Parent Meeting for Oliver!

There will be a meeting for all parents whose children are involved in Oliver! on Monday, October 5th at 1:30 pm. The meeting will be held in the Janet Root Theater.

Classical Fun in Kindergarten

Through story and dance the Kindergartners are exploring the wonderful world classical music. Kindergartners had a blast learning Slavonic Dance No. 1 by Dvorak. Kindergarten students played the roles of the barnyard animals in this story by Deborah Lyn Ziolokoski.

The animals have been rehearsing all night in preparation for the county fair. When they perform their dance at the fair no one watches. The animals realize that they forgot to wash up after practicing all night. They quickly clean up and perform the Barnyard Dance once again to roaring applause.

Chorus Schedules 9/30

Due to conference day in the Lower Division we will not have Chorus on Wednesday, September 30. Keep signing! I'll see you next week.

Chorus Pick Up for Wednesday, September 23

This Wednesday we will have a short rehearsal and pick up will be in the Lower Division. Cheryl Lee will be out of the country so we will be working on singing only. Chorus will run until 4:00 in the LD music room. Next Wednesday, September 30, we will not have rehearsal due to conference day.

Your children sound amazing. I am so proud of what they have accomplished in such a short amount of time!

Finding Information on Oliver!

First off, I must say that helping to conduct auditions last week was an amazing experience! Every note was sung with passion, every line delivered with a ease. We teachers are surrounded by talent at every age!

To make it easier to for you to find updates on the intensive Oliver! schedule we've created a new group in our community titled "Theater Productions." Please join and check the postings regularly. This semester I will also be posting any additions to the LD Chorus in the "Theater Productions" group.

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!

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.