Capital City Children's Chorus RSS Feed

October 25, 2011

10/25/2011 12:00:00 AM

Parents & Singers,

We have a lot of food leftover! Tonight beginning at 5:15 we will be serving Chili, Hot Dogs, Chili Dogs and Chips with a drink for the CCCC and CCYC. Have dinner on us tonight!!

Sadly, Zesto is closed for the next 4 months. If you still have Zesto Cards, Zesto Money or Both in your possession please turn them in now! Mr Newman would like everything returned asap so he can finalize it all. Please return your cards and money in an envelope clearly marked with your name. No Name, No Credit. You can give it to Julie OR place it in the drop box near the entrance at the Masonic Temple.

Keep selling Poinsettia's. Turn them in No Later Than November 3rd.

Reminder: Pictures are Sunday November 6. Be on the front steps of the Capitol Bldg at noon sharp! ******************************************************************************************

You might be wondering what we've been doing in CCCC/CCYC for the past 2 months! This year Mrs. Newman introduced a new theory lesson. We are teaching them to read music folks! We've brought in an overhead projector and screen so we can begin learning theory as a group. And it isn't easy! The kids are quizzed and put on the spot but in the end the result will be a group of 70 musicians that can read their music efficiently. Last week each chorister was given a test on what they have learned so far. I am pleased to report that most of them did very well, missing on 1 or 2, some none at all!!!! That's proof! They are all so smart and learning! Please be asking your child what they have been learning in Music Theory!

We've begun rehearsing Christmas Music. We have 3 performances prior to our Christmas Concert and 2 after. It is imperative that all CCCC and CCYC members try to make their rehearsals. When they are gone it's so hard for them to make up what they've missed out on and it sets the whole choir back. We're a team and it takes all their voices!

Dates to Remember

10/25/2011 12:00:00 AM

October 31- ccyc will have rehearsal from 3:15-5:15 For this day only

Nov. 3- Poinsettia orders are due

Nov 8- 5:30 CCCC Board Meeting

Dec. 2- Dakota Club Christmas Party Performance

Dec. 10- 10:00-12:00 am Christmas Concert Rehearsal at the United Methodist Church

Dec 10 12:00-12:30 Singers will need a sack lunch as they will stay at the church to eat.

Dec. 10 1:00 singers will depart from church and travel to Casey Tibbs Rodeo Center for performance

Dec 11 Call time 5:30 Christmas Concert

Dec 11 6:30 Christmas Concert

Dec 13 Noon Performance at Capitol Rotunda

Dec 17-9:00-2:00pm Mall Bake Sale and Performance

Dec. 20- 3:30 Performance at the Golden Living Center
4:00 Christmas Party Movie

Fall Festival, Governor's Hunt, Poinsettia's, Program Book, and Zesto-OH MY!!!!!!

10/11/2011 12:00:00 AM

I can't even believe that it is already October 11 2011!!!! We already into month 2 of the new chorus season!

2 things that we have coming up real soon are the Fall Festival and the Governor's Hunt.

On October 22 beginning at 1pm we will be holding our 2nd annual Fall Festival. This year it will be at the Community Youth Involved Center in Ft. Pierre. For many reasons I am extremely pumped about the FF. For one, this event all began with an idea I had written down in a notebook not intending for anyone to see. From there it became this huge fun event last year that raised almost $4000 for the CCCC/CCYC! I can still see the crazy amount of cars in the parking lot out at Beastrom's last year. My hopes are that by bringing this event to town and indoors it will be even BIGGER than last year! Also, for an extra fee the center cleans up for us. That is HUGE in itself, don't you think;) It'll be warmer this year!

Beginning at 5:30 for those of us who have volunteered to work the Governor's Hunt dinner at the Ramkota, we will be serving wine and refilling water glasses. It should be over by 9:00 and by helping out our organization will have made another $500.

I do want to mention that the Board of Directors made the decision that all the proceeds for this night both the FF and the Gov. Hunt will go to the General Fund/General Touring Fund. This will still ALL greatly benefit your singers personally bc we will be needing to charter a bus for our performance on January 20th to Sioux Falls for the ACDA Convention. We also, due to the rising number of choristers this year, need to purchase a few new uniform pieces and new music as well. We did dig DEEP into the archives for some great music we can use this year. But it is still always necessary to purchase new, fresh pieces to perform as well.

Poinsettia Sales begin today! The sheets will be handed out AND emailed to all choristers.

Program Book Business ads and Friends/Family ads are due on Thursday the 13th!

Zesto Money is due on October 20th! Zesto will be closing for the winter season on October 23rd!

Poinsettia Sales are over and orders need to be turned in by October 25th.

I "think" that is all for now but please always feel free to email text or call Barb Newman or Julie Myers with any questions regarding CCCC or CCYC. We are always available. Also I keep the calendar updated at www.capitalcitychildrenschorus.com so if you are uncertain whether we have choir or what time, you will always be able to find out right there!

Thanks! JM

www.dustofwarmovie.com

8/29/2011 12:00:00 AM

Maybe you've heard that theres a war in town.....Dust of War to be exact. What does this have to do with us??? Well, I'm pretty excited about this movie for several reasons. Andrew Kightlinger, Pierre native, Director, Screen Writer AND former,Capital City Children's Chorister! Thats Right! Or how about Brendan Newman, Composer and son of our very own Barb Newman! Or Luke Shuetzle aka Steven Luke former CCCC member,nephew to Choir mom June Larson and cousin to Sydney, CCYC member! We're connected to this flick in numerous ways! This past Saturday and Sunday several of our CCC, CCYC choristers and even some parents laced up their boots and hit the dust for some fun in the sun movie making. We were even told that we could quite possibly have some movie stars in the making! So to all our current choristers: if you were wondering where all your hard work might lead you someday???? It just might lead you to being the Composer of a feature film one day, or a director or a producer or a screen writer......you never know! Never stop dreaming!

What you missed Tuesday August 23- Part 1

8/25/2011 12:00:00 AM

WELCOME Families to the 2011-2012 and 19th Chorus Season! We are extrememly excited about this year. The fact that this is No.19 for the CCCC, is just the very tip of fun things to come this year.

If you were not able to make the annual parent meeting on Tuesday August 23 here's what you missed:

This year we held two separate auditions/registrations as a way to drum up more interest in our choir AND especially more interest in MUSIC. Despite our efforts in May our number of enrollments were down from the previous year and the previous year down from the year before that. You know what that means? Possibly one or several reasons. On the forefront for this year, I am sure, is the hardship our community has been facing this summer, the flood. With that comes all kinds of financial burdens. Or maybe it's for health reasons. Or maybe it's more often we are not placing the gift of music as a value.We see this in our schools as budget cuts are faced, and music is the 1st to go. With that knowledge our organization becomes even more important that ever. Despite budget cuts within the schools we are able to offer a top notch musical education to all children in grades 3-12. A top notch muscial education they keep FOREVER, passing it on from generation to generation. It's my belief and hopes to share that this is one part of education that would be impossible to place a monetary value on, its priceless.

Fair Share Tuition-If you are not new to our organization then you know we already do this. We allow our singers to fundraise for all or part of their tuition. And we have many opportunities to fundraise throughout the chorus season. Somehow we had to get the word out. We're an affordable organization bc we allow you to name the price you afford to pay up front, by semester or monthly, then fundraise the rest. On top of this, we also offer scholarships based on grant money we receive during the year. Choir could possibly be at no cost for some.
It's important for our organization to know either way, as soon as possible, because we count on our pledges to keep our organization running. But the bottom line is this: As an organization NOBODY is ever excluded because they can't afford to pay. With this knowledge, I hope you take all the information you have gained right here back to anyone who has a child in grades 3-12 who wants to enrich their child's life with the the gift of music.

Travel
Its Not a Secret-we had a fabulous time in Ireland. Next year will be a milestone season for the CCCC as we will be celebrating 20 Years of enriching the lives of children through music! We want it to be big! So even though a trip has not yet been announced we want you to know that our 20th Season will be HUGE. Start making plans! We are putting together a commitee of dedicated parents and patrons to make sure this trip will be affordable and possible for us all! If you are interested in having a voice join us!

Calendar of Events
Amazingly enough we managed to put together a calendar of events for items we have planned for the year up to this point. I have updated everything on the web calendar as well. Please not that we have 2 events coming up right away in Spetember.

September 1 Prgram book sales begin. I hand out folder on this day.
September 12 Pizza Ranch fundraiser Sign Up to work! All choristers are elgible and encouraged to work bussing tables if they can and we also need 1 parent for the 5:00 shift and 1 parent for the 6:00 shift to chaperone. thanks!

What you missed Tuesday August 23-Part 2

8/25/2011 12:00:00 AM

If you weren't able to make the annual parents meeting this year here's what you missed!

Parent Booster Club
In an effort to help our organization run more smoothly and keep all families involved we are re-introducing the Parent Booster Club. On Tuesday, we directed those that were present to our sign up sheets for "special" areas within the club. Though there are many different roles one can play within our organization Seanna-Chorus Administrator, had asked me which areas I felt were most important right now. The areas and amount of parents we still need to sign up are as follows: Historian-1, Librarian-1,Uniforms-4, Reception-2, Advertising-4, Fall Festival-6.

Uniforms- I feel this commitee is extremely important to get started as soon as possible because the singers have a possible performance coming up on October 1. June Larson and Jody White are taking the lead to organize the purchase of our new garment bags that we will provide to keep our pricey uniforms safe at home and at travel time for both CCCC and CCYC. We need 4 more parents, 2 from CCCC and 2 CCYC, to volunteer to organize the uniforms according to size, measure and/or fit all singer, and assign uniforms. I will need this done asap as I had trouble doing it myself last year.Historian- assist Michelle Lees in keeping track of pictures,programs, event and/or trip memorbila. This commitee will also have access and be in charge of updating our photo sharing site as well as creating a photo book(shutterfly or similar site) of the current year events for possible purchase by other chorus families.

Librarian- assist Julie Schnettler in organizing, alphabetizing,boxing etc currently 19 years worth of music. We have a storage closet on the lower level of the Masonic Temple. Members of this commitee will help us to keep everything organized throughout the year as well as assisting us after concert and at the end of the season.

Historian- assist Michelle Lees in keeping track of pictures,programs, event and/or trip memorbila. This commitee will also have access and be in charge of updating our photo sharing site as well as creating a photo book(shutterfly or similar site) of the current year events for possible purchase by other chorus families.

Receptions-We need 2 more possibly a husband/wife combo to help the Houdyshell's plan,organize and set up the receptions we have after our concerts in the Winter and Spring.

Advertising- we need 4 more individuals to volunteer to hang and distribute advertising for concerts and events

Fall Festival- 6 more individuals for a total of 10 are needed to help execute the CCCC Fall Festival tentatively scheduled for October 29th. With the flooding this year this event which would be it's 2nd Annual, could potentially be HUGE for us. I personally along with Pam Dravland head up this commitee and have done a majority of the planning. We have lots of items left over from last year. Join us and lets make this a family fun event!

If you are able to help and take lead in any of these areas please stop in to choir during ours of operation OR email me at cccc.webmaster@live.com OR call/text 605.220.2940

Attendance-
To Keep our kids safe just like last year I ask that you please contact either Mrs N or I if your singer is going to be gone from rehearsal. We recognize that our singers are all involved in several activities. If I know that your child is "supposed" to be at choir if they don't show up I know to contact you and look for them right away!
If we know they aren't going to be at rehearsal as soon as you can possibly inform us it is easier for Mrs N. to plan her lesson for that time and make the time most efficient for all singers. We really work as a team, many of our singers depend on the others, to learn their parts. If your singer isn't at choir and you haven't notified us ahead of time, expect to hear from me;) Our music is sometimes extremely complicated at Mrs N's dicretion if you have missed 5 or more rehearsals unexcused you might not perform.

Unlike last year the CCYC will not be able to make up their chorus day at the CCCC time slot or vice versa. This year we have 2 completely separate chorus's and they will not be performing the same music or learning the same lessons at the same levels. CCYC will have 2 separate rehearsal days which will be needed to prepare their advanced level repertoire. We will work theory on Monday when we have 3 instructors available. If for some reason a singer is unable to attend on Monday or misses their theory lesson for the week they will be notified on an individual basis to make other arrangements. ALL choristers are required to learn music theory because it is important and helps make them a better singer. Please encourage your child in this area too.

CCCC- Tuesday 3:15-5:15

CCYC Monday 5:00-7:15 (theory lesson included in this rehearsal)
Thursday5:00-7:15

Thats a wrap! Lets make this another incredible season!

Music=Life ( Thanks Jen Kanz and Hot Topic -I love that)

August 16, 2011

8/16/2011 12:00:00 AM

I'm really excited that the new chorus season is about to begin! Barb and I have been busy brainstorming for the upcoming year. I love getting to see all the kids and can't wait to hear about their summer vacations!

We always get some great feedback from our singers as to which songs they enjoyed performing. I think we can all agree that our spring concert in May was a lot of fun. We added a new twist to some oldies but goodies! Well, at least the kids "thought" they were old....for me they were yesterday.

For this new season we are changing things up a bit with the addition of the 3rd grade to the CCCC. And we are actually going to have 2 separate choirs this year. The CCCC will sing and perform much of their own music. You will be able to see how much these young singers, some who have no musical background, have learned! ITs one thing to be told they are learning. But it is so amazing when you actually HEAR it. With that will possibly come some more challenging music for the CCYC. I know our talented singers are up for that challenge as they have been put on the spot before. I watch them practice every week. I see them continually improve. I see each and every one of them grow and learn. I am proud of them all for their hard work and dedication. Because learning some of this music and completing some of these theory assignments are no easy task!!!!

You might have heard about our new Fair Share tuition. Though we are titling it "NEW" and "FAIR SHARE" in reality this is nothing new to the CCCC. A while back we implemented the Touring AND Tuition accounts where you could fund raise for traveling OR use it to pay your tuition. While we were preparing for Ireland we bombarded everyone with tons of fund raising opportunites but not ALL members were able to attend the tour-me included. Those that didn't go to Ireland were able to either a) use it to pay their tuition or b) save it as a carry over year to year and use it to go on a tour a different time. In fact in May 2010 we performed with the South Dakota Symphony in Sioux Falls for an evening and a day. Some touring accounts were accessed for that short trip.

The biggest thing is that for some reason we have this reputation for being a group that not all can afford to be a part of or join. This isn't true! We have quite a lot of opportunity to fund raise throughout the chorus season and every one of those are open to all chorus members. But in the last few years the numbers have been down and the #1 reason I have received for singers not joining or not returning has been cost. We count on tuition to keep our choir running but without voices we don't have a choir. I think sometimes we forget the real reason why this special lady, Barb Newman, envisioned a children's choir and made it happen way back in 1993. She wanted to give children a 1st class musical education, one that they would receive nowhere else, she saw a need for it, and now today 19 years later OUR children are benefitting from that little dream of hers. She shares her love for music with us all! Hopefully by explaining to others that aren't as familiar with our choir that we are a choir for all kids and all kids deserve to benefit from the teachings of Mrs N we will start to bring in more singers or peak the interest of more! By giving the same program we've already had in place a name and an explanation of how it works to the public instead of just the families already within the chorus, we will hopefully keep growing!

I look forward seeing you all next week!

What's Happening 4.1.2011

4/1/2011 12:00:00 AM

April already? I can't believe that our Ireland Tour has come and gone. It's been almost 2 weeks since the group returned!

Our shutterfly page @ www.cccc1993.shutterfly.com has over 1300 pictures in the Ireland album! That is so wonderful! Honestly looking at the pictures you will feel like you are RIGHT there because the pictures are so clear and bright with tons of detail. The ones that have been loaded are by different families so even though you are seeing the same things they are from different perspectives and that is so cool!

I know that many of you have not ever visited this photo sharing site. The password is cccc if you haven't been there or been there in awhile and want to visit. You can leave comments or suggestions and I invite you to do so. Also if you would like to share this site with family contact me webmaster@capitalcitychildrenschorus.com with their email address and I'll add them for you!

Save The Date
A concert date has been set for Thursday May 26th at the the Community Bible Church. This, my friends, will be a concert you should be sure NOT to miss. The community will once again be invited and I have hopes that this will be a show to remember!

I know spring sports are starting up. Track, Baseball, Soccer etc. If your singer is involved in any spring sport or activity I would like to remind you about notifying us of such, so that we are aware. There are quite a few who never call me or Mrs. Newman to let us know of absences and some we haven't seen in a month or more. If these sports are interferring with your singers ability to show up for our rehearsals we need to know about it. Your singer isn't just 1 voice of many....to make the sound that we are becoming known for, it takes MANY voices. Each and every one of our choristers are special and important to us. Time is coming for us to JOIN the 2 choirs so we can learn our spring concert numbers. The kids have a huge part in this because they have hand picked most of what they will be performing. The performances will include choreography! For those of you who have dancers: You wouldn't send your dancer off to their recital this spring without having learned their dance...right? Let us know so that we can try to fit our rehearsals in somewhere!

Other DATES to REMEMBER

-Saturday April 30th Luthran Memorial Mother/Daughter Tea 12:00pm

What's Happening February 20. 2011

2/20/2011 12:00:00 AM

Our unofficial totals from the fundraisers on Friday February 18, 2011, simply stated……TOTALLY ROCKED( see what happens when I spend so much time around our kids,ha)! Though there might be a GAZILLION ( slight exaggeration) things I would do differently with the Schwans Fundraiser this one all by itself pulled in over $1000!! Most of that will go to individual touring accounts with a few of the walk on sales going to the General Operating Fund. Thank you, thank you, thank you, to everyone who helped make it successful! I know the kids are anxious to find out whose team won the contest and which chorister won for his or her individual sales. I will try to have that information on Tuesday! So make sure to ask your chorister if they have NEWS!

The Walking Taco Sale on Friday Evening was a big success too! We had many people hungry for tacos before we ever began setting up! We also had a steady flow all evening and at the end we only had 12 bags of 1oz chips left out of 250! After we pay our expenses I am hoping to be able to put another $500-600 into the General Operating Fund. Again this would never have been successful without all the amazing help we had to pull it off. Hats off to all the parents and singers, whether you helped us work, run for items or just came and ate! I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate you for everything you do! That’s why I love being a part of this organization.

I also can’t tell you how proud I am of our singers! Once again they were absolutely AMAZING! I stood up on top and videoed them from above. The video turned out so/so but doesn’t come anywhere close to showing how AWESOME they truly are. Hearing them each week, I was never so sure they’d pull off what they did until they came together in the gym on Friday afternoon. Parents -our singers work so hard every week and they don’t truly know what they are all capable of until we have a performance. They have that good feeling of butterflies as they are lining up and walking out with ALL eyes on them. They sing just like they do every week (so they think, I think they sing even better) and then when they finish the crowd rises and applauds loudly for 2 minutes, ALL FOR THEM! I am always so incredibly proud and equally as excited for them! Ask Mrs Newman- I ran down the steps as they were coming off the gym floor. Cheering for them! They nailed it! Everybody in the audience including you-parents- got to see what Mrs N and I see the kids working hard for every week! When our choristers show up and we come together as a TEAM this is what comes out of it! It pays off 100 fold and the kids have something to strive for. That’s what we are talking about! Though coming to choir for many of these kids is just another activity they are a part of, they have an amazing talent that will stay with them for all their lives. You may never know just how much this choir means to Mrs Newman but I think I have more of clue now than I did before. She’ll never tell us, no,I am guessing she will never say a word,not like this anyway. But I will. We are the lucky ones that benefit from Mrs Newman’s amazing ability to teach our children Beautiful music. 18 short years ago she had an idea and came together with Mrs. Beemer and Mrs. Lindbloom to form what we are today-The Capital City Children & Youth Chorus. Stand TALL and be proud each and every time you walk through our door because you are a member of a 1^st class elite group of musical talent!

I have really enjoyed getting to know all the kids. Its so neat watching them as they learn and master a really difficult piece of music. Thank you so much for bringing them!

Julie

What's Happening February 1 2011

2/2/2011 12:00:00 AM

Its hard to believe that a month has already passed us by in the new year! What’s exciting is that next month we go to Ireland! While we anxiously await our tour we still have a tremendous amount of work to do. Those singers who are going on this trip have made a commitment to our team. With only a hand full of rehearsals left before we leave you can appreciate our need for these practices in order to know our repertoire and know it well! Even though we are using pieces that we have already learned and performed in the past (at Christmas) we are still struggling. We understand that our kids are involved in all different kinds of activities not just choir but by not being present for the Ireland rehearsals it is really doing a dis-service to the entire team. We will be traveling with less then half our choir and it is proving difficult to sing these pieces without all their voices which they count on. Each and everyone of our choristers ARE important and it does make a difference when they aren’t there. Mrs Newman has given the kids her expectations. Parents be asking your choristers how they are doing with their memorization and if they are ready to sing for her on Sunday!

Be watching for an announcement from Mrs. Newman regarding an extra rehearsal for Ireland on Friday February 18^th.

RESPECT was the theme Tuesday February 1^st for both groups. It is quickly becoming an issue with singers getting up in the middle of song or instruction to walk around or leave altogether. When this happens it is really a disruption to the entire group. CCCC begins promptly at 3:30 pm and ends at 5:00 pm. CCYC begins promptly at 5:30 pm and ends at 7:30 pm. In order to end promptly we have to make it through our one time a week we have as a group, with little disruption . Singers have been instructed that if they must be excused before Group is over they must notify Mrs. Newman BEFORE we begin. If no notification is made the singers are asked to remain in their seats until excused by Mrs Newman. Parents that are coming in to pick up their children are asked to please wait patiently (unless it’s an emergency, of course) so that we can complete our song or instruction as a whole. We have asked the kids to not bolt out of their seats when they see their parents come in unless they’ve told us ahead of time they have to be excused early in this instance as well. We thank you kindly for this as we attempt to continue your choristers excellent music education.

MUSIC THEORY MATTERS! We still have quite a few choristers that are well behind where they should be for music theory. Many of our 3 and 4^th year choristers are still working on Book 1(5 parts). Mrs Newman has set a standard for us to complete 5 pages per week. While we’d love for singers to take their books home and finish up if they are unable to do it in the given hour they are not bringing their books back. If they should forget their books music theory is not a social hour.It isn't fair to them, their team, Mrs Newman or I. Encourage your singer to do their best and remember to bring all their tools. Music theory provides your singer with the ability to read the sometimes complicated pieces our team is well- known to perform. I teach all 3 theory times on Wednesday(during Legislature session) while we are both their on Thursday. We have smaller groups that day so if you know your singer could benefit from the smaller group bring them Wednesday. They get one on one assistance and just ask them-they don’t get their answers for free- I make them work for it! All of our singers are capable!

Schwans Fundraiser-Check your email for details regarding this fundraiser that began on February 1^st and will run for the next 2 weeks! The winning team gets a pizza party and gaming fun at the Muze in downtown Pierre! AS an added incentive the top sales person overall will also get a special prize! So lets get our game on and have some fun!

Dates to Remember: Thursday,February 10th @ 6:30 Mandatory Parents Meeting for Ireland trip. Gateway Travel Representative will be present to answer questions.
Also if your chorister needs to exchange any part of their formal plaid attire please bring it with you. Julie will be present to assist you.

Wednesday, February 16th all Schwans orders must be entered.
Friday, February 18th Schwans order pick up, Walking Taco Feed, National Anthem Sing @boys basketball game

Thx Julie