In regards to my other selections, my students love the Beatles arrangements by Deke Sharon they were easy to teach and fit perfectly with the peace theme (Hey Jude–finding peace within yourself in times of sadness/negativity, and Blackbird–about civil rights and finding peace amongst people). The last held out chord is on the word “peace,” which sparked the idea for my entire program. The text is also written by Ticheli himself but isn’t cliche or contrived it discusses how despite the violence and negativity in today’s world, music and singing always overcome. If you’re unfamiliar with the piece, it’s full of many 20th century dissonant chords and harmonies, something my middle school students hadn’t yet been exposed to. The idea for the program actually first started last spring and stemmed from the piece “Earth Song” (Frank Ticheli). “This is a program for my auditioned chamber choir (The Clef Hangers), which is comprised of students in grades 6 through 8 this is a group of advanced singers who perform only a cappella repertoire. See DeLeigh’s winning program and all elementary level contest entries. They can’t wait to wear them when they perform! We are planning on inviting all the workmen to our concert to “musically honor” their efforts!” I’ve purchased yellow plastic construction hats for the boys and pink for the girls. “I was working down the hall one day last spring when I heard a very loud “bang, bang” and I immediately thought of the song “Chitty, Chitty Bang, Bang” and the rest just started to fall into place! When I ran the “rough draft” of the program by my singers, I have 134 5th grade students in the chorus, they seemed quite excited. They shared the inspiration behind their creative programming with us. The winners received a $200 gift certificate to Sheet Music Plus. The choral programs were judged based on originality, thematic content and age appropriateness. This spring, Sheet Music Plus held a school choral program contest, in which choir directors at the elementary, middle, high school and college levels were encouraged to submit the repertoire list for their schools’ spring choral concerts.
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