DC Chorus Handbook & Welcome Back to Dade County Chorus!

We have started this 2016-2017 school year rockin' and rollin' in all of the Dade County Chorus ensembles!  

DCHS Mixed Chorus: 
We have been working hard preparing for our video recording project in conjunction with AVoice4Peace (click HERE for more info on this project). The video recording will be on Friday, September 16th and will be available on our YouTube channel(click HERE to subscribe) soon after.  The mission of AVoice4Peace is that "now, more than ever, we're in need of peace. We believe that a peace concert, a film, or even a single piece of music, is a moment wherein we can de-escalate violence and conflict." This is an exciting opportunity for our students to be a part of a global project. 

DCHS Women's Chorus: 
Our women's chorus has already been hard at work developing 3 part sight-reading and singing skills!  Last week we began singing the piece "She Sings" by Amy F. Bernon and the girls have fallen in love with the beautiful message inspired in this song.  I'm excited about the possibilities for this great group of girls! 

DMS 6th Grade Chorus: 
WOW!! This is a large and extremely talented group of 6th graders this year! We have been studying the difference between beat and rhythm, preparing for introducing quarter notes and quarter rests, and developing a pure vowel and relaxed vocal sound.  They are ALL IN and working hard to unify their sound in preparation for our first pieces of music! 

DMS 7th Grade Chorus: 
Around April/May last year, I introduced 2 part sight-reading to this chorus and we got about 6 weeks of practice in this new challenge.  Well, on day 10...yes, you read that right...DAY TEN of this school year, these students were sight-reading in three-parts and performing as if they'd been doing this forever. They were featured on our @DadeCountyChoir Twitter feed(click HERE to view tweet) this week and I am SO proud of how hard they have been working. 

DMS 8th Grade Chorus:
We have been studying our letter names for the staff on the treble clef and creating our own acrostic/mnemonic devices to remember them.  The winning entry for the letter LINES was from Drake Dupree: Come Eat Green Beans & Dead Fish and for the letter SPACES a combined effort from our men's section: Don't Fail At Chorus Ever! :-) The summer between 7th & 8th grade is usually a big leap in vocal development and this year was no exception for our 8th graders.  They are sounding great and working on blending beautifully! I've gotten chill bumps from the beauty of those chords several times across the past week! Making beautiful music so early in the school year is most definitely a sign of GREAT things to come! 

If you need a copy of the Chorus Handbook at any time, it will be right here on the blog! :) And if for some reason you have not returned your Charms/Commitment & Media Release Form, please do that ASAP! :) Charms should be activated for ALL choirs this weekend! Many thanks to Elizabeth Holdaway for updating our Charms student information system this year!! 

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at gabriellehaston@dadecs.org.