Thursday, June 18, 2009

Choir Teacher!

Just before our trip to Disneyland, I was asked by the superintendent if I would substitute the high school choir for the rest of the school year, about 2 months. My first reaction was, "No way! I could never teach choir! I'm not qualified!" But the kids needed a teacher, and I figured, I could do my best, and if they did too, we could make it work.
I'm so glad I took a chance! I loved every minute of teaching those kids. A week and a half into the job, I had to take the choirs to festival! YIKES! We had spent a lot of time during that week and a half polishing, and adding a lot of dynamics to the songs. I led my first choir, Treble Tones at 8:00 AM. By the time they were done singing, and I was done leading, I was shaking so bad! But they received a 1 rating, which is the best possible score! Yay! After that, I could relax a little and have fun. All the choirs got 1's that day except Mixed Chorus which is a beginning group. Concert Chorale sang the best they have ever done, and left me in tears and the judges nearly speechless. Singcopation got perfect scores from both the judges. Wow!
A week later I was off to the Greeley Jazz Festival in Greeley Colorado with Singcopation. They scored 1's from both judges at that festival too, and were told they were the best choir of the day. We had a great time on the side, shopping, going to a jazz concert, the movies, and visiting the Denver Zoo.

After Denver, we had a month to get ready for the concert. What a concert. It went so well, and the kids sang like they had never sang before. The last song of the night, "Why we Sing," was sung by all the choirs together and left most of the kids, Tara, me, and the audience in tears. It
was such a great experience.

I never thought I would get so close to those kids in just 8 short weeks, but by the end of the year, I loved them so much, and they had accepted and loved me. It was truly one of those life-changing experiences!
I never could have done the whole thing without my accompanist, and good friend, Tara Johnson. She's been the accomanist from the beginning of the year, and knew what needed to be accomplished. She helped me every step of the way. I love her so much and owe her big time! Together, we made the end of the year a success!

1 comment:

Harris Family said...

I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I wish there was some way to keep you there so that my kids could have you when they get old enough! You are an amazing lady.