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Choir Email Update: 5/4/2020

Hello Choir Parents & Families,

 

I hope that you all are well and safe during this time. I just wanted to reach out and touch base regarding a few pieces of information and upcoming dates.

 

- This Sunday, May 10th- Vox Anima 2020-2021 Audition Deadline- If your student might be interested in auditioning for the Vox Anima Choir for the 2020-21 school year, please remind them to submit their audition materials by the deadline of THIS SUNDAY at midnight. Audition Materials are available on our choir website (rfishNKMS.wixsite.com/NKMSChoir). If your student might be interested but is overwhelmed or intimidated by the audition process, please let me know- I would love to reach out to your student and encourage them! We are so lucky to have a group like this at NKMS and I would love to see our students take full advantage.

 

- Last Friday, May 1st- Kings Dominion Refund Checks Mailed- Mrs. Duckett, our amazing school bookkeeper, mailed out the last of the Kings Dominion refund checks last week, so hopefully you should be receiving them soon. If there is an issue or you do not receive a refund by the end of the week, please feel free to email me and I can check on the status of your refund.

 

- Today, May 4th- Digital Learning Assignment #2 Available- The second round of all NKMS Digital Learning Assignments should be available beginning early this week. The choir packet will not be graded, but I highly recommend students choose ONE activity off of the new Choir Choice Board to complete per week (which should only take approximately 30 minutes each) to keep up with their musical skills. We have incredibly talented and musically knowledgeable students, and I would love to see them keep up with those abilities. Practice makes perfect! I have attached a copy of the Choir Digital Learning Assignment #2 to this email and posted it on Schoology, and Mrs. Gray should also be printing paper copies to be picked up outside of the school building for families who do not have access to reliable internet at home. 

As much as I desperately miss seeing and singing with our students every day, their health and safety comes first! Please let me know if you have any questions, or if there is anything I can do to help during this time- I am happy to do help in any way that I can.

 

Take care, and have a safe and wonderful week!

Rachel Fish

Choir Email Update: 4/15/2020

Hello Choir Families,

 

I hope that you are well, and that you had a relatively restful "Spring Break" last week. A few updates regarding work and Vox Anima 2020-2021 Auditions: 

 

Choir Assignments: I have posted a Choir Choice Board on Schoology under "Materials" that is available for all choir students. The goal of the choice board is to keep students up to date on their musical skills, and to ensure that we can start off the 2020-2021 school year strong, and on the right track. Please encourage your child to complete approximately 10 points worth of activities per week and share their results with me- while the results will not be formally graded, I will definitely provide feedback to each student who submits activities, and I would love to see how your student is staying involved in music! 

 

Additionally, I am posting daily "Challenges" to Schoology under the "Updates" section. Students who are interested in going above and beyond, or would prefer to participate in these activities instead of the Choice Board also have these challenges as an option to keep up on their musical skills. These activities are not graded, but I do believe that music can be such a helpful and healthy outlet for stress during these uncertain times, and I will continue to provide opportunities for students to use music as a method of expression and deeper thought. 

 

Vox Anima 2020-2021 Auditions: Any student interested in auditioning for Vox Anima for the 2020-2021 school year should now have access to the Audition materials via Schoology, the choir website (rfishnkms.wixsite.com/NKMSChoir), and I have attached the document below. If your student was interested in auditioning but does not have access to the internet to record any of their audition materials, please let me know, and I will create an alternative form of the audition for your student. Auditions materials are due no later than Sunday, May 10th at 11:59pm. Hopefully, this will give your student enough time to fully prepare and feel confident in their submission, without adding too much stress to their plate.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions about the assignments or the auditions, stay safe, and take care!

Rachel Fish

Choir Email Update: 3/30/2020

Hello Choir Parents & Families!

 

I hope that you have all been well- taking care of yourselves and your families in this confusing and stressful time. A couple of updates regarding Choir:

 

4/17- Kings Dominion Festivals of Music Field Trip-  Due to the cancellation for the rest of the year, we will no longer be attending the Kings Dominion Festivals of Music Trip. I am already in touch with Kings Dominion, and they have promised a full refund for our payments. As soon as our bookkeeper and I are able to gain access to the school building (where our checks and money processing paperwork are stored), I promise to begin working on getting each family participating a full refund. I know that these may be stressful economic times for you and your families, so I hope that this may bring some relief. Teachers and staff are currently not allowed into the building, but I do promise to begin work on these refunds as soon as possible. 

 

Choir Assignments-  As of now, I am posting daily to the Choir Class Pages on Schoology with updated assignments. If your child has missing work for Quarter 3, I have sent them an individual Schoology message with that assignment to ensure that no student would need to finish Q3 with any 0's on their report card. Most of the assignments that are being posted are short assignments that should be completed in 10 minutes or less- and are really there to enforce previously learned skills and encourage reflection. These short assignments can also be combined with any variety of activities from the Choir Choice Board that is also uploaded to Schoology. If your child completes any of these activities- please have them share with me! I am really missing being in school right now, and working with your talented students, and would love to hear from them!

 

Students interested in digging deeper into their musical skills should sign up for a free account on SightReadingFactory.com- details on how to create the free student accounts is also detailed on Schoology. This resource will be extremely helpful to students interested in auditioning for our Auditioned Ensemble (Vox Anima), or for students who simply want to continue to challenge themselves musically. 

 

4/15- Vox Anima Auditions Posted- Students who are interested in auditioning for Vox Anima for the 2020-2021 school year should plan to check either Schoology or our Choir Website (rfishnkms.wixsite.com/NKMSChoir) to see audition information and requirements posted. Auditions will contain a written, sight-reading, and music learning component. Detailed information, as well as how to submit auditions, and audition due dates will be available beginning April 15th. Any student who is considering auditioning should do so! It is a fantastic opportunity for students to build upon previously learned musical skills at a higher level than ever before! If your student might need a little encouragement- please let me know, as I am happy to reach out to them!

 

Thank you for your patience with me as I work through how best to continue music education at a distance- it is challenging, but definitely worth the effort! Please let me know if you have any questions, and take care and be well!

 

Musically yours, 

 

Rachel Fish

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