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| Waiting to sing in the balcony of "The Big Red Church" in Fresno |
My rants about singers needing to learn to sight-read are probably almost become legendary...but my reasons are good and this week the hard work of my students really has paid off!
Every kid (except one who is a piano student and learning to read music that way!) from age 9-18 pictured above has been making their way through my sight-singing course. Some are in their third year and can read almost anything in a major key, given a starting pitch.
This week was an opportunity to test their skills in a real-life situation -- TAA was scheduled to have a group of kids perform at the Fresno Grand Opera Christmas Concert one week after Thanksgiving AND the Nutcracker! One week of rehearsals only!
Cannot express how nice it was to say things in rehearsal like "almost perfect, but that's a 6-1, not 5-1, see?" and to turn these kids loose on two 4-part a cappella pieces with almost no note-hashing at all.
Four rehearsals plus one run-through at the performance site the day before, and here are the results!
Riu Riu Chiu
Other two pieces are also on my YouTube, but this is definitely my favorite!
They're proud of their work and were kind of surprised even at themselves and what they could accomplish in very little time! Really that time is the result of years of hard work -- but SO WORTH IT!
TAA Youth Ensemble:Emma Newcomb
Elise Newcomb
Megan Forgey
Cameron Forgey
Erin Forgey
Samuel Walls
Trent Andrews
Elizabeth Hampton
Kylie Gardner
Autum Monty
Caroline Cantelmi
Josh Peters
Jessica Peters
Katie Peters
Madison Soltesz
Brenna Goodin
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