A Visit with the Gov'nor

Well, not really--Governor Perdue was not at the Mansion, but here are some highlights from today's Musical Morningside concert:



CLICK HERE for the APS News Release with photos!

NEWS RELEASE
December 17, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Morningside Elementary choir, handbells players bring holiday songs to Georgia governor’s mansion
ATLANTA – Morningside Elementary School brought its “Music of the Season” to
the Georgia Governor’s Mansion Wednesday, delighting scores of visitors that
included a Woodstock seniors group, book club members and a Chinese delegation.
Morningside was one of about 350 Georgia schools that received invitations to
apply to perform in the annual Governor’s Mansion Christmas Tours, through the
Georgia Department of Education and the Georgia Music Educators Association.
The first 48 schools to accept the invitation were included in this year’s program,
provided they had not performed in the mansion during the past three years – part of
an effort to give more schools an opportunity to participate.
Morningside’s chorus opened with the seasonal, “Winter Wonderland,” and
continued with more than a dozen other holiday favorites such as “Jingle Bells,”
“Jingle Bell Rock,” and “Christmas Time Is Here,” as well as “Jubilate Deo,” a Spanish
“Pablo the Reindeer,” the translingual Hanukkah piece, “Ochon Kandelikas” and the
African-American Kwanzaa favorite, “Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow.”
The handbells ensemble performed “Deck the Halls” and “Greensleeves,” while
joining the chorus for joint performances of “Silent Night” and a handful of others. Lily
Guthrie brought down the house with a rousing rendition of Jimmy Buffet’s,
“Christmas Island,” accompanied by dad Jimmy Guthrie on ukulele. Pianist Allie
Schneider went solo on “Pachelbel Canon in D” and “What Child Is This?” Dancers
swayed to Hanukkah lights piece, “Zemer Atik,” accompanied by trumpeter John
Lansing and trombonist Jed Edwards. And soloist Helena Pliszka played the traditional
Russian favorite, “Kalinka,” accompanied by Reilly Blum on violin.

December 2008 Lyrics Sheet

CLICK HERE for the Lyric Sheet!

CLICK HERE to hear "Pablo the Reindeer"

Tribute to Veterans Media

Powerpoint Presentation of Veterans' names


When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, please
include the following:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001

Continuing Appreciation for our Veterans and Troops

If anyone videotaped the concert and can share your footage please let me know! We are missing coverage of the last couple of songs. OR you're welcome to upload your video to youtube or our blogspot for others to see. I would love to post video and photos to send overseas to our troops!

Also, the Bert show on Q100 is having a thank you drive in which anyone can write a short note of thanks to troops overseas. It only takes a minute, and the address is : http://www.bigthankyouproject.com/ You can write as many notes as you wish!

Hooray!

Hi everyone. BIG congratulations on a wonderful Tribute to Veterans. Can you believe all the talent we have at our school? The Band, Orchestra, Handbells, and Chorus were stellar! Kids, you rocked! And I feel certain the Veterans who attended felt honored by your work.

I will say for the millionth time I truly understand how fortunate I am to have such amazing and talented young people to teach and such a strong music program supported by your presence, your parents and funding from PTA and the Boxtops program! BTW Boxtops has raised $7,331 since 2002--a dime at a time thanks to Stephanie Szalkowski and our MES families!

I created a photobucket group so we can share photos from events (Concerts, parades, Star Spangled Banner gigs, etc). If you have any photos to add feel free to! I'll be uploading video and the Tribute to Veterans powerpoint as soon as I can.

Photobucket site

Special thanks to:
My awesome MES Musical Colleagues Susie, Totka, Esther, and Liz (Esther's student teacher)
Our Spanish teachers who allowed students to come to extra rehearsals.
First, Second, and Third graders who created notes to put on our thank you wall.
Kathy Platt and Connie Fish for keeping parents in the loop with communication.
Lori Montgomery for creating and running the powerpoint presentation.
Shari Bell for copying and folding our programs (with help from Beth Gault)
Karen Nagler and Jeff Blum (and some kids) for helping set up all the chairs and carting instruments everywhere.
Stephanie Szalkowski, Angela Parker and others I didn't see for helping with decorations (at short notice).
Parents who helped with chaperone duties, crowd control, and everything else.
All of the parents who helped break down and clean up after the concert and reception(I can't name everyone because I'm sure I'll miss some).
Brian Mobley and Jenny Norman for videotaping the concert (uploads soon).
All of you who are, who invited, or who brought Veterans to the concert!

My plan is to make a page of video, powerpoint, and notes from MES to send to our friends and family members who are Veterans, and to post it online for Veterans to see around the world. I'll let you know when it's all together!

Also, if you still have names of Veterans you'd like to add to the powerpoint send me:
+the service person's name,
+branch of service,
+and then the war or 'theater of war' if they served during war time
+chorus member's name who referred them.


Sincerely and humbly yours,
Brianne Turgeon

Set List and Peace Round

Set List
Dobbins Color Guard presents colors
BAND “You’re A Grand Old Flag”
SPOKEN “Care of US Flag”
"Land That We Love"—Jill Gallina
"Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier" (Revolutionary War)
"The Battle Hymn of the Republic" (Civil War)
HANDBELLS “Stars and Stripes Forever”
“When Johnny Comes Marching Home” (Civil War)
“Sing, Sing, Sing” (World War II)
"Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree" (World War II)
BAND“Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”
"Sentimental Journey" (World War II, Korean War)
"59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" (Vietnam War)
“In My Life” (pre-Vietnam War Era)
POEM “In Flanders Field”
ORCHESTRA “Amazing Grace”
"Peace Round" click for a recording of kids singing!
"Armed Forces—The Pride of America!"



ADVANCED CHORUS--to practice "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" and "Armed Forces, the Pride of America" go to
http://www.jwpepper.com/catalog/lsearch and at keyword type in the title, then click on SSA and Real Player or MP3. The recording should open up and play.

Peace Round
What a lovely thing
if the children of the world
could live together in peace.

Qué lindo sería
si los niños de la tierra
pudieran vivir en PAZ.
Spanish

Quelle belle chose
si les enfants du monde
pourraient vivre dans la PAIX
French

UPDATED 11/2--Announcements for Veteran's Day Concert, November 7th at 6pm in the MES Auditorium

Chorus announcements:

The Chorus uniform is:
1) Chorus, Band, OR Orchestra shirt
2) BLACK full-length pants
3) BLACK socks and closed-toe shoes (no crocs or high-heels, please).


1) CHORUS SHIRTS will be here this week (Nov. 3-7). If you have not sent in payment please do so asap!

2) MUSICAL MORNINGSIDE VETERAN’S DAY CONCERT ‘08
REHEARSALS and CONCERT INFORMATION
Parents, please let me know if your child can not attend the after school rehearsals.

REHEARSAL DURING SCHOOL during SPECIALS/Spanish in the Auditorium:
5th grade:
Friday, November 7th from 8:10-9:35 ALL 5th grade

4th grade:
Friday, November 7th from 9:50-11:15 ALL 4th grade


DAY OF THE CONCERT, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH :
□ Call time will be 4:30pm for final walk-through, warm-up, etc.,
□ Students need to be dressed, coiffed, and ready to begin at 4:30!
□ Parents please do not plan to stay during this time, as we will be putting the final touches on the program.
□ If you prefer to have your child stay after school instead of going home and coming back they are welcome to stay. We can use that time to complete final preparations, spot check words and harmonies, and play music games. Please let me know in advance if your child will be staying, and plan to send a snack and their Chorus uniform for them to change into.

NEEDS for the NOVEMBER 7th CONCERT:
*Send in names and branches of service of any friends and family members (living or deceased) who have served in the Armed Forces, whether they served during war or peace times. These can be placed in my box.

*We need students and parents to invite friends, neighbors, and family members who have served in the Armed Forces to our concert. I will post an invitation on the blog spot soon for you to print and give to veterans.

*To celebrate a wonderful evening of music, we would like to invite everyone to a reception in the Café following the concert. If you plan to attend, would you please contribute the following items:



5th Grade Chorus: Drinks (individual bottles, cans, juice boxes, so no pouring is needed)

4th Grade Chorus: Patriotic themed goodies (red, white or blue cupcakes, cookies, M&Ms. Feel free to be creative)

Hand Bells: Drinks (individual serving)



Please bring your items to the Café before the concert. If you are willing to assist with either set up or clean up, please email Kathy Platt. kplatt 2208@comcast.net.

Veteran's Day Concert Word Sheet

CLICK HERE to access the word sheets. Each song title has a link to the practice files so students can sing along and memorize melodies!

Agenda Information August & September 2008



Week of August 18th
Treble clef--line notes: E G B D F
--space notes: F A C E

Week of August 25th

Write a sentence to remember line notes and space notes IN ORDER:

line notes
E-
G-
B-
D-
F-

space notes
F-
A-
C-
E-


Week of September 1st
Name this patriotic song:

D D R /T- DR/ M M F/ M- RD/ R D T/ D--
S S S /S- FM/ F F F/ F- MR
M FM RD/M- FS/LF M R/D--

Week of September 8th

A good vocal warm-up includes:
1) stretching (body and facial)
2) breathing exercises
3) singing and tuning up
-->Major Scale (D-R-M-F-S-L-T-D)
-->Skips to "Do" (DR, DM, DF...)
4) other warm-up to focus on specific issues
-->vowels/consonants
-->dynamics (loud/soft)
-->tempo (fast/slow, speeding up, slowing down)
-->phrasing/breathing....

Week of September 15th

Advanced Chorus AUDITIONS will be next week before school. Sign up for an audition time on Ms. Turgeon’s door!

Week of September 22nd

For the November 7th Veteran's Day Concert you must choose to do one of the following (performers and non-performers). It DOES count for a test grade.

--write an introduction for a song (due Oct. 29th)
--be a stage hand (non-performers only)
--audition for a solo
--be the M.C./announcer
--conduct
--choreograph
--accompany the Chorus on an instrument

Week of September 29th

Memorize the words to "Armed Forces, the Pride of America" and "Land That We Love". You will have a test over these words next week!

Inman Park Marchers!






Thanks to the kids who came out (or marched up from the band) to sing in the Inman Park Parade! I hope everyone had as much fun as I did! Thanks also to Ms. Scarr and the MES band for letting us march with them!It was a blast!

MES Chorus photos

Important Music Class Links

AGENDA INFORMATION
CLICK HERE for the most updated list of Agenda Information.

GRADING RUBRIC
CLICK HERE for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade Report Card Grading Rubric.

COMPOSER PAPER RUBRIC
CLICK HERE for the requirements, suggestions, and rubric for your composer paper.

GEORGIA MUSIC STANDARDS
CLICK HERE To see the Quality Core Curriculum (QCC) Music Standards for the State of Georgia

ADVANCED and APPRENTICE CHORUS
CLICK HERE and scroll down to hear "The Wind and the Amfalula Tree". It's close to the bottom of the page.

WORD SHEET for SPRING '09
CLICK HERE

Jennifer Higdon Composer Project Photos

During January and February students in Ms. Domningo and Ms. Turgeon's Music and Chorus classes had the opportunity to do a research project on a composer from the ASO's Young People's Concert. Almost 30 students chose to focus on the life and work of Atlanta native Jennifer Higdon. I got to meet Ms. Higdon while she was in town in early March to hear the ASO and Chorus perform and record her work "The Singing Rooms". Ms. Higdon was delighted and honored to hear that so many students were interested in her work. She asked me to tell you hi and she sends her warmest regards. Great work, kids! Now go out and learn about MORE living composers! -Ms. Turgeon

Musical Morningside Survey 2008-2009

Please click below to answer the Musical Morningside Survey!
CLICK HERE