Red Raider Showcase

On November 6th, the middle school and high school choirs performed for a packed house at the Red Raider Showcase. The show was phenomenal, and I highly recommend attending this annual event! I was glad to see current students in the audience and former students in the audience and onstage. It's amazing to see the growth of our kids and the immense amount of talent in Pulaski! Congratulations to the performers and their directors, Mrs. Amy Wright (PCMS) and Ms. Elissa Richardson (PHS), as well as everyone else who helped make the Red Raider Showcase a success.

The Pulaski High School Choirs started off the show with director Elissa Richardson's arranged medley of "Love Runs Out" and "Rumor Has It."

Up next was a student-composed barrel drumming feature (complete with costumes!) titled "A Work in Progress."

The third performance of the night was a self-accompanied vocal solo, "Warrior," by Demi Lovato.

The Treble Choir took the stage to perform "Wings" by Little Mix.

Composer Claude Debussy's piano solo Sunken Cathedral made an appearance.

The PHS Chamber Choir sang a beautiful a cappella Pentatonix song, "Run to You."

Two students choreographed a dance duet to "Everybody Talks" by Neon Trees.

A student sang "Endlessly" by The Cab.

Look at all of these guys! The 7th-12th grade men joined forces to sing "Stand By Me." What a great way to build connections between the middle school and high school programs!

Up next was a vocal solo/dance duet with instrumental accompaniment: "Dear Future Husband" by Meghan Trainor.

The last song before intermission was the Green Day song "21 Guns," performed by the PHS Choirs.

Act II started with an '80s throwback! The PHS Show Choir performed "Footloose."

The next piece consisted of two vocalists (one of whom arranged the medley), a guitarist, and a percussionist. Destin played the cajon for this song - it's essentially a fancy box that you sit on while you play. The group performed a medley of "Thinkin' Bout You" (Frank Ocean) and "Sunday Morning" (Maroon 5).

Next, Ellis sang some Elvis - "If I Can Dream."

The 7th-12th grade women took the stage to sing Rachel Platten's "Fight Song," arranged by PHS choir director Elissa Richardson.

After the beautiful inspiration of the last song, it was time for some humor. If you weren't there, you missed a hilarious vocal duet with self-accompanied accordion and tuba. (Welcome to Pulaski, haha!) "Shaving Cream" by Benny Bell got the audience giggling, and sometimes even guffawing.

The PHS Concert Choir sang "Falling Slowly," arranged by one of the students.

The student emcees kept the audience entertained during the swift transitions, at one point resorting to using some didgeridoos. The whole concert was a touch over two hours, counting 21 songs and a 15 minute intermission. It flew by!

A dance solo to "Fortune Teller" was next.

The last solo performance of the night was "Angels" by Birdy.

The PHS Drumline made an appearance! They played a medley of drumline cadences, arranged by instructor Adam LeGrave and the drumline. I hear they got *glowing* reviews.

Drumline video: https://goo.gl/photos/2zeUf2XZ8C4deGWy6

The 7th grade, 8th grade, and high school choirs combined for a grand finale, "It's Time," by Imagine Dragons.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choirs

DRUM Card Opportunity: Using complete sentences and proper grammar, share your reaction to Eric Whitacre's use of technology. 

Ideas: Is this a game-changer for contemporary (modern) composers? What do you think past composers could have done if they'd had this technology at their fingertips? What do you think the future holds for classical composers and technology? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Eric Whitacre, composer, 1970 - present

Technology is an amazing thing. When composer Eric Whitacre saw a YouTube video that one of his fans uploaded of herself singing one of his songs, he was inspired to create a "virtual choir." (In this context, "virtual" means existing on computers or the internet. The choir didn't actually get together - individuals sang along to a karaoke-like video and submitted videos of themselves doing so. Then the videos were edited together and the audio was combined to create a "virtual" choir.) 185 singers from 12 countries submitted videos of themselves singing "Lux Aurumque," and a whole bunch of video editing later, this was the result:

Virtual Choir was such a raging success that Whitacre decided to do it again. This time, 2,052 people from 58 countries sang "Sleep."

What came next? Well, VC 3, of course! 3,746 videos from 73 countries were submitted, and "Water Night" was the next virtual choir hit.

Last year, Virtual Choir 4 performed "Fly to Paradise." This video contains 8,409 videos of 5,905 singers in 101 countries. (Imagine how much more editing that video took compared to VC 1!)

Now it's time for something new. Eric Whitacre is doing a Virtual Youth Choir for anyone in the world who is 18 or younger. CLICK HERE if you're interested in becoming a part of it! Videos must be submitted by Sunday, June 8, 2014. 

Whitacre is partnering with UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Fund), which provides long-term assistance to mothers and children in developing countries. They are joining together to create a special Virtual Youth Choir film that will be premiered at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games (and be broadcast to a global audience at the same time).

Here's Eric Whitacre's introduction to this project:

More MIOSM 2014

Here are a few different videos that haven't really fit in other blog posts. It's a nice variety for Music In Our Schools Month. Some are inspiring, some are silly, all of them are worth it.

Fran Kick - Fun, Good, Work

We like to do things that are fun...and since we do them more often (working at them), we tend to get good at them, which makes them more fun, so we work harder, so we get better, so they're more fun... You get the point. 

PDQ Bach - Beethoven Symphony No. 5

PDQ Bach is the pen name (made-up name) of silly composer Peter Schickele. This video is funny! Can you imagine what music would be like if it had commentators (the bearded one is PDQ Bach) and referees like sports do? Hmm, and maybe a penalty box... (Hey, 4th and 5th graders, do you recognize the instruments we learned about earlier this school year?)

Solfege kitties...

This is just a cute and silly picture. :)

Silly Symphony - Music Land

This is a Disney short from 1935! This one takes place on Jazz Isle. There aren't any people, just instruments. Check out how they make it work. If you're interested in more, here's the entire list!

"Pipe Dream" - Animusic

Animusic is a computer animation of music.

"Drumbone" - Blue Man Group

Remember how longer instruments sound lower? Check out how the Blue Man Group alters (or changes) the pitches on the PVC pipes they're playing in this video. It's pretty sweet! (By the way, if you ever get the chance to see them live, they're awesome! Bring earplugs to protect your hearing from the amplification, though.)

"Don't Stop Believin'" (Journey) - PS22 Chorus

The PS22 chorus is an auditioned group of 5th graders at the biggest elementary school in New York City. They have tons of YouTube videos - just search "PS22 chorus," and take your pick!

A-rhythm-etic. The Math behind the Beats. - Clayton Cameron

A large part of music is rhythm, and a large part of rhythm is math. Clayton Cameron explains that in this video...while playing snare drum the entire time, without missing a beat. That level of multitasking takes skill, folks!

Music In Our Schools Month 2014: Music "History" at Lannoye Quiz

In honor of Music In Our Schools Month…

Music “History” at Lannoye

Which Lannoye staff members have a background in music? Which instruments did they play? Who was in show choir? What words of wisdom do they have for you? Learn the answers to all of these questions in this just-for-fun 12-question quiz!

DRUM Card Opportunity: Email me (or you can drop a note in my mailbox at school) your reactions to the information in this quiz. What did you already know? What surprised you?