All in a day's (or week's)work...

This week, the beginning chorus began it's quest to find the best three songs to sing from the musical "Oliver."  So far we have practiced "Consider Yourself," and "Food Glorious Food!"
We have yet to tackle other songs from the musical that will "contrast" the active and robust songs that we currently know. 
A small contingiency came to "Open House" and sang through the "Instruments of the Orchestra" in unison, giving the audience something more to listen to than just the rules of the music classroom!

During that same evening, the Advanced chorus started cutting the rug with a song entitled "Give Me That Spotlight!"  This song was done in the manner of a Broadway number with singing AND choreography.

Hopefully there will be some videos posted of each of the those performances.

On the week of August 27-31, the Advanced chorus, had lessons on copyright, 2 part harmony, and on improvement of the "head voice."  Our song of study was "Good Morning to you" (otherwise known as the "Happy Birthday Song."  We "analyzed" the song in terms of pitch, creating a workable harmony and why it is rare to hear it done on TV or Movies.



We then got to experiment with our new found knowledge and performed the song for our Science teacher "Ms Bittel." (Yes, it was her birthday!)  The video is below:



The kids show much promise this year and I am very proud of their efforts!

I will be posting some images of 6th grade chorus work very soon!

Welcome to a new year!!!

This is the 2012-13 school year and I am excited about the activities planned!  The new 6th grade Chorus is quite able to tackle some challenging and entertaining songs and the Advanced Chorus is currently working on a song and dance number for Open House (at least a little bit of it!)

The video below shows the music/theater classroom that is constantly changing.  Check it out!


One of our first performances this year will be at Open House, which occurs on August 23, 2012.  The students of the Beginning chorus have been working on a novelty song about instruments of the Orchestra and the Advanced chorus have been working on a song and dance number.  Hope to see you there!

The year in recap

Well the 2011-2012 year had its eventful activities along with an improvement on the vocal skills of many of the participants.  Here is a quick look at the events of the year:

• Open House!  We opened with accompanying the Musical Theater singing "Belle."
• November- Mr Levario was informed that there is a possibility that we would be singing at an event during an Arizona Birthday celebrationin conjuction with a Social Studies unit on naturalization.  We were told that we would sing at the UofA College of Law during the naturalization ceremony of future American Citizens.  It was suggested we start working on the National Anthem and a song entitled "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor.  We later we expected to learn the Arizona State song.  we Mid November, we again participated in the TUSD Choral Festival.  We sang, a medley of Erie Canal and 16 tons, a song in German called "Wiegenlied,' and a more contemporary piece entitled "Fireflies."  If any of you loyal readers have pictures of ANY event, post them on a comment or send them to Mr. Levario, thomas.levario@tusd1.org. 
• On November 15, the beginning chorus had a concert with the 6th grade performing arts class.

• December we accompanied the Band/Orchestra a little early to accomodate the impending birth of Ms. Davidson's bundle of joy (it was a boy BTW)
• Mid-December we had our annual trip to sing at the State Capitol followed by our lunch at Arizona Mills. 
  

  
  

  
  
• February-We found out that the performance at the College of Law was postponed, but we could still sing our numbers at a school event on Arizona's Centennial Birthday, February 14.  A great performance, however, we saved "Tired and Poor" for when the naturalization event was re-scheduled (spoiler-it was not rescheduled).
• March-CHORUS SPRING CONCERT!!  Since we hadn't heard about when the College of Law performance was to be rescheduled, the Advanced chorus went ahead and premiered Give Me your Tired, Your Poor.  They had assistance from Mansfeld alum Juan Flores as well as from Brian Levario.   The concert also featured a performance of a few songs from the beginning chorus.  The beginning chorus actually had another perfromance coming up in May, so their major focus was on that event.
• May 3, the 2nd annual Multicultural night featuring a local mariachi group, a group of alumni folklorico dancers, a salsa contest, displays of work from Spanish class, a Korean song from the advanced chorus and a show about American Jazz by the beginning chorus.  It was quite an evening and a success for the beginning chorus with future thespians in the mix!!
• May 10, our final "concert" of sorts, both the beginning and advanced choruses performed along with the orchestra for visiting schools in the cafeteria, giving a great impression of the strong arts programs available at Mansfeld.

It is unfortunate that there are few photographs of events of the past school year, but again I will welcome any to be posted later.  Please send to the email above or post them on a comment!  The video below is of the advanced chorus practicing the Korean song "Ahrirang" for the performance on May 3.  In it one can hear some of the improvements in vocal quality of the group as well as student habits and behaviors typical of students waiting for the end of the school year.  Enjoy!

For shame...

The school year is over and can you believe it?  There were no posts since December 2011 to share what we have accomplished.  It's too bad that this student run blog site was rarely used, but it does point to the fact that this is one item of communication that needs to improve.  In a future post, I will add some of the events/activities that this 2011-2012 chorus participated in....STAY TUNED!!!!


Tom Levario

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!