Saturday, August 29, 2009

Orff on the Brain

Saturday, August 29th, Mrs. McIvor and I attend and amazing Orff workshop sponsored by the Greater Tampa Bay Area Orff Chapter. The all-day workshop was led by Rachel Batchelor, an accomplished choir conductor and teacher from Pittsburgh, PA. Each lesson learned focused on brain-friendly strategies for teaching music. We sang, danced, and played instruments all day long. We can't wait to bring these lessons to the classroom!

We loved learning some new folk dances. Here we are performing the North Skelton Sword dance. Complete with yard stick "swords!"


TA-DA! At the end of the dance all the "swords" formed a giant star.


An all-teacher Orff ensemble. How fun!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

OLIVER!

Make sure you check out E-Bytes this week for information on our all-school production of Oliver! Auditions for "Consider Yourself" and "Who Will Buy" are open to students Third grade and up. They will be held in the Black Box Theater on Monday, August 31st from 3:15-4:30.

The Lower Division Chorus will sing and dance to the songs "Food, Glorious Food" and "Oliver!" and have greater time commitments than in years past. Our first meeting for the LD Chorus will be held on September 2nd in the LD music room. During this time I will introduce the songs and go over the rehearsal and show schedule. Parents are encouraged to attend!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Below is a list of audition and show dates carefully planned by Mr. Leavengood, and an explanation of the serious commitment necessary to participate. We will all be working long hours together, but it will be so worth it! Please feel free to email me with any questions vdiaz@shorecrest.org.

-Ms. Díaz Leroy

From Bill Leavengood:

AUDITIONS:

• We are auditioning boys and girls alike for the roles of Oliver, Dodger, Fagin’s Gang and the Workhouse Boys. Any student who auditions and is willing and able to adhere to the rehearsal and performance schedules will be cast in the show.
• All students interested in being in the production, at any level of participation, must attend the Monday audition. 3rd through 8th grade will audition 3:15-4:30. Upper Division will audition 4:30-5:45.
• Only students interested in Level Two (Major) participation (see below) need to attend the Tuesday audition from 3:15-5:45.
• Rehearsals will begin on September 2. Performance dates are November 20, 21 and 22.
• There will be two Participation Levels representing very different levels of commitment.

Level One (Basic) Participation:

• Consider Yourself/Who Will Buy? Chorus (rehearsals Mondays, 3:00-6:00 beginning Sept 14)
• Workhouse Boys (Lower Division members of Ms. Díaz Leroy’s chorus, rehearsals Wednesdays, 3:15-5:45, beginning Sept. 2).
• Level One participants will only be featured in two musical numbers.
• Level One participants will be called to rehearse one weekday per week until Monday, November 9 when they too, must be available to rehearse Monday through Friday (either after school or evenings depending on which time slot poses the fewest overall conflicts with their athletic schedules). In addition, they must be available for rehearsals Sunday, November 1st and 8th and Saturday and Sunday, November 14th and 15th.

Level Two (Major) Participation:

• All principal singing and speaking roles including: Oliver, Dodger, Nancy, Bet, Mr. Bumble, Sykes, Widow Corney, Sowerberry, Noah, Charlotte, Mrs. Bedwin, Charley, and Mr. Brownlow.
• Level Two participants must be available to rehearse every day after school beginning September 2. In addition, they must be available for rehearsal Sunday, November 1st and 8th and Saturday and Sunday, November 14th and 15th.

Requisite:

• The final two weeks of rehearsals, beginning November 9 through November 22, will impact some sports team commitments, including missed practices and/or games. Rehearsals and athletic practices/games will be scheduled as carefully as possible; however, any student in the cast of OLIVER! must attend all required rehearsals despite any conflicts that may occur with athletic practices or games.