Choir Open House Pix

THANKS FOR COMING!!! Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

alicia

CHOIR OPEN HOUSE

Just a reminder there is a choir open house following our rehearsal Sunday, Dec. 18. There will be lots of treats and socializing so plan on hanging around. This is my small way of thanking everyone for the tremendous support and dedication over the past few months as we've prepared songs for Sacrament Meeting and Christmas.

I LOVE my calling and it is mostly because of the wonderful people I get to associate with each week in my home as we sing together.

We'll see you all Sunday and then enjoy your break until we meet again on January 8 at 11:30 am-12:15 pm in my home and start working on EASTER music!!

Thank you for singing with me...

alicia

DOUBLE WOW!

We had the YW come and sing "The World Was Waiting" with the choir last Sunday. The acoustics in my home are pretty amazing and the song was beautiful! I had several choir members tell me they were holding back tears as they sang because of the spirit, message and beauty of the song with the YW and choir singing together. I wish things sounded as lovely in the chapel... it's pretty close.

A reminder about a couple of things:

1. We are having a choir open house immediately following rehearsal THIS Sunday with lots of treats and socializing. My small way of saying thank you for your dedication and support over the last four months.

2. After we sing on Christmas Day, we will take a break until January 8. Our new time will be 11:30-12:15 pm at my home. Our church block begins at 1:00. The nice thing about this schedule is we get to squeeze in an extra practice before we perform. Yay!

Thanks again to all for making the past few months so rewarding for me. The music the choir has provided in the meetings has been inspiring and beautiful and much appreciated.

Thank you for singing with me...

alicia

WOW!

"High On A Mountain Top/True To The Faith" Medley sounded fabulous! I had several different choir members tell me they got chills as they sang it and really loved the "surround-sound" experience. I also heard many, many comments from others on how awesome the choir sounds every time we sing. Thank you for all your effort and hard work to provide a spiritual experience for all of us! We had fewer singing than we've had our last two performances-- 10 sopranos, 14 altos, 6 tenors and 7 basses-- but it still sounded full and wonderful.

I am SO looking forward to our Christmas songs and know you will enjoy singing them as much as I enjoy hearing them.

Thanks for singing with me today... See you next Sunday!

alicia

Fast Sunday Rehearsal

I have actually felt guilty about scheduling a short rehearsal this Sunday since it's Fast Sunday. I promised the choir at the beginning of our time together that I wouldn't schedule rehearsals on Fast Sunday. I feel badly that I'm going back on that promise. But we really need to practice the song we're singing for Ward Conference the following week. Who knew we'd have Ward Conference in November... hasn't it always been in February??? I guess the trickiest part for me has been getting the whole choir at a rehearsal at the same time. We have almost 50 on our roll however we have 30+ come to rehearsals and it's a different 30+ each week! And we always have 40+ perform. I'm always pleased with the numbers, but figure that one out.

Anywho, we're practicing Sunday from 1:30-2:00 and then I'm giving the choir the following week off to ease my conscience.

Hope all 40+ show up to sing with me...

Have you ever wondered...

...what it is about music that can penetrate one's soul? I don't know about you, but there are countless times in my life when beautiful music (sacred or not) has brought me to tears, pierced my heart, caused goosebumps, answered a specific prayer, or helped me feel at peace and pure knowledge of God's love for me. I've been listening to the Tabernacle Choir's latest CD "This Is The Christ" and I am in awe at the feelings those songs enlist in me. I've already chosen three of them for Easter 2012 and can't wait to start rehearsing after the first of the year. I hope you love them as much as I do...

alicia

p.s. I am also publicly apologizing for heckling John last Sunday (even though he was a total distraction to the entire bass section!)

I'm Available!

Just wanted to offer some extra time to go over parts if you're interested... Some people like to record their part so they can practice on their own during the week and other people just need a little more time learning (nothing wrong with that). Anyone is more than welcome to come 15 minutes before choir and stay as long as needed after to work alone on their part with me. If you're struggling at all, PLEASE let me know and lets work on it. I would rather take the extra time to learn the right notes and have you feel confident about singing than have you struggle during rehearsal and be frustrated and not want to come anymore.

I'm available!!! And I want you to thoroughly enjoy singing with me...

alicia

Sounding Great!

Our first performance was fabulous! I was so excited to have 41 choir members on the stand and the sound they produced. Our rehearsal prior to Sacrament Meeting was a bit rough as we sang for the first time in the chapel. My living room has wonderful acoustics but the chapel swallowed our sound that morning and I was worried. However, for the performance everyone focused in, followed me and everything we practiced was flawless. I honestly couldn't have asked for more.

So thank you for once again singing (beautifully) with me!!!

See you in October... We will practice on the 16th and 23rd with a performance of "Prayer of St. Francis" on Oct. 30.

alicia

More New Members!

Today at rehearsal I took the men downstairs to work their parts with the piano and Mary helped the women with Soprano and Alto upstairs. We were only gone 12 minutes (could've used 12 more...) but when I came back every chair was filled! We had 11 new members show up to choir today and we should have over 40 on the stand next week when we sing in Sacrament Meeting. I never thought having a seating arrangement problem would be so exciting!!!

Mary and I have both commented on how much fun we're having and we look forward to choir practice each week. Hope you feel the same way...

Thanks for singing with me!

alicia

p.s. Be in the chapel by 8:30 am next Sunday so we can resolve our "seating arrangement problem"... :p

1st Rehearsal...

We had a stunning 35 people in attendance and several that were sick, out of town or unable to join us. The women are still in the attendance lead with 12 sopranos, 12 altos, 6 tenors and 5 basses.

As I mentioned at the Choir Sampler, my goals for the choir this year are the following:

1. Increase membership and regular attendance.

2. Improve vocal production (quality of sound w/ diction, vowels, blending, phrasing, dynamics, etc.)

3. Increase members' personal joy/love for singing and HAVE FUN!

I am so encouraged! I feel like #1 has already been accomplished and I sure am having fun. The hymn arrangement we'll be singing in a couple of weeks is coming along nicely and everyone has been so focused during our 45 min. rehearsals. We get so much done.

At the end of practice yesterday I stood at the door with BYU and U of U mints. I had 25 of each and asked each choir member to take their choice of school they were cheering for at this week's game. There were exactly 5 left from each school so we're a pretty divided choir.

I'm a BYU alum so I took two...

Choir "Sampler" Success...

We had 33 choir members at today's "sampler."

The breakdown:

22 women (14 new!)

11 men (8 new!)

14 people were out of town or had other commitments that are planning on singing with us!!!

I was very pleased with our turnout and the pieces we "sampled" sounded amazingly good on the first try. We have a lot of talented singers. We were able to sing through almost all of our pieces we'll be performing between now and Christmas and the sight reading was phenomenal.

I am really looking forward to a great experience with all of you! Thanks for being willing, dedicated choir members...

Up and Running...

WELCOME Past/Present/Future North Canyon 6th Ward Choir Members!

I've had a personal blog for 3 years and thought it would be fun to create one for ward choir members including rehearsal information, upcoming performance dates and a place to listen to music we will be singing.

My vision for the ward choir is probably bigger than it should be... I'd LOVE to have 60 members, sing in Sacrament Meeting each month, have smaller groups and sections from within the choir perform regularly as well as learn a few secular pieces to perform at ward events. There are no limits to what we can do.

I'd also like this blog to be a forum where choir members can express themselves, ask me questions, communicate with other choir members, etc.

I am excited about the Ward Choir "Sampler" at my home on Sunday, August 28 at 1:30 pm. I do not have an "ending" time as you are welcome to stay and mingle at the end for as long as you'd like. The choir is as much a social networking opportunity as it is a pooling of talents to share as we perform. I've had a couple of our new members express appreciation at being asked to join as they will now have an opportunity to get to know other ward members that have the same interest as they do as well as surround themselves with a group of new friends.

Please give me any suggestions or comments you think would enhance this experience for you and/or others. I LOVE input.

So glad you've chosen to SING WITH ME!

alicia