Thank you for five great years, Eastern! Best of luck to you in 2018-2019!
- RTB
With a change in choral director, this site is more or less retired.
Thank you for five great years, Eastern! Best of luck to you in 2018-2019! - RTB
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Good morning all –
This year's spring trip was amazing! With only overcast skies, and nothing more substantial than some mild drizzle, it was a great day for the music department in PA. 200 kids put on great performances in the morning, and then represented the school well while having fun at the park. At the awards show, the results were very satisfying: Band, Chorus and Orchestra all placed first in their divisions – Band had superior scores, and Chorus and Orchestra were both graded excellent. The kids continue to show improvement from year to year! Lastly, the trip went especially smoothly thanks to a wonderful group of parent volunteers and an amazing group of staff chaperones – Mr. Roff, Mr. White, Ms. Weidman, Ms. Isaac, Mr. Menth, and Mr. Buchanan were all incredibly helpful and we can’t thank them enough! Spring Concerts are next week – Wednesday 5/30 and Thursday 5/31 – at Blair HS. We’d love to have you join us. (And then it’s all downhill from there!) Thanks again to all involved, and have a great week! Hello parents, Yes, the weather has certainly been a concern for Mr. Puckett and myself as the trip has approached. Unfortunately, it does not seem that rescheduling is a feasible option at the moment, and we'd really hate to cancel. Currently, we've been stressing ways to make the day as comfortable as possible given the circumstances. We've been relaying to students the following details about tomorrow: 1) There are many indoor activities tomorrow that should break up the time that students are exposed to the rain. We perform in the morning, then students will have about 90 mins in the park. Then lunch is under covered pavilions so we should be dry. After another 60-90 minutes of free time in the park, we go to the awards ceremony which is inside the old Hershey Arena. After another 90ish minute block of free time, we proceed to the "Chocolate Factory" complex for dinner at the food court. After that, it's just a quick walk to the buses. 2) Students can seek indoor/dry activities as much as possible during their free times in the park. While we worked hard to allow students time to enjoy the park on their own, they can certainly try and find dry activities tomorrow. The shops, arcades and limited rides are available. Our lunch pavilions are available to us (and only us and one elementary chorus group) from 12pm until 4pm if there is particular heavy rain, and we don't want to fight the crowds. 3) We've stressed with students to be prepared and plan for tomorrow's weather. Umbrellas, ponchos, changes of clothes/socks/etc. have all been discussed with students. 4) If circumstances change, the teachers/chaperones will be utilizing our phones tree to contact parents and alert them to any updates. A worst case scenario (the park closes/etc.) would have us returning to school and "hunkering down" until students could be picked up. How the music competition would proceed in such a case is undetermined. We have a call in with the festival company asking about such possibilities. 5) Driving in the rain: We've been in contact with the bus company, and will be keeping an eye on road conditions in real time as we go. We'll be sticking to major highways to ensure the smoothest travel conditions possible. If road flooding becomes an issue, we'll look at the safest alternatives to our primary route. And if you feel you need to keep your son or daughter home because of *any* concerns, we'd certainly understand. (Refunds are unfortunately unavailable as all bills have been paid by this point.) I wish I had better news, but this is where we currently stand. We hope to make the best of a poor situation. If you have any further questions/concerns, please feel free to call or email and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. May is a busy month. Here are the scheduled after-school rehearsals for all performing groups:
Concert Choir - Wed. 5/9 Mixed Chorus - Wed. 5/16 Hershey Singers - Tues. 5/15 and Thurs. 5/17 All singers - Wed. 5/23 and Thurs. 5/24 These are the final rehearsals for the year. Thanks to all for the hard work and the progress we've achieved because of these combined rehearsals. If you any questions or concerns regarding these remaining dates, feel free to contact me at the school. Thanks! Hello everyone -
Quick reminders: 1) Final Hershey payments should be made by Monday, April 30. Any unpaid balances are due at that time. Also - this is the last day to request refunds if your child is no longer unable to attend the trip. 2) Students going on the spring trip to Hershey need to make sure that contact information has been submitted via the online google form found here: Spring Trip Contact Information. Please don't wait until the last minute! 3) Dates: Spring trip is Friday, May 18th. Spring Concert is Wednesday, May 30. Thanks for all the help and support. I'm looking forward to a great finish for the year! Hello singers and parents!
A few reminders about March happenings - 1) The 2nd Hershey payment of $25 is due tomorrow, 3/9/18. Many families have paid ahead, and that's fine. If you're unable to make tomorrow's deadline, that's ok but please contact me so I can know when to expect the payment. 2) MCPS Chorus Adjudication permission slips are out. For those singers attending, please sign and return the permission slip with the bus fee, by next Friday, March 16th. 3) Concert Choir and Auxiliary Singers have the afterschool rehearsals next week on Wednesday and Thursday. (Then we take a break from afterschool rehearsals until April!) As always, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me via phone or email. Thanks! Hello all,
When an afterschool rehearsal is snowed out, our normal procedure is to make-up the rehearsal the next day (Thursday). However - in this case, there was no way to remind students about this policy before the rehearsal would take place. Therefore - The Concert Choir rehearsals from 2/7 will be rescheduled on Wednesday 2/14. (My apologies to the Valentine's Day celebrants!) (The next afterschool rehearsal for Mixed Chorus is Wednesday 2/21). Thanks! Concert Choir - we'll see you on 2/14 right after school! Good morning,
Today, I sent home with students a blue Financial Update (with information about total cost & payment schedule), and also a white Contact Information form. For those who'd rather not type in the URL address I've added the link up on the myMCPS site. Log in and click to go to the form. Hershey Singers/Parents: Please add your information when you can. Thanks! Good morning all,
I've updated the Afterschool Rehearsal calendar, both on myMCPS and on the public website. The only changes include: - Concert Choir voted to move their February rehearsal up a week to avoid Valentine's Day. - Several April rehearsals were eliminated. The updated file can also be found here: afterschool_rehearsal_schedule_17-18_2nd_sem_rev1.2.pdf Also - we've heard rumblings that there may be a problem with our Spring Concert dates at Blair HS. I hate to change dates, especially after we worked hard to secure these dates last June. If we must choose an alternate date - I'll let everyone know as soon as possible. Thanks! CROSSPOSTED FROM myMCPS:
Good morning everyone, I'm attempting to get myMCPS running for the 3rd Quarter Chorus class. It's really clunky (especially behind the scenes). I'm hoping all students/parents are able to see this and the other course content. I'll open comments where you can chime in if you choose, and I'll be adding an assignment/quiz for students to complete just so I know they have access. (This will be posted sometime this week). As usual - we'll be cross-posting information to the public weebly site. The big news currently is that all Chorus slots on our Spring Trip to Hershey are currently filled. We'll begin a Wait List based on the order students submit their permission slips. Students will be added to the list as space allows, in that same order. Thanks to all who have shown interest in joining us! More information will be coming home in the next few weeks (including next steps for our interested chaperones!). Thanks for all you do! Stay warm! |