Back-to-School Email

Dear Choir Parents, Students, and Alumni:

Where has this summer gone?! It is hard to believe that we are only weeks away from the start of school again. I hope this summer has been a time of rest, relaxation, and fun for all of you. We have an exciting year of choir lined up and plans for the year are being finalized as we speak, just as the finishing touches are being put on the renovations to the CHS Choir Rooms.

I am emailing all of you right now with a specific purpose, so let me get right to it. The combined choirs, bands, and orchestras of the San Angelo ISD high schools have been asked to perform for a convocation ceremony of all the SAISD faculty and staff at the Foster Communications Coliseum on Wednesday morning, August 22. All of the members of the SAISD Board of Education and Executive Administration will be in attendance as well, and we want to make an excellent impression on all of them. It is vitally important that amidst the backdrop of the combined bands and orchestras from CHS and Lake View, we make the statement that excellent choral singing at CHS is alive and well!

To accomplish this, we are going to be having two nights of rehearsals to prepare the music for the ceremony. A "mini" choir camp, if you will. This coming Monday and Tuesday evenings, August 13 & 14, from 5:30 to 6:30 we are going to meet and learn the music along with the participating singers from the Lake View HS Choir. Because the CHS Choir Rooms renovations are still being finished we are going to have the rehearsals at the Lake View High School Choir Room this year. Lake View HS is located at 900 East 43rd Street. It's on the north side of town - about a mile east of the coliseum and fairgrounds. As soon as I can get it, I'll also post a map of where the choir room is at Lake View on our website in the next day or so.

Everyone receiving this email is invited to participate! That includes any seniors who just graduated who may still be in town and want to sing together one last time, as well as incoming freshmen at CFC. Also, if you know of anyone who likes to sing and might consider joining choir this year, invite them to this camp and let them see what all the fun is about!

It's okay if you can't make it both nights, we want you to come to as much as you can. We think you'll have a lot of fun seeing all of your choir friends again and we'll have some great snacks, too! Also, it is completely free.

After the first hour of camp each night, we'll take a short snack break then come back together to start learning the region choir audition music for this fall. That will go from about 6:30 to 8:30-ish both nights. This is completely optional, and students not wishing to participate in the region choir auditions are welcome to leave after the first hour of rehearsal on the convocation ceremony music. We really want to encourage as many people as possible to stay and give the region music a try. If you've never done it before, it's A LOT of fun and it really makes you a better singer and musician, and you get to sing some really COOL music with some of the best singers in the state. If you know you want to do this and go through the auditions later this fall, we'll have the sheet music and audition CD available for you to buy there at the camp. If you're not sure, and you just want to give it a try, we'll have some copies available for you to borrow that night and return, or to keep and buy if you decide to continue. The complete set of music and practice CD only costs $10 this year and it will be yours to keep.

Here's the complete Choir Camp Schedule:

Monday, August 13	5:30 - 6:30 PM	Lake View High School	SAISD Choir "Camp" - rehearsal on convocation ceremony music.
	6:30 - 9 PM		SAISD Choir "Camp" - rehearsal on region choir audition music.
Tuesday, August 14	5:30 - 6:30 PM	Lake View High School	SAISD Choir "Camp" - rehearsal on convocation ceremony music.
	6:30 - 9 PM		SAISD Choir "Camp" - rehearsal on region choir audition music.
Tuesday, August 21	11 AM to 1 PM	Foster Communications Coliseum	Combined CHS, CFC, and Lake View HS Choirs, Bands, and Orchestras rehearsal at the coliseum. LUNCH PROVIDED!
	1 PM to 3 PM	Central High School	"Come and go" uniform fitting and assignment for students singing in convocation ceremony.
Wednesday, August 22	8:30 AM	Foster Communications Coliseum	Performance for SAISD Convocation! We should be done by 10 AM.

Again, I hope you all had a great summer and I'm looking forward to seeing all of you and what promises to be a truly AWESOME year in choir! Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.

Update on Thursday, August 9, 2012 at 2:57 PM by Landon Gilmore

Map of Lake View High School. Entrance to choir room is in the red circle.

Update on Sunday, August 19, 2012 at 10:54 PM by Landon Gilmore

For those parents of students who do not drive themselves, we will have a bus to bring the students to CHS from the coliseum after rehearsal on Tuesday for the uniform fittings.