Mr. H retirement

My high school choir teacher, Mr. H, retired this year. At the final Madrigal concert, many of the alumni took to the stage and raised our voices in tribute of this wonderful teacher and friend!

This is what I shared on Instagram. It sums up my feelings pretty well so I won't belabor you with more words.

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During warm-ups, Mr. H would give each section a note to sing. Then he would modulate the chord, pointing to sections to move up or down, augmenting and diminishing, moving through chord progressions. It was not lost on me, the ability for one part to change the entire chord. 

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Sometimes we would stand in a circle, mixed parts, holding hands, eyes closed. I learned to stand on my own and sing my own part while surrounded by those singing something different. I found that music sounded deeper, fuller, more beautiful, when we stood outside our section and blended. 

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Thank you, Mr. H, for being a great teacher, friend and example. And also teaching me not just to love music but to feel music. Happy retirement!

Every end-of-year madrigal concert ends with the song "You Are the New Day" arranged by the King Singers. Past madrigal members join together on stage for the number because we have all learned the song. 

This year, the crowd was enormous!

Then the past madrigals sang "For Good" from the Broadway show Wicked. It was very emotional.

So here is the shorter version of the songs we sang.

They also made a book for Mr. H and this is the letter I wrote to him. The Instagram post is a shorter version of this. 

Mr. H-

I always thought I was an imposter in the Madrigal choir, having earned my spot not because I had an amazing voice but because I knew notes and theory. I’ve always been grateful I squeezed my way into the choir.

In the Madrigal choir I first learned to feel music. I remember you giving each section a note to sing and then modulating chords, pointing to sections to move up or down, augmenting and diminishing, moving through chord progressions. It was not lost on me, the ability for one part to change the entire chord and the meaning that has outside the classroom.

I remember standing in a circle, in mixed parts, eyes closed, holding hands and having to stand on my own and trust myself to sing my part surrounded by those singing something different. The result was that the music sounded better when we stood outside our section and blended together. What a powerful life lesson!

Some of my favorite songs my choir sang were “And So It Goes,” “My Love Loves Me,” “What Sweeter Music” as well as “Chooka Train,” “It Don’t Mean a Thing”. Each of these songs, in their own way, helped me learn that music is more than notes and theory. Music is a conduit to emotion that is unique, individual and unifying.

Thank you for not stopping. Thanks for pushing through the difficult years. Thanks for choosing amazing music. Thanks for believing in.a group of crazy kids year after year. Thank you for high expectations. Thank you for being YOU! Because you made a difference!

Stake Music Festival

I love directing our ward choir. We have fantastically talented and dedicated choir members.

Every year, our stake puts on a Stake Music Festival. And every year we have so much fun preparing and singing. This year, we out-did ourselves.

I got a crazy idea to do a Moana song.

"We Know the Way."

And then I decided to add drums.

And then I decided to add dancers.

And then I decided to add a real-life Maui (Bro. Sika)

Camille was one of the dancers. Parker and Sydney were in the choir.

We kind of were amazing!

The video begins with our sacred song (Father, Be My Guide) and then our secular song (Moana) and then Moana again from a different angle)

Some of my favorite things from this experience:
* I loved including the youth both as dancers and singers.
* I loved hearing only the youth sing this solo section of the song:
"We are explorers reading every sign.
"We tell the stories of our elders in a never-ending chain."
* I loved including non-member, Rory, to help with the music. Seeing as how he is a fantastic, experienced, music-industry musician afterall.
* I loved including the drums and that this gave Jordan the perfect excuse to buy a gigantic drum he's always wanted.
* I loved that everyone was so willing to come to extra practices and go the extra mile. 
* I LOVE MY CHOIR!

Harvest Choir

These cute girls had the best time car-pooling all year back and forth to choir this year. Their final choir concert was so delightful. 

Nice job, girls!

Harvest Choir Christmas concert

Rachel has been in the Harvest Elementary school choir. The Singing Hawks. Their Christmas concert was perfect!

Here are two of our favorite songs:

The Spirit of the Season

Deck the Halls Medley

Other songs from the concert

plus a cool house light display

plus me on the harp

Stake Fall Choir Festival

So proud of our ward choir and their efforts in preparing for the Stake Fall Choir Festival

God Loved Us, So He Sent His Son 

Kiss the Girl

(might want to watch the couple in the middle)

 

Hawkapella

Sydney has enjoyed being the audition acapella choir at school this year. At least I think she's enjoyed it. I know I have. 

For the last concert of the year, they get to perform pop songs, which is so fun and a nice change from the more classical sorts of things they do for competitions during the year. And this concert was the best I have ever heard the choir perform. The videos don't do it justice.

You can't really see Sydney in any of the pictures or video because she made sure she stayed in the back. The little stinker. ...

I think this first song was called "Mad Love."

The next song was "Rather Be" and then "Hello" by Adele.

Here are short clips of the songs.
(On the last song, you can catch a glimpse of Syd on the middle row on the left. There are two girls in blue, then a gray shirt girl with dark hair, then Syd in a gray shirt.)

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They ended the concert by singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. They did a great job. It looked like a lot of fun!

Bohemian Rhapsody video:

It was a great year. And now she takes a break. She did not register for choir for her Sophomore year. She's expanding her horizons and trying art!

Spanish-Arts-Choir

The kids have really had the opportunity to show off some of their talents lately. Rachel had her Spanish Immersion program called La Fiesta. Each grade performed a song and Rachel's grade did a song about the different animals on the farm. She was a cat.

And in the end, is a tractor!

Rachel did a great job. I am so glad she is involved in this program. It introduces a great deal of cultural diversity to our lives, which is sometimes missing in our wasatch front life. 

Parker has been hard at work in his art class at school. This was the cover to his portfolio. I'm not sure what the chicken drumstick is about. I'll have to ask. Maybe he's just hungry all the time?

This is a drawing of his dream room.

And also, he loves drawing dragons!

When he isn't carving or showing off what he made in his wood working lathe club after school.

Sydney had the opportunity to show off the songs her choir, the Hawkapellas, learned and competed with in the Music Festival this year. 

Her favorite song was "Loch Lomond" and for good reason. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good shot of her face. She is at the end of the top row. Also unfortunately, I missed the first part of the song and missed the last note. Duh. I'm not sure what happened there, darn it.

This was the choir's best performance ever. Seriously, it was.

End of School events

Looking back at these pictures, I feel like I should re-title this post to be Sydney's end of school events. And I guess that's ok, because once you hit Jr. High, life gets busy and you're involved in so many different activities, there are more experiences to keep track of. 

Anyway, let's recap...

Sydney received an award at school for having a 4.0 for the entire year. She received the same award last year too. Here she is with her principal, Dr. Stewart. I'm so proud of her.

I'm awfully proud of her friends as well. They were all awarded as well. I'm so grateful for such a good group of girls Sydney chooses to surround herself with.

Sydney and Sterling participated in a Young Women's Pinewood Derby. It's about time the girls get to use that derby track! I can't remember exactly what was going on that evening, but I do know that Sterling had to skip a meeting and then arrived just in the nick of time. He would and does jump through all sorts of hoops for his kids. That's a dedicated, loving dad for you, right there, in living color.

And then there was the choir concert. Sydney was part of the Songbird group, which is an all girl, audition choir. Next year she will be in the Hawk-apellas, the top audition choir at the school. A couple of friends also made the group. Anyway, the final choir is always a pop concert and is so fun. The kids are also able to try-out for solo numbers between the choir numbers. The solo numbers are so entertaining and really showcases how awkward the jr. high years are. Priceless. We were so lucky to have G'ma and G'pa join us. 

This last semester, Sydney took a foods class. On the last day of school we benefited from all her learning. Sydney made us Crepes with Banana Brule. It was delicious. 

And nothing says end of the school year like Rachel's reading chart for May. Zero minutes out of 330. She read, we just didn't record it. And you know what, I don't feel bad about it at all. That's how we roll!

Just a couple of more things. Hash made a Tardis with his legos. That made me happy!

Also, I went to LDStorymakers conference. It was fantastic. I learned so much and had a great time. I met up with this wonderful lady (Amy Wilson) who was in my morning group last year at the WIFYR conference.

Jessilyn Peaslee was my security blanket and came with me. We had a great time. Jess's first book, Ella, is coming out in December. I'm so happy for her.

May was such a busy month, but a good one too. If May was this busy, what does June have in store?

Random March pictures

Sterling made this beautiful mantel for the fireplace. Then we picked the wrong stain and didn't test it anywhere before applying it. I can't even bear to post a picture of the finished project. It's just so sad. #badstain

There was this day in late February when hundreds of birds descended on our yard. It was amazing. 

Also, I turned this yard into 

these cute little guys.

Rachel is in the dual immersion Spanish program at school. She is learning so much and doesn't seem to mind that half her day is in a language she is just beginning to understand. The Spanish program had a "Fiesta" program where each grade performed a song and dance. 

Notice what Rachel does with her feet during the big group song. What a little turkey!

Sydney likes to take lots of selfies. I always find lots on my phone. I think she's beautiful!

For Christmas, we gave my parents tickets to the Utah Symphony's performance of Peter and the Wolf. Which is funny because my brother, in Texas, also gave my parents tickets to the Utah Symphony for Christmas. But not the same performance. Anyway, I remember listening to Peter and the Wolf growing up and going to the family series with my siblings when we were younger. I loved it. So this was very sentimental to go to Abravanel Hall (or "a boring hall") with my own children and my parents. 

Sydney's school choir (the Songbirds) had a concert and they were fantastic. Especially for a Jr. High school choir.

You need to make sure you notice the stare-down Syd gives the camera during the last song. Classic!

Every once in a while, Syd gets to the temple with friends!