Messiah Rehearsals have begun!

We are excited to have begun our rehearsing for our annual Messiah performance! A Cappella students have been rehearsing Messiah music on Tuesdays and Thursdays in class with Ms. Smith and Mr. VanTilburg. And on Sunday 11/6, we will have our 2nd combined rehearsal in the choir room from 3-4:30pm with the A Cappella Choir, Chamber Choir, and many adult staff and community members. Choir students are allowed to miss TWO of the Sunday rehearsals without a grade penalty. Please see calendar at the right for scheduled rehearsals. There are also schedules available for students to take home at the Sunday rehearsals. If you are a parent who is a singer, consider joining your son/daughter on our Messiah experience! Rehearsal CD's have been made available this year for all students and adults who wanted one. Students have also been encouraged to purchase their own Messiah music score, if personal finances allow. The Celina music store sells them for around $8.50. You might find a used score online for even less. Having their own score allows the students to highlight their own part and mark the music as they wish- they can also take home their own scores to have for individual practice. Students without their own scores use the choir department's scores which are in various states of condition from years of use.

Rehearsal for Night at the Opera

On Wednesday November 16th, HS choirs will rehearse their music and be placed onstage for the coming weekend's performances at the following times:

A Cappella Choir: 1:00-3:00pm

Chamber Choir: 2:40pm-4:00pm

Please note this is the ONLY time A Cappella choir will be onstage to rehearse before the concert.

Our first performances of the year are 11/18-11/19 in the Ed Complex Auditorium! Tickets will go on sale during the week of 11/7. All seats are general admission and will be sold for $5. This will cover the costs of the music, performing rights, and costumes for the production, as well as supplement the cheese and sausage fundraiser. By the way- we earned just over $1800 in profits from our sale. Thank you to all who purchased items and of course to the many students who sold items!

Welcome to the 2011-2012 school year!

We are almost finished with our first FULL week of school, and all of the choirs are starting on some exciting music and projects. In November, the A Cappella Choir and Chamber Choir at the high school will be presenting "A Night At the Opera" at the Ed Complex Auditorium. We will sing many of the most famous chorsuses and arias- many of which can be heard on TV commercials and in movies. The idea is to educate students and the audience on what opera IS and IS NOT, and have a little fun along the way! The students are off to a great start! The chamber choir will also be presenting a 40 minute operetta titled "The Trial of Goldilocks" based, as one might guess, on Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The show is full of comedy and aimed to please audiences of all ages, especially the younger (10 and under) crowd.

The middle school choirs have been learning all sorts of vocal warm ups that will: improve their ranges, encourage active, engaged listening as they sing, teach them melody versus harmony, hear intervals (distances between notes), singer's diction, and more! We are enjoying learning about harmony through music of the Beach Boys. Although we probably will not perform Beach Boys on their first performance in December, the songs may just appear on their May program!

Celina Chamber Choir earns I (Superior) Rating at OMEA State Large Group Contest

I am very proud to announce that yesterday the chamber choir earned a Superior rating in Class B at OMEA State Large Group Contest, held at Van Buren High School. This rating was the result of much hard focused work on their stage performance and sight-reading. They managed to do this even after most of them were up late attending prom and after prom activities the night before! Thank you, Chamber Choir, and also to Mr. Dave VanTilburg, our wonderful accompanist, for your hard work and dedication!

Thanks also go to the students who were able to provide music for the high school Art Show this afternoon. Kirsten Fuelling, Hannah Jones, Greg Hirt, Zoe Kriegel, Brittany Bullock, and Alex Anderson (as well as Mrs. Kalcec, Mr. VanTilburg, and myself) shared their solo talents and were much appreciated by Mrs. Place and the art show goers! What a big weekend this was!

Don't forget about our upcoming May choir events:
Sunday May 8th- HS Choir Recital 4pm in the Ed Complex Auditorium
Tuesday May 17th- MS Band and Choir Spring Concert 7pm in MS Gym
Thursday May 19th-HS Spring Choir Concert 7:30 in Ed Complex Auditorium
Friday May 20th- 7th Grade Choir Large Group Performance at Parkway Schools
Saturday May 21st- 8th Grade Choir Large Group Performance at Parkway Schools

Celina Middle School Choirs dazzle the audience and look ahead to Solo/Ensemble contest in two weeks

On Tuesday March 15th, the Celina Middle School choirs shared a concert with the middle school bands at the middle school gym. The groups performed to a packed house, and were poised, confident, and sang wonderfully!

Now, the MS groups are focusing on preparing for Solo/Ensemble contest, which will be held Saturday April 2nd at Minster Middle School. This year, the choir program is taking 22 vocal solos, and 8 vocal ensembles, up from just 10 or so solos last year (no ensembles). Of the 100 students in the middle school choir program, 65 are participating in solo/ensemble contest. This is a great experience for middle school students to perform in small groups and/or as soloists; many will be doing so for the FIRST time in their lives! Solo/Ensemble contest is a free public event. I encourage parents and families of the participating students to come over to Minster to see their student perform. We will be taking busses to Minster. Students needing bus transportation will need to arrive at school at 6:40am for a 6:50 departure. The bus will return to Celina Middle School soon after 4pm that day.

Celina Choirs Earn Superior and Excellent Ratings at OMEA Large Group District Contest!!!

Last weekend, the Celina HS Chamber choir and A Cappella Women competed at the District 3 OMEA Large Group Adjudicated Event. At this event, each choir performs three selections (one from a prescribed list of music) for a public audience as well as three professional choral adjudicators. Immediately after this performance, the choir goes to a separate room with one choral adjudicator where they are given a piece of music they have never seen before. The director and group is given 4 minutes to look at the music, but IS NOT allowed to sing or hum a single note. At the end of the 4 minutes, the choir is given their starting notes, and then sings the music, with piano accompaniment. After this performance, the choir gets ONE additional minute to look over the music again (still no singing), reviewing any errors or "tricky" areas. At the end of the ONE minutes, the choir receives their starting pitches one more time, and then performs the music again, this time UN-accompanied. We practice this process many times in rehearsal before going to contest, to ensure that we do our best.

The Celina Chamber choir received straight Superior (I) ratings onstage, as well as in sight-reading. As a result of their overall Superior rating, they have qualified for State competition, and will compete at Van Buren High School on Saturday April 30th.

The A Cappella Women received one Superior Rating onstage, and two Excellent (II) ratings onstage, as well as an Excellent (II) rating in sight-reading. This means they were only ONE superior rating away from going to state (to qualify for state a group needs at least Two Superiors and Two Excellents).

I am very proud of the performances of both choirs, and am especially excited to be headed to state competition with the chamber choir!!

February Keeps Choir Students Busy!!

The month of February has been a busy time for choir students at the high school and middle school. First, a quick rewind to January- senior chamber choir members Jena Sweigart and Alex Anderson were selected by audition to participate in the OMEA District 3 Honor CHoir Festival, held at the Van Wert Niswonger Performing Arts Center on Sunday January 16th. Congratulations, Jena and Alex!

Several senior chamber choir members are currently in the midst of their college auditions, in preparation to pursue careers in music performance and music education. The auditions will determine entrance into the music schools as well as possible scholarship money. Among those auditioning are Kirstin Fuelling, Alex Anderson, Jena Sweigart, and Ashlyn Jutte. Best wishes to all of these seniors in their auditions, as well as the rest of our seniors in their post secondary pursuits!

On Thursday February 10th, the 8th grade choir performed the national anthem for the middle school boys basketball game with Shawnee. Wonderful job!

This past Saturday February 19 was HS Solo and Ensemble Contest at St. Marys High School. Four vocal ensembles participated- A Cappella Guys, two A Cappella Girls ensembles, and the chamber choir. 16 soloists from the A Cappella Choir and Chamber Choir performed vocal solos. And two choir students performed piano solos. These students did an outstanding job representing Celina High School. Specific results posted in a separate blog.

Auditions for the 2011-2012 Celina High School Chamber Choir were held in the choir room on Wednesday and Thursday February 23rd and 24th. Next year's roster will be posted Monday February 28th.

Three 8th grade choir students were accepted by nomination to participate in the OMEA District 3 Middle School Honor Choir festival. Megan Muhlenkamp, Kennedy Swann, and Josiah Werling were to have performed at Wapakoneta High School Saturday February 26th; however, the event was canceled because of weather.

On Sunday February 27th, the A Cappella Choir and the Chamber Choir will travel to Parkway High School to share a "Pre-Contest" concert with the Parkway choirs. Small ensembles from both schools earning the highest ratings at S&E will also perform.