Rehearsal Blog Update 03/21/2014

Dear Intermediate Singers and Families,

Thank you for a focused and productive rehearsal this week! Important reminder for next week’s rehearsal: Singers, please bring a hat with you to rehearsal next week, as we are learning choreography for "Hats". The hat must be easily put on and taken off with just one hand, and made out of stiff enough material that it holds its form. (A wool winter hat or tilley hat, for example, would NOT work.) Ideal hats are costume or real bowlers, fedoras, boaters, top hats, cowboy hats, sombreros, straw hats, or halloween hats like a hard hat, sailor cap, police cap, etc.

If you don’t own any hats like the ones described above, try Diddams at 1952 W El Camino Real, Mountain View. I bought a perfect black hat there the other day for under $3!

Lost and Found

Several items have been picked up from the March 8^th Festival. Please email cassie@cantabile.org if you are missing any of the following:

- blue zip-up sweater with hood and small white logo
- blue and grey zip-up sweater with USA logo
- black zip-up sweater with hood and large green and white “quiksilver” logo
- GAP hoody
- dark Old Navy pants, size 12

What To Practice for the May 10th Concert

Click on the titles to watch videos of the pieces you need to practice.

Hats (music begins at 0:58)

Bless the Lord #1: Badgers and Hedgehogs

Bless the Lord #2: Butterflies and Moths

The Heavenly Aeroplane

And keep reviewing the African songs, too:

Three African Folksongs: Pembela, Nomali, and Mambo Jesu

Shumayela

O Kaana Kameme

Musicianship

Intermediate A AND Intermediate Honor, you’re finishing up to page 34 for next week. Please also ensure that you have corrected all mistakes made on previous assignments. Books must be complete - with all mistakes corrected and all CD questions answered - by the first week of May, so please be sure to stay on top of your work from now until the end of the term!

Intermediate Honor, in addition to your workbook homework above, you are also working on your chromatic scales (last page of skills challenge booklet). Remember to practice them with a piano, returning to C after each new note.

Happy Practicing! 

Dear Intermediate Singers and Families,

Thank you for your participation in our Cantabile Festival for Young Voices last week – you did a wonderful job representing Cantabile and we hope you had a fun day! We’re less than two months away from our big Spring Concert, so it’s time to buckle down and practice the next set of repertoire!

Important reminder for next week’s rehearsal: Singers, please bring a hat with you to rehearsal next week, as we are beginning to learn choreography for "Hats". The hat must be easily put on and taken off with just one hand, and made out of stiff enough material that it holds its form. (A wool winter hat, for example, would NOT work.)  Ideal hats are bowlers, fedoras, boaters, or top hats. Other hats that will work are cowboy hats, loose-fitting baseball caps, small sombreros, straw hats, or costume hats like a hard hat, sailor cap, police cap, etc.

What To Practice for the May 10th Concert

Click on the titles to watch videos of the pieces you need to practice.

Hats (music begins at 0:58)

Bless the Lord #1: Badgers and Hedgehogs

Bless the Lord #2: Butterflies and Moths

The Heavenly Aeroplane

And keep reviewing the African songs, too:

Three African Folksongs: Pembela, Nomali, and Mambo Jesu

Shumayela

O Kaana Kameme

Musicianship

Intermediate A and Intermediate Honor, you’re finishing up to page 30 for next week. Please also ensure that you have corrected all mistakes made on previous assignments. Books must be complete - with all mistakes corrected and all CD questions answered - by the first week of May, so please be sure to stay on top of your work from now until the end of the term!

Happy Practicing! 

Rehearsal Blog Update 03/07/2014

Dear Intermediate Singers and Families,

After a great session with our conductor-in-residence yesterday, we’re really excited for tomorrow’s Cantabile Festival for Young Voices: An African Celebration! Please read carefully all details below:

Saturday, March 8th Festival For Young Voices

Call Time: 10:00am

Release Time: 3:30pm

Location: First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto, 625 Hamilton Avenue

Drop off and pick up: main entrance on Hamilton Ave. Look out for a sign for your choir indicating your drop-off location.

Attire: Singers must arrive in their full concert uniform

Singers Must Bring: 1 bag containing their sack lunch, additional snacks, a water bottle with name clearly marked, and a sweater. Singers will eat their lunch outside - eating is not permitted inside the building.

Please note: green rooms will not be locked – singers are strongly discouraged from bringing expensive items like cell phones and electronic devices. You will be responsible for any lost or stolen items.

Concert

The goal of the festival is to reach out to the wider singing community, giving school children opportunities to hear each other in a non-competitive environment and to work with outstanding choral conductors from North America and beyond. In keeping with this goal, we welcome the families of our guest choristers to share the joy of music making at the final performance of the festival, and ask that Cantabile families kindly leave the limited seating to them.

Collection

We expect pick up to be around 3:30 pm, but due to the number of children needing to be signed out, it could be later than that (up until 4:00 pm). We appreciate your patience and flexibility as we release over 300 children to their families.

Volunteer Opportunities

From setting up and packing up the African drums for the drumming workshop, to welcoming our guest choirs, chaperoning our own singers and helping during the concert - there's a role for everyone! Click here to sign up!

What To Practice for the March 8th Festival

All pieces for March 8^th must be memorized for the concert! Click on the titles below to watch videos of the pieces you need to practice.

Three African Folksongs: Pembela, Nomali, and Mambo Jesu

Shumayela

O Kaana Kameme

What To Practice for the May 10th Concert

Click on the titles to watch videos of the pieces you need to practice.

Hats (music begins at 0:58)

Bless the Lord #1: Badgers and Hedgehogs

Bless the Lord #2: Butterflies and Moths

The Heavenly Aeroplane

Musicianship

I am in the process of reviewing all of your theory books. Those of you who have received your books back: please correct all of your mistakes and finish any sections that you left blank. You will not receive your musicianship book certificate at the end of the term until all pages are complete and correct!

Happy Practicing! 

Rehearsal Blog Update 02/28/2014

Dear Intermediate Singers and Families,

We’re just over a week away from our fourth annual Cantabile Festival for Young Voices: An African Celebration! The celebration begins with a special clinic hosted by our festival composer-in-residence:

Thursday, March 6th Composer-In-Residence Clinic

Time: 5:00-7:00pm*

Location: Foothills

*Please note the adjusted rehearsal time. There will be no musicianship classes – all singers are to arrive at 5pm and depart at 7pm. Please be prompt, and come ready to sing and dance your African repertoire! All festival repertoire must be memorized!

Saturday, March 8th Festival For Young Voices

Call Time: 10:00am

Release Time: 3:30pm

Location: First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto, 625 Hamilton Avenue

Drop off and pick up: main entrance on Hamilton Ave. Look out for a sign for your choir indicating your drop-off location.

Attire: Singers must arrive in their full concert uniform

Singers Must Bring: 1 bag containing their sack lunch, additional snacks, a water bottle with name clearly marked, and a sweater. Singers will eat their lunch outside - eating is not permitted inside the building.

Please note: green rooms will not be locked – singers are strongly discouraged from bringing expensive items like cell phones and electronic devices. You will be responsible for any lost or stolen items.

Concert

The goal of the festival is to reach out to the wider singing community, giving school children opportunities to hear each other in a non-competitive environment and to work with outstanding choral conductors from North America and beyond. In keeping with this goal, we welcome the families of our guest choristers to share the joy of music making at the final performance of the festival, and ask that Cantabile families kindly leave the limited seating to them.

Collection

We expect pick up to be around 3:30 pm, but due to the number of children needing to be signed out, it could be later than that (up until 4:00 pm). We appreciate your patience and flexibility as we release over 300 children to their families.

Volunteer Opportunities

From setting up and packing up the African drums for the drumming workshop, to welcoming our guest choirs, chaperoning our own singers and helping during the concert - there's a role for everyone! Click here to sign up!

What To Practice for the March 8th Festival

All pieces for March 8^th must be memorized for the concert! Click on the titles below to watch videos of the pieces you need to practice.

Three African Folksongs: Pembela, Nomali, and Mambo Jesu

Shumayela

O Kaana Kameme

What To Practice for the May 10th Concert

Click on the titles to watch videos of the pieces you need to practice.

Hats (music begins at 0:58)

Bless the Lord #1: Badgers and Hedgehogs

Bless the Lord #2: Butterflies and Moths

The Heavenly Aeroplane

Musicianship

I am in the process of reviewing all of your theory books. Those of you who have received your books back: please correct all of your mistakes and finish any sections that you left blank. You will not receive your musicianship book certificate at the end of the term until all pages are complete and correct!

Happy Practicing! 

Rehearsal Blog Update 02/14/2014

Dear Intermediate Singers and Families,

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Next week is Ski Week, so there will be NO REHEARSALS; however(!!!!), it’s extremely important that you practice over the break the repertoire for our upcoming Cantabile Festival on March 8th. We only have three weeks until the performance!

Festival Details (extensive info will be posted in a future blog – stay tuned!)

What: Fourth Annual Cantabile Festival for Young Voices

When: Saturday, March 8^th, 2014

Where: First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto, 625 Hamilton Avenue

Who: Intermediate, Ensemble, Vocalise, Bravi, and four guest choirs

Call time: 10:00am - drop-off instructions coming soon

Pick up: Around 3:30pm – pick-up instructions coming soon

Parents and families: please look out information coming from the office on how you can volunteer on the day of the festival. With eight participating choirs, two guest artists, and one big concert, we need your help! Parent volunteers and chaperones play a crucial part each year in the success of this huge event. (And remember: this can count towards your 10 hours of Cantabile volunteer time!)

What To Practice for the March 8th Festival

All pieces for March 8^th must be memorized for the concert! Click on the titles below to watch videos of the pieces you need to practice.

Three African Folksongs: Pembela, Nomali, and Mambo Jesu

Shumayela

O Kaana Kameme

Bless the Lord #2: Butterflies and Moths

What To Practice for the May 10th Concert:

Click on the titles to watch videos of the pieces you need to practice.

Hats (music begins at 0:58)

Bless the Lord #1: Badgers and Hedgehogs

The Heavenly Aeroplane

Musicianship

Most of you have handed in your books to me for review over the break. If you missed this opportunity, PLEASE bring me your book at our next rehearsal!

Happy Practicing!

Rehearsal Blog Update 02/07/2014

Dear Intermediate Singers and Families,

A new piece was handed out this week. We didn't start it yet, but you can check it out below, along with the videos of the other pieces we're learning:

Hats

(music begins at 0:58)

O Kaana Kameme

Bless the Lord #2: Butterflies and Moths

Bless the Lord #1: Badgers and Hedgehogs

The Heavenly Aeroplane

A practice recording of There Was An Old Man From Calcutta was emailed to you. Please download it and listen to it!

We also started learning the game Omo Chio. For those of you who have never played it before, check out this video: Omo Chio

Musicianship

No homework this week! You'll get your books back next Thursday.

Happy Practicing!