Year-end notes from Ms. Bell, Choir Director

I have enjoyed my three years at Sudie Williams TAG Academy. This year has actually been the first REAL choir experience students have had, given the pandemic restrictions upon my arrival in 2020-21 prohibiting absolutely no singing on school campuses. The next year, singing was restricted to no more than 30 minutes a class. Yet I worked around every obstacle: providing online voice lessons so students could compete for All Region Choir, creating virtual concerts so students at home also could submit their recordings of the assigned choir songs, a monthly Sing & Record assignment so students could sing a song of their choice from home which I would listen to for praise and polish suggestions. That no-sing year Sudie had five students who made All Region Choir--a very big deal. This year was indeed our most successful as far as UIL and classical singing: All students earned 1st Division medals at UIL Solo & Ensemble contest, the Honor Treble Choir earned 1st & 2nd Division ratings at their first-ever UIL Choir Concert Contest, three singers earned spots on the All Region Choir, and one of Sudie's 6th Grade Choir students was selected to perform at Carnegie Hall with a national middle school choir in the Honors Performance Series in June. I will be there!

Next year, we plan again to present a musical revue. Students have chosen Beauty & the Beast. Choir students voted for musical overwhelming in a Google ballot of three options. Choir students will be encouraged from day one to audition for UIL Solo & Ensemble, All City and All Region Choirs, as well as Texas Honor Choir and the prestigious Honor Performance Series to perform at Carnegie Hall. I will choose classical choral music to ensure success at UIL Choir Concert contest. But our emphasis in Vocal Ensemble will remain show choir song-and-dance numbers. I always check the latest hits for middle school choir arrangements.

In addition, the Vocal Ensemble/Honor Choir will be required to attend weekly after-school or before-school section rehearsals for sopranos, altos and tenors/basses to learn well the UIL music pieces. And I will provide FREE voice lessons to all my Choir students who are dedicated to auditioning for UIL Solo/Ensemble and All City/All Region Choir. My choir education philosophy is that learning the classical singing techniques enhances the pop voice, too.

Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement during my time here at Sudie. Choir students being honored at the Fine Arts banquet are the cream of the crop, plus each class has certain students who will receive certificates for notable singing improvement. My greatest pleasure is to see how each student, through warm ups and singing techniques, improves their singing voice by the end of the school year. Their looks of confidence are a sight to behold.

Have a refreshing summer break everyone!! 

Fondly,

Ms. Bell

Smashing year in Choir & Music at Sudie TAG!

Here is the list of outstanding achievements and activities in our Choir and Music programs during 2022-2023:

Show Choir + 6th Grade Choir performed Halloween songs in costume and skeleton makeup at the first Su-Chella, October 2022;

Straight 1st Division ratings at UIL Solo & Ensemble contest (4 students in Vocal Ensemble, 2 students in 6th Grade Choir, November 2022;

Show Choir holiday performance at The Galleria, December 2022;

2nd Annual Singing in the Neighborhood, December 2022;

All Region Choir auditions, one tenor in Vocal Ensemble & two 6th Grade Choir students earn spots, January 2023;

First live Winter Choir concert, January 2023;

Honor Choir invited back to SMU to sing the national anthem at televised Men's Basketball game, February 2023;

Honor Treble Choir earned 2nd Division ratings at Pre UIL, February 2023;

6th-grade Choir student Sophia Reyes selected to perform at Carnegie Hall in the national Honors Performance Series Middle School Choir this summer, audition February 2023;

Treble Honor Choir earns an astounding 1st & 2nd Division ratings at UIL Choir Concert contest, March 2023;

Sudie's 4th Grade Music Memory Team wins 1st Place at the annual DISD Music Memory contest at Meyerson Symphony Center, April 2023;

Drama & Choir directors audition dozens of Sudie students 4th - 8th grades for premiere musical production, Footloose, spring 2023;

Choir students land lead role in Footloose: Vocal Ensemble's Elliot Motter & 6th Grade Choir's Francesco Montillo, February 2023;

After-school musical music rehearsals (soloists, groups, full ensemble songs), after school 2023;

Free online weekly voice lessons with Ms. Bell to prepare for UIL Solo & Ensemble contest & All Region Choir auditions (4 Honor Choir & 2 Sixth Grade Choir students);

Weekly after school section rehearsals (TWT) to prepare UIL and concert music, Honor Choir/Vocal Ensemble 2022-23;

Adventures in Singing podcasts (11 Choir student interviews with Ms. Bell), on this website, 2022-23;

Choir/Music Blog written by Ms. Bell (updates, information on concerts/contests, brags & pix on this website, 2022-23;

Karaoke Club Fridays after school 2022-23.

Sudie Choir member selected for national Choir performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City

Treble Choir earns 2nd Division at DISD Pre UIL

RECRUITING FOR CHOIR 23-24!!

Dear Sudie parents/guardians:

We need to build our Choir program with many more students. Incentives are offered to Choir students who recruit one to five new students for next year. Choir and 5th Grade Music classes that recruit the most students will earn a prize as well.

If you were in Choir or still sing in one, please talk to your child about joining 6th Grade Choir or the Vocal Ensemble/Honor Choir for 7th and 8th grade students. 

The Choir school year is packed with a lot of fun activities--plus a BIG one coming up in April. Choirs already enjoyed performing in skeleton make up and tattered clothes for a Halloween show plus the winter concert featuring the Sudie Show Choir's jazzy tribute to the holidays. We shared glad tidings during our second annual Holidaze: Singing in the Neighborhood in December.

The Choirs also plan to perform fun songs in the Sudie Talent Show Sunday, March 26, at BTWHS auditorium.

In addition to contests and concerts, Choir offers a variety of in-depth projects culminating in student presentations such as Music of My Ancestry, Music in My Life, Music: the Heart of Education, and My Singing Influences. Vocal Ensemble also explores a lot of jazz and pop singing styles as well as dance movements. 

Students in Music and Choir learn to critique their performances as well as their Choir. 

My heart's desire is to make Choir a wonderful learning experience and most of all a very fond memory as our children grow into adults. Singing is a gift that should be shared. I believe the ability to sing can be cultivated. Mostly, I believe music and singing in particular to be humanity's highest performing art.

Thank you for helping Sudie build a CHOIR program full of shining stars!! 

Meet Sudie's Music Memory Teams

The following Elementary Music students earned the highest scores in their class on the Music Memory Final Test and will represent our school at the DISD Music Memory contest at the Meyerson Symphony Center April 3, 2023: August Goldapp (5D), Hank White (5C), Maggie Block & Angela Correia Blanco (5A); and Landon Luna (4D), Madeleine Wang (4B), Feraas Danuser (4A), and Gardner Fedro (4C). Also joining the team is 5th-grader Case Mckimmey.

From day one this school year, Elementary Music students have been tasked with listening to at least one Music Memory piece a day to learn the titles and composers, a set of 16 classical music pieces. In class students were quizzed as well as enjoyed playing the Music Memory game to work in teams and learn the pieces from beginning to middle and end as well as other instrumentations. Music Memory is a UIL event. Let's cheer on our Music Memory Teams!!

Sudie Honor Choir performs at SMU for second year in a row

SMU Sports again asked Sudie Honor Choir to sing the National Anthem and Lift Every Voice, in honor of Black History Month, at a basketball game. Our Choir performs in a live televised game at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19, from Moody Coliseum. Soloists include Mai-An Bai and Mikayla Edmond (7th-graders).

CONGRATULATIONS Sudie All Region Choir members!!

Carlos Gomez (7th), Meera Bajpai (6th) and Sophia Reyes (6th) made the prestigious All Region Choir during auditions at Greiner Middle School Jan. 28! Hundreds of students from several adjoining counties (from Waxahachie to Irving and Richardson ISDs) competed on set choral pieces. Honorable mentions who received very good judges' scores are Maja Jo Kuehnemann (7th) and Presley Saba (7th). The All Region Honor Choir Concert will be 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, at Nimitz High School Auditorium in Irving. 

Pictured above from left: Meera Bajpai, Sophia Reyes & Carlos Gomez with All Region Choir medals.

Winter Concert featuring Sudie Show Choir January 2023

Dec. 15, 2022

First, I wanted to say thanks for all the condolences for my mother's passing Dec. 3, 2022. She was a 4th grade teacher in the 1960s and '70s, so I grew up in the business so to speak. Your kind notes meant so much to me, especially the notes from my 4th-graders--each decorated with music notes!

Second, because of the family death, our winter concert was postponed from Dec. 6, 2022, to January 2023. Specific date not set yet, but parents will be informed of the evening performance. The January show, themed Winter Song, will feature holiday songs in our first live auditorium concert since the pandemic.

Third, hope you caught our holiday show at the Galleria this week, and our Choir students participated in the annual Holidaze Neighborhood Singing Dec. 15. SEE THIS WEBSITE MAIN PAGE FOR PERFORMANCE CLIP OF 'Zat You, Santa Claus?'

Finally, happy holidays to you & yours! The fall semester brought many successful ventures in Choir: 6 First Division medals for our Choir student soloists at UIL Solo & Ensemble, the Su-chella Halloween performance on the Sudie stage, weekly online voice lessons for students auditioning for All Region Choir (which will be Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023, at Greiner), student participants in All City Choir Clinic & Concert at W.T. White High School, weekly after school sectionals to prepare for UIL Choir Concert & Sight Reading Contest (Feb & Mar 2023), our Show Choir's invitation to perform at the spectacular Galleria showcase, Sudie Honor Choir's invitation to again sing at an SMU Men's Basketball game (Feb. 19, 2023, Moody Colliseum) and our annual Holidaze neighborhood singing Dec. 15!

Never forget: Singing lifts the spirits!! Indeed!

Wishing you & yours a sparkling holiday season! 

Ms. Bell

Choir Director/Music Teacher 

Nov. 3, 2022

Sudie Choir students presented a clean sweep of First Division Ratings (and medals!) at our first attended UIL Solo & Ensemble contest!! DISD Choir division had not participated since the pandemic. Judge's comments noted our students' beautiful tones and range. I am SO PROUD of each of our participants and their well-deserved First Division ratings: Carlos Gomez (7th grade), Maja Jo Kuehnemann (7th grade), Chloe Voss (6th grade), Sophia Reyes (6th grade), Presley Saba (7th grade) and Elliot Motter (8th grade). Special notice: Elliot sang a song from Hamilton and Maja a Bach aria in German! The judge was blown away!

Now on to All Region Choir auditions in January! I work with the same students by providing weekly online voice lessons so they will be well prepared. Sudie has had six students make All Region Choir the past two years.

Sudie Honor Choir was asked to return again to SMU to perform the Star-Spangled Banner at a televised men's basketball game. Our booking is Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023, at 2 p.m. Tickets much be purchased to attend. A link will be provided.

A winter program is being planned in conjunction with Modern Band and Orchestra for a week in December. Stay tuned. The Choir show will feature our elementary music students as well as 6th grade Choir and Show Choir.

Our Show Choir was invited to perform at the Galleria 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 12. Hope you can come out & see the show!

And Holidaze: Singing in the Neighborhood will be another festive event in December before winter break. 

ABOVE: 6th Grade Choir rehearsing Cantamos! for Hispanic Heritage Month.

Oct. 10, 2022

Hope everyone will come out to the first Sudie Showcase, called Su-chella, featuring our Show Choir and 6th Grade Choir along with Orchestra and Modern Band 6 p.m. Thursday & Friday, Oct. 20-21, in the auditorium! It's FREE and will feature art work by our students, too. Choir students will perform a couple of Halloween songs and are learning to apply stage makeup. 

We are putting together other songs for a winter concert featuring three jazzy song-and-dance numbers by the Show Choir. 

Our 4th Grade Music students are thoroughly enjoying learning how to play the recorder. They are doing an excellent job, too, and I believe they'll be ready to play something at the winter concert.

December also will feature our second annual Holidaze singing in the neighborhood.

Listen to the latest Adventures in Singing podcasts. You might hear someone you know.

Finally, this year's Choir T-shirt design is by 6th-grader Zoey Childress. Look for the unique singing musical design worn by our Choir students soon.

Sincerely,

Ms. Bell

Choir Director/Music Teacher

Sept. 2, 2022

The Sudie Choir program is off to a smashing start with booked gigs already including a showcase featuring all our school's musical performing groups in October live on the school stage! The Show Choir, 6th Grade Choir & 5th Grade Music classes will present some spooky numbers. Date(s) and times to be set soon.

On a more serious note, I need parents and guardians of our Choir students (grades 6th, 7th & 8th) to please encourage your child to pursue All Region Choir and UIL Solo & Ensemble competitions this fall. I'm offering free weekly online voice lessons with any Sudie Choir student who wants to audition for these scholarly competitions. Dallas ISD has brought back All City Choir auditions this year, after a couple of years postponement during the pandemic, and those auditions are coming up at the end of October. I'm teaching our Choir classes the songs they'll need to perform, in short segments, for the All City & All Region Choir auditions. Different songs would be selected by me for UIL Solo & Ensemble contest.

Both All Region and UIL are the most scholarly choir competitions in which we participate. Getting chosen for the All Region Choir and earning a First Division rating at UIL are very impressive accomplishments to feature on student bios as they pursue high school and even college.

Thank you for talking to your child about the voice lessons to best prepare for these contests! You may contact me at cbell@dallasisd.org or through Dojo.

Sincerely,

Ms. Bell

Choir Director

Aug. 5, 2022

Hello again! Hope everyone enjoyed summer sunshine with rest and relaxation. This year is looking to be a very good return to normal: Choir students may audition for All City Choir as well as UIL Solo & Ensemble in the fall; Sudie Showcase concert featuring Show Choir, Orchestra and Modern Band, likely in late October; Sudie Show Choir holiday concert off campus in December; 4th grade Music students learning recorder; the official UIL Music Memory Contest for 4th and 5th grade Music students; Holidaze Neighborhood singing in December; and All Region Choir auditions as well as the Honor Choir's return to UIL Concert & Sight Reading Contest in early spring; and the Choir Department's musical revue of Grease at the end of the school year!!

I can't wait to get going on day one (Aug. 15) with fun songs and music activities! I will continue blogging every week. The Choir Google Classrooms are set up with invitations for enrolled students to join. Elementary Music Google Classes will be set up next week based on the rolls.

The Choir Room bulletin boards feature my summer trip to New York City as a choir chaperone of middle school students performing at the prestigious Carnegie Hall and a starry night sky awaiting the Vocal Ensemble's headshots! Send 'em to me now: cbell@dallasisd.org.

See you real soon!

Fondly,

Ms. Bell  

May 13, 2022

Hi Sudie Family! This is my first Choir Blog.  During the upcoming school year, I will update it weekly to let everyone know the exciting music activities my Choir and Music classes have been working on as well as upcoming performances and contests.

I'll begin by recapping the 2021-22 school year in Choir. We received show choir outfits (silver sequin blouses and black shirts/pants) just in time for our virtual mini winter concert.  Many thanks to the PTA for funding these snazzy outfits.  We also received our newly designed Choir T-shirts: black polos for Honor/Show Choir, gold polos for 6th Grade Choir, and green T-shirts with a cute singing Lion for the Elementary Choir!  Again, my thanks to the PTA for funding support!

The Show Choir presented a virtual winter program, which has its own page on this website.  They performed "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" and a disco version of "Sunny" where they strutted the stage and did the hustle and the bump (popular dance moves in the disco era, I explained).  We also presented a first-ever Holidaze for the residential neighbors, singing seasonal songs in December before winter break.  Students wore their Choir T-shirts, came by after school to the Choir Room for refreshments and games, waited till dark, and wore lighted bracelets and necklaces while walking the sidewalks to congregate at the front of each home and sing.  The residents loved it!  The intention was to spread good cheer after a couple of years of pandemic isolation.  Holidaze will be an annual event, that's for sure.

In February Southern Methodist University emailed me about the possibility of our middle school Choir singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a basketball game, which is televised on ESPN.  Most students were able to attend the Sunday afternoon event.  Two-year Sudie Choir student Payton Harris, 8th grade, also wanted to sing "Lift Every Voice" since February is Black History Month.  SMU Sports Department supported the notion, and after Payton sang the song as a beautiful and poignant solo, Sudie Choir was asked back to sing at a much bigger SMU basketball game, this time attended by President George W. Bush and his wife Laura! 

Representing Sudie in the All Region Choir was Justin Stout, 8th grade, who participated in a live concert in Waxahachie. Justin took voice lessons with me online every week from the beginning of the school year to learn the studious classical concert music.  He passed the audition!

The spring semester highlight was most definitely our musical revue of "Little Shop of Horrors."  Students auditioned in the fall and rehearsed their solos weekly after school in the Choir Room.  Everyone in Choir, from 6th grade to 8th grade, had a role, either performing on stage or backstage tech crew handling props, sound and lights.  I am SO PROUD of the Sudie Choir students for this enormous accomplishment!!  Most of all, they had so much fun (and a couple of pizza parties, one with ice cream).  You can watch scenes anytime on the Little Shop of Horrors' page on this website.

Choir students voted on the best performers in LSH.  Winners were: Zoe Moore (8th grade), Best Actor; Mai-An Bui (6th grade), Best Downtown Dancer; John Faybik (6th grade), Best Supporting Actor; Rocky Lancaster (7th grade), Best Downtown Worker; and Emiliano Rodriguez (6th grade), Best Stage Crew.  Trouper of the Year Award, selected by Ms. Bell, went to Samantha Gonzalez (8th grade) who worked lights instead of dancing all the numbers in LSH.

In late spring, a group of Sudie Show Choir students performed at the PTA's first live meeting since the pandemic, presenting the "Dentist!" scene from "Little Shop of Horrors."

Sudie Elementary Music students still participated in Music Memory even though DISD declined this year due to pandemic concerns.  Our elementary Music students were assigned 16 pieces personally and lovingly selected by Ms. Bell.  To make it extra fun, I added movie themes and video game music to the mix.  After many games, several quizzes and a major test, a dozen students were invited to the Sudie Music Memory Contest ... with the winning team being: Francesco Montillo & Jack Rangel (5th grade) and Miriam Camp (4th grade).  They received medals to mark their scholarly music accomplishment.

Coming up is a singing contest exclusively for students in our after-school Karaoke Club Friday, May 20, in the auditorium.  

Next year, Choir students will present another fun and big musical revue, Show Choir will perform a medley from "Hamilton," and Sudie will be well represented in all UIL/All Region Choir contests.  Elementary Choir should make its mark in an off-campus contest like Pride of Texas.  We'll have Karaoke Club again.  For now, I wish all my students good health and happiness ... from SINGING!

Ms. Bell -- Choir Director/Music Teacher

PICTURES BELOW!!