Welcome Los Cerritos Choir 2013 2014 Welcome to the Los Cerritos Choral Music Department. If this is your first year in the program I would like to extend an extra special welcome to you. You are about to begin a journey that will change and enrich your junior high school experience forever. To my returning choir members, I say thank you. Your experience and dedication, combined with our new members' exuberance is what makes this choir great. Over the past four years we have seen our numbers go from fifty choir members to over two hundred! I cannot wait to see what is in store for us this year. As members of this choir, you not only have the opportunity to learn many different vocal skills, you will also embark upon a rewarding and exciting performance experience. This information is being presented to assure that you know what this class is about and what is expected of its members. Daily class attendance and participation is extremely important and all dress rehearsals and performances are mandatory. Your level of commitment is what will make our choir a success each time we venture out to represent our school and ourselves. We ask for 100% of your dedication and participation throughout the year. In exchange we promise skills and experiences that will last a lifetime. Students and parents, please take a few moments to review the information that follows and then sign the contract statement on the final page. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me by e-mail at jhague@conejo.k12.ca.us Sincerely, Janice Hague Excellence is never an accident; it is always the result of high expectations, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution. It represents the wise choice of many alternatives.
What is Los Cerritos Choir? Choir is a class where students learn to sing together. Throughout the year there will be solo opportunities for students, but the primary focus will be on choral singing and technique. Students will explore a variety of choral literatures, ranging from great classical works to American favorites. California State Visual and Performing Arts Standards Students read, notate, listen to, analyze and describe music using the terminology of music. Students apply vocal skills in performing a varied repertoire of music. Students analyze the role of music in past and present cultures throughout the world, noting cultural diversity as it relates to music, musicians and composers. The Goals for LCC are: To increase musical knowledge. To develop healthy vocal habits. To develop self-confidence To develop self-control and respect for others To develop a healthy respect for rules, guidelines and expectations To make friends, be a friend, and to develop real team spirit. To provide new musical experiences for ourselves and our audiences. To produce shows that reflect our very best musically and personally. To this end, we the LCMS Vocal Music Dept pledge to each of you our love, our caring, and our knowledge. We will help you be the best you that you can be. Let the music begin!
LCMS Ensembles 6th Grade Choir: This choir is for incoming 6th graders who wish to explore and learn the fundamentals of group singing. This class is designed specifically to meet the needs of the younger singer. Music is carefully chosen to enhance and further the development of these young voices. 6th graders will participate fully in all aspects of LCMS choir including our LCMS musical at The TOHS PAC, A Southern California Vocal Association Competition/Field Trip and both concerts at WHS theatre. This is where students find their voice, life-long friendships are made, and kids become performers in true Los Cerritos Middle School Choir style. Show Choir: Show choir is made up of 7th and 8th grade women who want the opportunity and challenge of both singing and dancing. This group performs a contemporary/ pop repertoire and requires the girls to be versatile singers and dancers. Women who are part of this group will participate in extra rehearsal time. Members of this group must be truly committed to acting and performing at a professional level at all times. Show Choir will participate in all nights of the musical, both concerts at WHS theatre, All District Choral Festival, and Music in the Parks Competition. In addition, Show Choir will perform at the B&G s Annual Gala Dinner and Auction at the Four Season s Westlake.
LCMS Ensembles (continued) Mixed Choir Mixed Choir is made up of 7th and 8th grade students both boys and girls. Mixed Choir performs 2 and 3 part mixed music ranging in style from classical works to contemporary pop standards. Students in Mixed Choir compete in the Music in the Parks competition, are part of the musical, and perform at both of our WHS Theatre concerts. Mixed Choir will also be visiting and recruiting at the elementary school sites. This class is designed to meet the needs of 7th and 8th grade students. It is a wonderful place to meet new friends, gain confidence, and grow your own personal performance style. Bel Canto Choir: Bel Canto is made up of 7th and 8th grade students both boys and girls who want the opportunity and challenge of singing Classical choir music. This group is made up of un-changed/treble voices. The literature performed by this ensemble is challenging two and three part treble music. Bel Canto participates in the musical, both concerts at WHS theatre, All District Choral Festival, and Music in the Parks Competition. In addition, Bel Canto creates and performs the Focus on The Arts program for the Conejo Unified School District
Class Policies Expectations for all Los Cerritos Choir Members: BE ON TIME. Everyone in the ensemble is important! Warm ups are important! Please be in your assigned spot, ready to learn when the class begins. BE PREPARED. Make sure you are wearing your name tag and have anything else that is needed with you at rehearsal/class. Please use the restroom before class. Bring a water bottle or refrain from getting drinks during class. BE KIND AND POLITE TO YOUR DIRECTORS AND YOUR CLASS- MATES. Learn to work together as a team. Support those around you. Be respectful of your fellow choir members by listening and helping out whenever possible. BE RESPONSIBLE. As a Los Cerritos Choir Member it is your responsibility to communicate with your parents. Choir members need to help their parents maintain an up-to date calendar and keep their parents informed of all choir events. As a choir member, it is your responsibility to meet ALL deadlines for paperwork. COMMUNICATE WITH THE DIRECTOR. If you are having a problem meeting a paperwork deadline, or you do not understand a choral concept or direction, please tell the director immediately. Do not wait for the day something is due, at that point it is too late. Your vocal music class has many students in it. Be proactive. Email the director when you are feeling lost and need some help. Let Mrs. Hague know immediately if you cannot meet a requirement. NO CELLPHONES DURING CLASS- TIME OR REHEARSAL. Leave your cell phone in your backpack. Do not keep it in your pocket too tempting to text. NO FOOD, GUM, OR BEVERAGES ARE ALLOWED EVER. You cannot sing with food or drink in your mouth, and gum especially hidden gum can be lethal. The one exception is a clear bottle of water. First gum infraction earns the student a Saturday school. Second infraction can result in a student being reassigned to another elective. Again gum is lethal in choir Students who do not conform to the choir rules and/or repeatedly make choices that keep the group from learning will result in a parent contact and possible reschedule into another elective immediately. Please note: The final decision as to whether a student will allowed to participate in a particular choir activity or remain a member of the choral department will be made by the LCMS Choral Music Director, Janice Hague and her principal.
Parent Responsibilities: Junior High is a unique time. Your student is not quite a child, but definitely not a young adult either. Some choir members have just entered their teen years. Others may not reach magical thirteen until high school. These years are some of the trickiest to negotiate. How much responsibility do I give to my child? Are my expectations too high or not high enough. I want my child to be independent, but I also don t want to overburden my child. As a parent and a director I understand these concerns. My goal is the same as yours: to allow your child to assume as much responsibility as is appropriate for him/her. When your child signed up for the vocal music elective he/she also signed you, the parent, up for vocal music too. This class requires a fair amount of outside time in both performance and rehearsal. This class also requires a uniform of sorts. Finally, there is a financial obligation to this class. All three of these things depend on parental involvement. As a parent, this class will also be a life changing musical experience for you. Our choir provides a wonderful opportunity to meet other caring parents, and to get involved at a time when your child needs you most even though he/she may say the exact opposite. I encourage all parents to get involved in our program in any way possible Expectations for all Los Cerritos Choir Parents: CHECK YOUR EMAIL DAILY. Be sure to give me your most current email one that you check daily. If you change your email please notify me immediately. All communication will be done through email. ASK YOUR STUDENT WEEKLY FOR A CHORAL UPDATE. In addition to checking your email please be sure to ask your student what is going on in choir. CHECK THE LCMS CHORAL WEBSITE FREQUENTLY. Our choral website is amazing. You will find everything you need on it. Please check the web site often as I update it constantly. Most answers to your questions can be found on the website. COMMUNICATE TO YOUR CHILD THAT MEMBERSHIP IN THE LCMS CHORAL COMMUNITY IS A PRIVLEDGE: Remind your child that choir is a privilege. Encourage your children to participate to the full extent of their abilities.
Expectations for all Los Cerritos Choir Parents (cont.) PROVIDE YOUR CHILD WITH THE APPROPRIATE CHOIR WEAR. Please be sure that your child has the uniform for choir dress in his or her closet. You can find pictures and more information on this on the LCMS choir website. HELP YOUR CHILD FOL- LOW LCMS CHOIR RULES. Share your parent emails with your child. Show them that you are aware of our choir rules, and that you expect him/her to follow them. This may mean keeping your child s cell phone during rehearsals if you know he/she lacks the self-control to not use it. You know your child best. Make your own parent decisions that will enforce and respect LCMS choir rules. CHECK YOUR CHILD S CHOIR GRADE ON ZANGLE EVERY TWO WEEKS. Be sure to check Zangle every two weeks or so for choir grades. I will write comments if there is a talking problem or a tardy problem. There is no reason for every child not to receive an A in choir. MAKE PERFORMANCES A PRIORITY. Be sure and come to all your child s performances. Your child has worked hard to produce a professional show. It is important that you attend these shows and communicate how proud you are of her/him. CONTACT THE DIRECTOR IMMEDIATELY IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS/CONCERNS. Please email me before deadlines if you are having a problem obtaining choral dress, or coming to a rehearsal/performance etc. Please look at our Choir Calendar and mark everything down now. This helps you schedule doctor apts. etc around choral rehearsals. It will also help you to see any potential conflicts. PARTICIPATE IN CHOIR FUNDRAISING and FAIR SHARE. Our choir exists because of fabulous parents like you! Fundraising isn t most people s favorite activity but it is necessary in order to keep our program going. Please help your child with his/her fundraising efforts. Give them contacts and help them meet their goals. Fair share is the life blood of the program. Please meet all fair share deadlines. It is thru Fair Share that people get paid. When you are late so is someone s check.
Attendance Attendance at all rehearsals and performances is essential. The success of each rehearsal and performance depends upon each of you being present. A missed practice or performance can never be made up. PLEASE, TAKE STEPS TO MINIMIZE ABSENCES FROM BOTH. A tardy will be excused with an excused tardy slip from the Los Cerritos office or a parent written note. Unexcused absence or tardiness directly affects the grade, as it is a conscious choice to miss rehearsal. Students who are excessively absent or tardy may be asked to withdraw from the class and choose another elective at the trimester break. Students who are absent from a performance and are unexcused by the director, will receive a zero for the participation portion of their grade for the marking period in which the performance occurred. This makes 70% the highest grade possible for that marking period. Excuses which are unavoidable and/or legitimate conflicts will be considered by the director and principal no later than two-weeks prior to the performance. All excuses must be written and signed by a parent/guardian. Excuses for any unforeseen emergencies will be considered at any time. It is the responsibility of the student and his or her parents/guardian to be aware of the performance schedule and provide excuses which are necessary in a timely fashion.
IF YOU ARE SICK: We all get sick including the director! We all also have days where we feel blah. If you are having a blah day sing! Participating in choir will make you feel a lot better. On the other hand, if you are truly sick: If you are contagious, you should not be in school. Please don t share your germs. If your voice is rough, you may "mark" (sing lightly). If you cannot participate in choir you must have a note signed by a parent. If you do not have a note you will be asked to participate in choir. If you cannot stand or sit for some reason you must have a note signed by a parent. If you do not have a note you will be asked to stand/sit and participate with the rest of the choir. Financial Considerations Fair Share The primary source of funding for the choir is the Fair Share program. We request that each choir family make a donation towards the program. These funds are used to cover the cost of running a chorus program i.e.: choral accompanist salary, specialized vocal music instructors and/or choreographers, purchase of music and rights, costumes, musician salaries for special performances etc. The requested donation is $50.00 per trimester or $150.00 for a full year. That s only $00.85 a day!!! This is a bargain for quality vocal instruction, life-long friends, and a safe, fun place for your child to look forward to every day in MIDDLE SCHOOL! Fair Share payments can be paid with either cash or check. Please make checks payable to Los Cerritos Middle School. Please write your child s name on the check/choir. For example: Mary Smith/Choir. Fair Share is due in total on or before October 15, 2013. Students of parents who are involved in our Booster organization are exempt from Fair Share. Students can sell ads and/or car wash tickets to earn their portion of Fair Share. No student will be turned away from choir if a family is unable to participate in Fair Share. Contacting the Director: Your student is a unique and precious individual, and you know him/her better than anyone else. Please feel free to email me with any questions that you may have, or just to keep me in the loop as to what might be causing a change in behavior etc. The best way to reach me is through my email here at Los Cerritos:: jhague@conejo.k12.ca.us Due to my teaching location: LCMS Stage, I do not have a classroom telephone. I do have an extension here at Los Cerritos but not a phone to go with it. If you must get an urgent message to me leave one with the front office. Otherwise, please use my email. It is checked at least twice daily.
Financial Considerations Cont. Concert Price Our Winter and Spring concert will be held in WHS brand new Carpenter Theatre. Tickets will be sold for $5.00 each. Tickets are first come first served. We routinely sell out within two to three days of release. Don t wait to buy your ticket. They are worth every penny! The Spring Musical will be held at the grand Performing Arts Center located on the campus of TOHS. Tickets to our full length musical will be $10.00. Again, the profits from ticket sales go directly towards the costs of producing the musical itself. These costs would include: salary of our outside helpers, music costs and rights, payment for the band members, costumes, backdrops and scenery. Fundraising Students will participate in two types of fundraisers: In House and Out of House In House Purchasing/selling tickets for each of our concerts at WHS. Purchasing/Selling tickets to our Spring Musical Providing refreshments for concerts. Each student will be assigned a refreshment to provide for either our Winter Concert/June Concert or our Spring Musical. These refreshments will then be sold to help raise money for our program. Out of House Sees Candy Fundraising We will do our Sees Candy sales in October. Choir students are expected to participate in this fund raiser even if they only sell one box of candy. See s Candy money goes towards funding our Theme Park trip in the spring. Car Wash Tickets We will be selling car wash tickets all year. These tickets sell for $10.00 a piece. The ticket allows you to get your car washed at either the Janss Mall Car wash or the one in Westlake Village for 3$ less than you would normally pay. Choir students are NOT washing the cars the car wash is. We are asking each student to sell 8 car wash tickets by the end of the school year. The profits for this fundraiser goes to pay for vocal and dance coaching Restaurant Nights Everyone eats, and so we combine eating and socializing with raising money! Students earn extra credit by attending restaurant nights. Each student should attend one restaurant night a trimester. Restaurants are chosen from both the budget and mid price range. If a student cannot attend restaurant nights please let the director know, and we will find another extra-credit activity for your student.
Girls LCMS Choral Attire Boys Red Choral Polo Shirt must be purchased thru LCMS Choir. Black Dickie s Brand ONLY Flat Front pant. Dickie s Original Work Pant No skinny styles. We are looking for a dressy look. Black ballet flat type shoe. Again a dressy look. Red lipstick. Some make-up. Hair pulled out of face and styled. Red Choral Polo Shirt must be purchased thru LCMS Choir. Black Dickie s Brand ONLY Flat Front pant. Dickie s Original Work Pant We are looking for a dressy look. Clean black tennis shoes or plain black shoe. 7/8th: Dress Black Shoe Hair is clean, styled and out of face. **Information above is not a suggestion it is a requirement. Students who do not wear proper choral dress will not be allowed to participate in choir performances. This will affect the student s grade.
Grading Grades for all students will be comprised of four main areas: Daily Participation/Class Work, Performance, Quizzes, and Homework. Daily Participation/Class Work 40% Students will be graded according the following rubric five times during each semester. If the student earns the maximum amount of points each week (20 points) multiply by five times this equals 100 points or 100%. Grades will be assigned every two three weeks. Please check the calendar for the exact dates. Performance 30% Students will be graded for each performance according to the following rubric. Each performance is worth 100 points or 100%. If there is more than one performance in a trimester each score will be added together and divided by the number of performances for a final performance score. Tests/Quizzes 20% Students will receive a standard percentage grade for any written work. Students will be graded using a rubric for any sight-singing lesson, scales, or ensemble music. Again, each score will be added together and divided by the total number of assignments to obtain a final score Homework 10% This is a pass/fail grade. Either the student returns homework/forms etc. on time or not. Students have 1 week to turn in all forms/homework. There is no reason why any student should not receive 100% in this area. Parents may submit a note if there is a legitimate reason why a form was unable to be returned on time.