The RHS Spring Concert tonight was really great! It was so fun to make music together, and both ensembles performed really well! Directors were proud of their performances, and are to be commended for bringing this music department back around after the past couple years!
The choir sang Jambo, Agnus Dei, Gloria (Vivaldi), Put a Little Love in Your Heart, and Pure Imagination.
Caeden helped provide percussion with the egg shaker during Jambo.
! It was extra special that Krampa and Gram could be here for it. I am always too spacey at concert time to remember to get pictures with everyone! But, we were so glad they could be with us! Wow, we are so grateful for this night
Although the HS choir had a concert earlier this semester, tonight was the HS winter concert, and it was the first time the concert band had had a concert in a full 2 years. Surreal. The freshman and sophomores had never played a concert before tonight. So odd. It was more fun with the appreciation of getting to perform.
During rehearsal this afternoon, I caught a little bit of Caeden practicing his part in Sleighride. When Mr. Marchese first handed out the music this fall, Caeden asked if he could play the whipcrack (because that's what every percussionist wants to play in Sleighride) and Mr. M told him, only if he "pranced about and jumped" while playing it. Caeden followed directions very well this time:
There were only 9 singing in the HS choir this evening, but I thought they really did a great job! I don't have any photos or video though, since I was accompanying, but Caeden sang wonderfully. We are truly blessed to have Mrs. Aupperle at Ridgeview; she is fantastic!!!
Caeden played a lot of timpani, some snare, and various other percussion instruments.
Because half of the percussion section was under quarantine, Mrs. A and I got drafted during this afternoon's dress rehearsal to join the band! She played the things that sound like horses clopping and I played Caeden's bells part so he could play the crash cymbals. Mrs. A and I both said we had never played a percussion part before, so my goal was to play 3 notes. I didn't play them all, but I did play more than three! You can see Caeden "prancing about and jumping" while playing the whipcrack in this photo!
So grateful the opportunities to make music are returning.
Last night I drove down to SIUe for Annah's choir concert! She was in rehearsal when I arrived, so I picked Sylvia up at her dorm and went to the campus center with her while she had supper. It was so nice to get to spend a little time with her--especially since she couldn't go to the concert.
I had to sign in with my contact tracing info before finding a socially distanced seat for the concert. It is such a weird world we are living in these days.
Concert Choir
Annah joined a new Treble Choir this semester, even though she is only required to sing in Concert Choir. She really likes the director, Dr. Canterberry, and the ladies sounded so lovely this evening.
I didn't record any full songs, but here is a lovely clip in which Annah is featured. (She sings the first parts of the echo duet.)
VIDEO: Love Is a Rain of Diamonds
Annah had her friend Julia
Back to her room
Annah, Ryan, Abby, and Blake have their apartment so festively decorated!
I did take my things to stay the night with Annah, but decided it would be best for everyone if I just went back home and slept there. I got home around 1am, and was very grateful to Caeden for talking on the phone with me until I got through Springfield.
Although Annah is finding her choral experience at SIUe frustrating and it is maybe not the caliber of some of the other choirs she's had the privilege of singing in, I really did enjoy the concert and getting to see her singing on stage again.
It is very interesting to write this blog post, more than a week after this event took place, looking back through the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic. Awareness of the virus was beginning to spread while the GU choir was on tour, visiting public places, churches, and staying in homes around Illinois, and Indiana, including Chicago and Indianapolis, but we didn't know that this concert in Bloomington would be the last of their tour, the last of their school year, and Annah's last ever with the choir. So grateful for these moments and this evening!!!
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The GU choir's concert was at the Benton family's church in Bloomington this evening, and Joyce planned their dinner. She invited our whole family, but Caeden and Sylvia had musical rehearsal, and Jeremy was throwing a pizza party for the junior high wrestling team in place of their last practice before IESA State, which was canceled yesterday by the hosting university because of the pandemic. I really enjoyed visiting with Annah, Ryan, Allison, Ashley, Bree, JiWon, and Abi during supper. There was a lot of love and laughter being shared.
I loved the choir's song to thank the host church for their dinner.
After eating, the choir changed into their concert attire and did a little rehearsing in the sanctuary. The Cornerstone Christian High School Concert Choir joined them for a few pieces.
Lexie, the GU Choir president, conducting Holy, Holy, Holy
Professor Park is not only the choir's accompanist, but teaches class piano, and this semester is Annah's Music Theory/Aural Skills 2 professor. She is very sweet and funny.
As the choir gathered in singing, their love for one another was so beautiful.
At times this school year, with the difficulties of the Music Education degree program being cut, Annah has wondered if she chose the wrong school. These people and relationships are why God put her at Greenville this year. They have encouraged and supported her and undoubtedly will be lifelong friends!
These songs and shared moments of making music are forming a beautiful part of Annah's life experience.
Bree was Annah's R.A. first semester, and the first person we met on move-in day last August.
Andrea lives on the same hall as Annah, and they have been such good emotional support for one another!
We met Marissa and her family in November of 2018 when she and Annah happened to be auditioning at GU on the same day. We visited with them at Olivet when the girls both sang in the district 3 ILMEA choir that same November, and February of 2019 when the girls were competing and interviewing for the President's Day Scholarship. Marissa is in most of Annah's classes and has become such a dear friend to her.
Annah has LOVED getting to share college and more music experiences with Allison!
After rehearsing, the choir had a short break before the concert.
Annah sat on Ryan's lap for a moment, and Allison and Ashley thought it was a great idea!
I tried to record much of the concert, but didn't want to be too distracting with my camera and tripod. Some trouble focusing at times, but hopefully the sound comes across. It was a beautiful concert, and so special for Allison and Annah to sing at home.
We were so blessed by friends who came to the concert to see and hear Annah's choir. Grandma Sandi was there, Tracie and Tom with the girls and Miles, Ridgeview friends Tyler and Adam, and the girls' first violin teacher that we haven't seen in years--Ruthie and 3 of her kids!
It was a beautiful evening, and such a moving concert. The choir really poured out the love of Jesus all over everyone in the audience. Everyone was moved. So, SO blessed.
The Greenville University Choir visited Ridgeview High School today and had a really cool choral exchange!
As the HS choir came into the gym for their regular class time Dr. Wilson, warmed up both choirs and the GU choir demonstrated physical movements that go along with their warmups.
(Mr. Marchese brought his study hall in to observe and took this cool picture of both choirs from up in the top of the bleachers.) A few other teachers and administrators came to observe, and Jeremy and I were happy to be there to watch as well.
Ridgeview choir sang 3 of the pieces they're working on for the GU choir.
Then Midnight Blues sang a song:
Then the Greenville Choir sang.
It was neat to see Ridgeview alumni featured in some of these. In the second song, Arise My Soul, Annah played her violin.
In the third song, Jesus Christ the Apple Tree, (which is the GU Chamber Singers), Annah is the soloist at the beginning and end.
Allison sang the solo on God So Loved so beautifully, I couldn't hold back my tears any longer.
Here is the playlist of some of the GU choir songs:
To end their time singing, the choirs combined to sing The Lord Bless You and Keep You.
The GU Choir stayed to eat lunch at Ridgeview, and both choirs crammed in the choir room with their lunches and visited! It was a pretty cool exchange!
Annah is on tour with the Greenville University Choir during her entire spring break. They started with a concert Friday night in Edwardsville, then did 3 in Indiana, back to Illinois, including a day in Chicago, concerts in Geneva and Rockford, then they headed our way.
I love this photo of Annah singing with the choir that they used on their social media this week.
When the choir was in Geneva, they were napping in a church in the afternoon, and all of a sudden Annah found Addie waking her and Allison up! What a nice surprise! Addie had musical rehearsal in Aurora that evening, so couldn't attend their concert, but she came to visit them and watch their rehearsal in the afternoon. They were so thrilled to get to see her!
The choir has been staying with host families from the churches they're singing at, other than the night they stayed in a hotel in Indianapolis. They are working hard to stay healthy, and are enjoying their time traveling and singing!
