meeting as many parents as possible this year! We will try to have a quick parent meeting sometime next week...I will send and/or post more information early next week.

"Art is the creative expression of knowledge."

Wrap up

I took a while to post something on this blog because time is necessary to reflect on the past year. Thinking back to the beginning of the school year, I am reminded of how the classroom was so stuffy, the heat was strong outside and we had no air conditioning...yet through the sweltering, we had the die-hards who stuck it out and remained with the group.

• We started with two songs, mainly to prepare for a small performance of open house. The songs were a spiritual called "The Water is Wide" and "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret.


• We took those songs on the road (on the city bus mind you), and performed at Palo Verde High School with the few middle school choruses left in the district.


• Through suggestions from the judge, we began a more focused concentration on our MOUTHS...


• Jaque O was "commissioned" to create, draw a "Rolling Stone" type mouth on the east side of the room. Brigette volunteered her Rolling Stone poster as a guide


• All year we worked on proper mouth position and sound production


• We prepared for a very busy December by performing at 3 places in 1 week!


• Performance 1-@ Tucson High...Handels' "See The Conquering Hero Comes!" (The Students didn't take too well to this song from one of the masters...gotta work on that for next year!)


• Performance 2-@ Annual Band/Orchestra Concert-We do this every year and a great collaboration with the instrumental music department.


• Performance 3-@ the State Capitol. We try to make this an annual event and use it as a good recruiting tool. Unfortunately it is very costly and will probably result in a $25.00 participation fee for all choral students next school year. (Can be a tax-credit write off though!)

• We then started working on our next project, a spring concert in March which featured songs that we worked on at the beginning of the year, plus some new ones, like Gershwin pieces, American folk/game songs (Charlottetown and Cripple Creek), Simple Harmony songs (Music, Music, Music and Maple Leaf Rag)


• We found a group of "lunch bunchers" who want to take the lead in making chorus one of the strengths of Mansfeld!


• Our final project was to perform songs from different cultures for a performance that featured folklorico, mariachi and a salsa contest! We studied songs from the Czech republic (learned about the polka!), Japan (timely as the earthquake brought this song some relevance), and from many countries in South America! (It meant we had to sing in Spanish!) Our vocal skills had a workout!!


• While the chorus did not connect to another country, they laid the groundwork for a connection and will probably connect to a small school in Peru next year! Much of that will be discussed on the following blog site, http://bbworldstage.blogspot.com/ as well as this one.


• We finished off the year watching the classic "Singing in the Rain." I felt it best that the students see the entire show, know who the actors/dancers/singers are rather than getting a skewed view through "Glee."

I am so proud of the students who stuck it out through the year. We cover so much and it is difficult to list all the accomplishments we made, but the biggest item of note is that we have a big "family" of singers and we all try very hard to support each other. Even though we lose some to promotion, we take pride in the fact that they take with them a great choral attitude and will continue to represent their Mansfeld experience wherever they go. We become a larger network every year! See you in the fall!

All Good Things Must Come to an End.

As an 8th grader, the end of the year is the most exciting and most emotional time of the school year. The thought of High School gives you butterflies in your stomach and you want to cry because you're going to miss Mansfeld. Chorus is probably the funniest class I've ever had. Before Mansfeld I never thought of singing the way I do now and I don't want to stop. I want to thank Mr. Levario for such a lovely time in chorus and for teaching me what I know about music. Don't ever stop doing what you're doing now! Those of you in 6th and 7th grade, I hope you stay in chorus because you become your own instrument and learn about how to make music with yourself. I have so many memories in chorus and I know I will never forget them. Thanks guys for making it such a great year and a great 3 years at Mansfeld.

Love, Brigette.

Polka History of Dance

Polka History of Dance

Good to know when we continue with the Three Czech Folksongs...

Another Openin' Another Show...

Well, despite the lack of accompanist (save our student accompanist), other musical numbers being pushed to a later date and time, and the many people dealing with this nasty flu...WE DID IT!!! AND we stayed true to the date scheduled at the beginning of the year! (Well, we did move it a week, but only to let the instrumental music department have another date for their concert....BUT WE WERE READY!!!)

I was especially pleased with the overall sound of "The Water is Wide." Beautiful, (nuff said.)

Please mark the calendars for May 4. We will have another performance on that date with songs of Central and South America, with a focus on Peru, Mariachi and Folklorico performances, solos that show the many levels of musical growth, new songs in different languages (Korean, Spanish, German, and even Latin!) There will be more info later, but the evening should be lots of fun!

It's March, do you know where your children are?

Hello everyone, it has been a while since I have posted, but now that things are rolling like they do every year, (spring concerts, no budget, arts fighting for their yearly survival, etc.) and I have some time to spread some information.

First, the Chorus has their first Spring concert on March 17 at 7:00 p.m. in the Mansfeld Center for the Performing Arts (the cafeteria). We have a nice arrangement of songs that exemplify the creative musical creations of our country. We have some numbers from broadway shows, from folk/ game songs of the 1800s, Scott Joplin and even the Gershwin brothers! (Yes, there were great brother teams before the Coens!)

The night will be short, not a high school marathon. We value the adage "Leave 'em wanting more!"

I hope to see many families there!!