Lovely way to begin April

For the past month, my shoulders have been rising, little by little every day, as yesterday approached. In my district, other subject areas are evaluated through the statewide and nationwide standardized tests. My program is formally evaluated on my extracurricular ensemble's performance of repertoire and demonstration of sightreading abilities at a district choral festival. We participated in this festival yesterday.

Our rehearsal on Tuesday morning left much to be desired; the students (fickle at times because they are young adolescents) were chatty and unfocused. Problem areas in our music that we had fixed last week or the week before were suddenly problems once again. We didn't even have time to practice our sightreading during the rehearsal. (We practice this in all class sessions, but this select choir, comprised of students from each of my classes has not ever practiced sightreading together.) I was nervous, to say the least.

When I arrived at school yesterday, students were already waiting for me, even though they were told that they did not have to come early. (Some just wanted to, I suppose.) I didn't have much time to talk with them; I finished writing my substitute's lesson plans for the day and busily prepared everything that I needed: reminders for my chaperones, attendance lists, directions for the bus driver, extra uniform pieces, etc.

When the rest of the students arrived in their striking uniforms, they checked in with the chaperones, received extra uniform pieces (ties/cummerbunds for the boys), and waited. One child wore the wrong color shoes - a strong NO-NO which we had even discussed at yesterday's rehearsal (and which appears in all written communication about our uniforms). Fortunately, she was able to borrow shoes from a teacher (a good friend of mine) and she was able to attend the trip after all.

We departed soon after the shoes fiasco and arrived at the school with plenty of time to spare. We observed one choir and were waiting to observe another when I was informed that we had better go warm up (even though I thought they were running behind). I warmed up the choir ... and during the warm-up, two girls started to goof off. As I was already incredibly stressed, I sternly informed the group that if I saw anyone else goofing off during our very limited warm-up time, the offender would NOT be allowed to perform. They were all wonderful after that. Finally, it was time to go onstage!

My choir neatly filed onto the risers and stood in their formation, and the accompanist and I followed them. The festival manager explained how I was to proceed: She would introduce the choir, me, our accompanist, and our musical selections. I was to wait for the center judge to raise a sign, indicating that the judges were ready for our first piece. There would be some down time in between our three songs so that the judges could speak and write down their comments. I had to wait for the sign before we could go on. I thanked her for explaining this to me, and she walked over to the podium to introduce us.

We began with our non-adjudicated piece, a rousing arrangement of a traditional African American spiritual. The driving tempo, the minor tonality, and the contrasting dynamics require so much energy, and my kids watched and followed my direction intently. The piece culminates with a huge 5-note chord, and when I gave the final cut-off, I felt the audience breathe, impressed, before they burst into applause!

When the adjudicator cued me that we could continue, the accompanist and I began our next piece- a poignant arrangement of a hauntingly beautiful Hebrew folk song about a person seeking peace for his wounded soul. My young soloists sang wonderfully, and the choir entered, demonstrating their lovely full tone. I felt the anguish of the lyrics, and I tried to convey the heaviness, the weight that the wounded soul was feeling through my face and my gestures. My students responded in kind; several of their faces reflected the deep sorrow described in the music, and they shaped their phrases beautifully. Lovely.

After a long pause, I received the sign that we could sing our third and final selection. This piece was a simple and short arrangement of a light, joyful Baroque piece, and it strongly contrasted with the styles of the other two pieces. My skillful accompanist played our introduction, and my students came in gloriously. The color of their sound changed and their voices danced through the melismas. The sudden ending of the piece seemed to catch our audience by surprise, but they applauded, and I bowed once again for my group.

We were directed offstage to the next part of our festival experience: sightreading. While we practice sightreading skills daily in my classes, my students and I were nervous about what we would encounter. We were going to sightsing in 2 parts (something we'd only started to do in the past month) and we didn't know whether the example would be in C Major or G Major. I'd only introduced G Major recently too (because I hadn't been aware of the exact sightreading requirements until a month earlier).

As we passed through the auditorium, my music supervisor gave me a big smile and told me she was so proud of me! I thanked her, grinning, and walked to the front of the line of my students. We waited for a few moments outside the door to the sightreading room, where I was greeted with a "Hi, Estrella!" by the parent of a singer in the youth choir I accompany. This too eased my nerves.

Finally, it was time to sightread. The adjudicator was very pleasant and she led my students and me through the process. I was so pleased with how well they did! She was so pleased with how well they listened and by the respect and focus they demonstrated. Wonderful!

We filed out of the room and my students stood in the hallway while we waited for our scores to be processed. When the auditorium doors re-opened after the performance inside had ended, I went inside to inquire about our scores.

My music supervisor told me that she was "my biggest fan" and was "so proud of me" for all that I'd accomplished with my students, especially as I was a first year teacher. I learned later that 3 of 29 groups had performed music at the same level of difficulty we did. I said to her, "Well, as you know, I inherited a good program." She responded, "Yes, you did, but you've done more than maintain it; you've taken them further."

When my scores were ready, she put them in the envelope and walked with me out to the lobby. Pulling each adjudicator's score sheet out of the envelope, she explained what each meant. We had received superior ratings, and this meant we would qualify for an invitation to participate at the state festival! She gave me a hug as she handed me the envelope, and I went outside to greet my students and the chaperones. They asked about the scores, and I said ...

"Guess who's going to States?!"

"WE are!" They cheered, jumping up and down. We piled onto the buses and headed to a yummy Chinese/American buffet for lunch (which they LOVED) before heading back to school. We congregated in the cafeteria before I released them to classes, and as I was thanking the chaperones and congratulating the students on all their hard work, my principal joined us. He too congratulated them and thanked me, inviting the students to applaud. They cheered some more before returning to class, and I took advantage of having a substitute in my classroom for the full day by going home an hour early! :)