Virtual Solo Festival 2021

Hello Gregory Singers!

It has been great to make music with you so far this year, even if it has been in this virtual setting. I wanted to share with you a terrific opportunity for ALL of our chorus students called the IGSMA Virtual Solo Festival taking place in February. Please read the attached letter and if you are interested in participating, fill out the linked Google Form by Tuesday, November 24.

Illinois Grade School Music Association

District #9 Virtual Solo Festival

February 2021

This year, we are proud to once again offer the opportunity for students to prepare and perform a vocal solo and receive high quality feedback from a judge who specializes in the voice. We encourage all students to participate as a way to grow their individual musical skills. Through the process of preparing a solo, working to improve it with teacher assistance, and finally performing it, students greatly improve in their ability and confidence. 

How will it work this year?

1. By November 24, 2020 - Students will indicate on this google form that they wish to prepare a solo. As there is a small fee involved ($9), parents should also be consulted and should help the student fill out the form.
2. Mr. Pfenninger will select an appropriate solo for each student and provide the music in early December. Students will begin to work on their piece. (If a student studies privately with a voice teacher, the student may have their private teacher choose a song for them instead.)
3. Beginning in January, Mr. Pfenninger will be available for help sessions to continue guiding students on their music.
4. Week of Feb 1-5 - Students will video record solos with teacher guidance about using accompaniments. More details to follow for participants.
5. Feb 5 - Solo video recordings DUE to Mr. Pfenninger.
6. Feb 13-15 - Judging takes place.
7. Feb 17 - Results and adjudication sheets are emailed to directors. Medals will be distributed within 2 weeks of the festival.

Please visit the link below to sign up to prepare and perform a solo for this festival event. We can’t wait to see the amazing growth and success you will experience!  

Link to sign up : https://forms.gle/61joywsHttcCFYdD9

October 2020 Newsletter

Dear Gregory Chorus Families,

 

Now that we are a little over one month into the new school year, I wanted to let the dust settle a bit and have everyone get acclimated to our new learning situation before reaching out in regards to some of our more important talking points for our young vocal musicians. I have been excited to see students’ faces (albeit through a Zoom screen) and seeing them singing, and it has been my first and foremost goal during all of this to keep everyone singing as much as possible. After all, that is at the heart of what we do in chorus!

 

Speaking of singing, here are some important points of which I wanted you to be aware:

 

• PERFORMANCES/CONCERTS – Obviously while we are remote, there will be no official in-person performances of music ensembles. The district is currently in the planning stages for some virtual music sharing for our students to be able to share their learning and musical growth with their families and the community. As soon as we have some more information about that, we will be sure to inform you of our plans. In the meantime, once we do return to in-person learning and are given the green light to pursue some more traditional concert formats, we will be sure to get you those dates so you can put them on your family calendar!
• #LIFTYOURVOICE – At the beginning of the school year, though, I did ask our chorus families to reserve the date of Saturday, October 10, at 6:30pm. This is not an in-person performance, or even a Zoom meeting; this will be an opportunity for our singers (and even YOU, if you are interested!) to share their music with the world around them. We have been learning the traditional Shaker tune “Simple Gifts” in class, in anticipation of this event, in which singers and instrumentalists from around the country will perform this song “together” in their own individual spaces. Our chorus students have been encouraged to sing the song at 6:30 that evening, and can choose the venue in which they perform—their yard, their kitchen, on a nature hike, for a family member, in the bathroom, or anywhere they are comfortable performing it. If a student would like to record their performance and share it with me, they can receive extra credit for doing so, otherwise there is no formal expectation other than to share their singing and reflect upon their “gifts.” For more information about this project, visit: https://liftyourvoice2020.weebly.com
• ZOOM/CAMERAS – Because chorus is so performance-based, and because so much of what we work on in class is improving our techniques, it is really important for their success that students’ cameras remain ON at all times during synchronous instruction. Most students have been really great about making sure they are staying connected and engaged visually, but we do have some students who are still a bit shy in this regard. Parents, PLEASE have a conversation about this with your child, and ask them about how they have been doing with this and their overall comfort level during remote learning. If there is a special situation or circumstance that precludes the use of the camera, I understand completely. Otherwise, please encourage them to make sure they are fully engaged in our class instruction.
• EXTRACURRICULAR OPPORTUNITIES – During in-person learning, we have historically offered three vocal groups at Gregory that meet outside of the school day, for students who are looking to enhance their curricular, in-class vocal instruction with some additional repertoire and more singing time: Concert Choir (auditioned, honors-level treble choir) and Men’s & Mixed Ensembles (pop/jazz/musical theatre vocal ensembles). While we are remote, we are going to offer some “vocal clubs” that offer many of the same experiences as those groups, but catered more toward our remote-learning environment. Details and a schedule are currently being finalized, but we have asked students to express their interest in these (and our band/orchestra extracurricular ensembles) through a Google Form starting today. Parents, if your child has mentioned these to you but has not had an opportunity to fill out the form yet, please have them click on the link in their chorus Google Classroom page to officially submit their interest. We will reach out soon with more information!
• ILMEA FESTIVAL – A virtual version of the ILMEA (Illinois Music Educators Association) District IX Junior Festival will be taking place over Zoom on the morning of Saturday, November 14. Any interested 7^th or 8^th grade singers have been encouraged to enroll in our special ILMEA audition Google Classroom page in order to prepare an audition to be submitted by video. Deadline for video submissions is Friday, October 9, so interested students should be working this week on rehearsing their audition material and creating their video.

 

A final important note:

 

• GRADING/ASSIGNMENTS/ENGAGEMENT – Grades for all assignments that have been submitted or missing are now current in ParentVUE/StudentVUE through at least September 27. Parents, please check your child’s chorus grade and assignment completion. If you have a question or concern about any grade, please inquire first with your child and have them check Google Classroom for the corresponding assignment/assessment. Missing assignments have been temporarily entered as zeros until a submission is received, and late work will be accepted for full credit. For our class assessments, grades of 70% or lower are eligible for a retake assessment; students interested in completing a retake must reach out to Mr. Pfenninger via email to request one. Our Monday quizzes are designed to gauge retention and understanding of the prior week’s class content; if a student is engaging fully and appropriately in the class instruction, and is writing down our brief guided notes on the main topics of the day, students are generally very successful on these assessments. Our assignments are based on concepts or skills that are points of focus in class as well; chorus-only students are given time in class during our asynchronous ‘personalized learning time’ segment of the period to complete these, while our combo students have been instructed to complete these during their open “unlunch” period. As such, a student should rarely have traditional “homework” to complete for chorus class; the expectation during our “camera off” asynchronous class time is that students are working on and finishing their assignments. Students should also use this time, if they have questions or need assistance, to reach out and ask for help. Many of our students have been very successful navigating this self-regulated remote learning environment we are in, and I have been incredibly impressed with their engagement and desire to participate and learn. Please continue to encourage your child to stay on top of their schedule, stay consistently engaged in class, and use their class time appropriately for completing the day’s tasks so that they do not fall behind and create unnecessary amounts of work for themselves later. Together, as a team, we can make sure our students continue to learn and grow as musicians even while we are remote. Your efforts in this regard are greatly appreciated!

 

As always, I am just an email away if at any time you have any questions. It has been an interesting start to a school year we will all remember, but we are still accomplishing great things, thanks to the efforts of our terrific Gregory singers and their families. I appreciate you all very much!

Welcome to Gregory Chorus 2020-21!

Welcome to the Gregory Middle School Choral Department!  The chorus offerings here are a significant part of our school curriculum and will enhance your middle school experience greatly.  The chorus program is designed to help each singer improve their own vocal skills, expand their musical understanding, and increase their personal growth through working together in class and in performances.

It is the goal for each chorus student to:

1.      Discover, appreciate and value his/her own talents, the talents of
         others and the beauty of all types of music.

2.      Improve skills in using his/her vocal instrument, learning music
         theory and reading skills, and general musical knowledge.

3.      Gain a desire to continually improve upon past performances.

4.      Experience self-fulfillment after having communicated to others
         through music.

5.      Experience music in a way that will bring lasting enjoyment and as
         an activity that can be continued long after leaving GMS.

In addition to all of these goals, we also love to have fun together in chorus!  Of course, it is expected that every student give his or her best effort and cooperation.  With all of us working together, it will be an exciting, inspiring, and rewarding year.

With our remote start to the school year, our official concert schedule is currently on hold. Once we have updates regarding our performance calendar, we will distribute that information so that you are able to put those dates on your family calendar and plan accordingly. In the meantime, I will make you aware of one brief, live performance opportunity for ALL chorus students that I would like you to set aside for now: Saturday, October 10, 2020 - 6:30 pm. More information about that will be sent out at a later date.

Secondly, our extracurricular ensembles (Concert Choir, Men's Ensemble, and Mixed Vocal Ensemble) will look a bit different as well while we work remotely. Further information about these outside-of-school opportunities will be distributed as details are finalized.

Finally, please make sure you have set aside a place in your home for singing and practicing, as free from distractions/disruptions as possible. Even though we will not be together in person to start the year, and we will have some non-singing activities that we will be studying, we will still be singing regularly and your voice is important! In addition, you are welcome to use headphones/earbuds and/or a USB microphone if you have them, but no extra equipment will be required other than your Chromebook, some paper and a pencil. A packet of musical staff paper was also distributed with your school materials; if you did not receive the staff paper, a PDF that you can print at home will be available in Google Classroom. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. I look forward to meeting and working with each one of you this year!

Mr. Pfenninger

Announcing the cast of Frozen Jr.!

Thank you to everyone who auditioned. This is always a wonderful and yet highly competitive and difficult process. We had a tremendous turnout and appreciate all of your efforts and talents...we wish we could take everyone! Congratulations to the following members of the 2020 Gregory Middle School Spring Musical:

You can only open the linked file if you are signed on with a student IPSD Google account; please do not request access to the file if you are not logged into that account. Thank you! - Frozen Jr. Cast List

***Students and parents, please do not post reactions about the cast to social media. While some are celebrating, others may not be. Be sensitive to other families.***

The first cast rehearsal is Monday, March 9 from 3:05-4:30pm in the Chorus Room. Please bring an assignment notebook, pencil, highlighter, and water bottle.

Frozen Jr. Callback List

Thank you to everyone who auditioned for this year's Gregory spring musical production of Frozen Jr.!

The following is the list of students who have been invited to the final, callback audition on Friday, March 6:

Frozen Jr. Callback List
(must be signed into an IPSD account to view link; PLEASE DO NOT REQUEST ACCESS IF YOU ARE NOT SIGNED IN TO AN IPSD ACCOUNT. THANK YOU!)

The callback audition is in the LMC from 3:05 - 5:00 pm. Please bring your number/letter and a recent photograph (no student IDs!). The photo will not be returned. Also, please review and practice the scenes and song excerpt from the initial audition.

Winter Choral Concerts - Monday, February 24

The Winter Choral Concerts will take place on Monday, February 24, in the Gregory East Gym. The following is the schedule for the evening:

6:30pm concert - 6th Grade Chorus, Men's Ensemble, Mixed Vocal Ensemble, Concert Choir; Concert Choir & Men's Ensemble students need to report to the West Gym by 5:30pm, 6th Grade Chorus students need to report to the West Gym by 6:00pm.

8:00pm concert - 7th Grade Chorus, 8th Grade Chorus, Men's Ensemble, Mixed Vocal Ensemble, Concert Choir; all groups need to report to the West Gym by 7:15pm (students performing in the first concert who are also performing in the second concert will report to warm-ups at the conclusion of the performance). Students who are performing in this second concert but are NOT in 7th or 8th Grade Chorus will report to the Chorus Room; please bring something to work on (homework, personal reading).

Students are expected to attend their assigned concert(s) for the duration of the concert, including while other groups are performing. Attire for performers is the gray Gregory Music polo shirt, black dress pants (no capris, leggings, skirts, jeans, etc.), black socks, and black dress shoes.  Points will be deducted for students not wearing the correct concert attire, so please be sure to be dressed appropriately.

Thanks...see you on the 24th!!

Summer Music Opportunities

It's never too early to start thinking about some terrific singing opportunities over the summer, especially since several of the more popular options fill up pretty early in the spring. We even offer SCHOLARSHIP MONEY ($$$) for those who are interested!

Check out the slideshow linked here for further information and important dates.