2021-2022 Announcements

In this email:

• Pop Show

  • Required Rehearsals

  • Costumes

• Tuxedo Dry Cleaning

Pop Show Rehearsals

(REQUIRED for all academically eligibile singers)

Throughout the school year we try very hard to be respectful of our singers' time. While athletic and other performing arts groups require rehearsals outside of the school day throughout the year, we require very little. When we DO ask our students to rehearse outside of school, however, we really do NEED them to be with us.

During our Pop Show rehearsal we learn music from scratch and stage them -- these are things that most of them are not likely to be able to learn at school. Missing a rehearsal could result in them being removed from a number entirely. As these rehearsals have been posted since last May, we ask that you help us to make sure the kids are at all of these rehearsals, and are not planning to leave early. If we ever finish with choirs early, we will let as many kids leave as possible.

Rehearsal schedule:

• Tues 4/26 4:00-7:00 Mens/Womens Numbers

• Wed 4/27 4:00-7:00 Mens/Womens Numbers (Opener if time)

• Mon 5/2 4:00-6:00 Opener (Staging if available)

• Mon 5/9 4:00-7:00 Mens/Womens Staging (Review Opener if time)

• Wed 5/11 4:00-7:00 Friday Act 1 dress rehearsal (will set soloist lights on this day which takes a while, so we are likely to run until 7:00pm)

• Thurs 5/12 4:00-7:00 Friday Act 2 dress rehearsal (some people will get done early but plan to stay the whole time in case of technical complications, soloists & seniors plan to stay late)

• Pop Show performances: Friday & Saturday 5/13 & 5/14 7:00pm

• Sat 5/14 1:30-2:30 soloist rehearsal, 2:30-5:30 Saturday show dress rehearsal (ALL singers!)

Pop Show Costumes

(REQUIRED for all academically eligible performers)

Each choir number has a "costume" that will be worn for that performance. Please view the attached graphic to see what they will need for their performance.

• PLEASE PLAN TO HAVE ALL OUTFITS COMPLETE AND READY TO GO AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SCHOOL DAY ON MONDAY, MAY 9th.

  • Dressing rooms will be available. Everyone needs to have their items labeled with their name, and should also have a small clothes hamper in which to store their items.

Tuxedo Dry Cleaning

(Required for all male singers)

• Tuxedo coats should all be taken to the dry cleaner ASAP!

• When returned to the choir room, the coats should be in the clear plastic dry cleaning bag. It is important that the receipt is stapled to the plastic bag with the student's name written on it.

• We will place holds on students' accounts for the amount of $75 if they are not delivered to us by Monday, May 2nd. Seniors will not be allowed to graduate if they have outstanding fines!

• Remember that each student purchased their tuxedo pants, shirt, bowtie, and cummerbund, so they do not need to be returned to us. (We still recommend that these items are cleaned before our next formal concert in October)

On Saturday, February 19th the Friendswood High School Choir competed in the UIL Solo & Ensemble competition at Angleton High School. 74 singers represented our school and received incredible reviews from their judges.

For reference, there are three levels of song difficulty with Class 3 being the easiest and Class 1 being the most challenging. They each receive ratings on their performances ranking from 1-5, with 5 being the worst rating and 1 being the best that they can achieve. We generally shoot for 1's and 2's on our ratings, and ALL of our singers reached that mark this year!

Singers receiving a rating of 1 on a Class 1 solo:

Connor Adams, Bella Aguilera, Katelyn Barcelona, Reagan Beaver, Ava Black, Ruby Brashier, Ashley Campbell, Isabelle Chase, Jake Cipolla, Skyler Cloyd, Emily Confair, Alli Daly, Aiden Dean, Coleson Dorsett, Molly Ellard, Nicolas Fantasia, McKenna Fritts, Promise Galloway, Elly Gamero, Chloe Garza, Claire Gibson, Ryan Hatfield, Tristan Hobratschk, Julia Houting, Hunter Hovorka, Mia Killian, Caroline Krebs, Rylee Lambert, Matthew Mankowski, Brie McDowell, Gabi McGregor, Mallory Migl, Maris Morgan, Jimmy Perry, Matthew Rapp, Mars Raska, Dagan Ray, Zoe Sharp, Lindsey Soltis, Aymee Thompson, Sara Throop, Bella Vozzo, Kyla Zalit

Singers receiving a rating of 2 on a Class 1 solo:

Damien Bynum, Ariana Herrera, Drew Koester, Claire Mayfield, Jacob Mayfield, Torrence McGill, Robby Scully, Josiah Strickland, Ashley Wainscott, Meghan Wirt

Singers receiving a rating of 1 on a Class 2 solo:

Morgan Armstrong, Elle Brown, Hannah Brueggeman, Avery Buras, Thatcher Chase, Daisy Harris, Levi John, Lauren Junge, Sophia Niles, Ronni Orr, Aidan Ostermayer, Ashton Raines, Adria Reyes, Pearl Senter, Hailey Setoudeh, Alex Slack, Haley Smith, Sam Turpin

Singers receiving a rating of 1 on a Class 3 solo:

Oakley Abbott, Aidan Bynum, Nicole Medina

Results from our Wednesday competition:

Singers receiving a rating of 1 on a Class 1 solo:

Grace Bilnoski, JP Caldwell, Haley Clausen, Ray Denson, Jai Foster, Katelyn Glass, Greta Kehres, Jeremy McDowell, August Murray, Ella Murray, Sara Parmitano

Singers receiving a rating of 1 on a Class 2 solo:

Trinity Bosley, Paige Garcia, Paige McCray, Andrew Rowe,

Singers receiving a rating of 2 on a Class 2 solo:

Ella Jones, Ayden (Taylor) McClaren, Anabelle Whittington

In This Email:

• Choir Trip

  • Final Payment

  • Final Parent Informational Meeting

  • General Info

• UIL Solo & Ensemble

• Pre-UIL Concert

Choir Trip - New York City

(Only those that have paid to go)

• Final Payment

  • Invoices were sent home this week with the kids to let parents know how much money (if any) is still owed. If you haven't seen it, please ask your kids to find it crumpled up in the bottom of their backpack.

  • Final payment date: Wednesday January 12

• Final Parent Informational Meeting

  • Tuesday February 15, 7:00pm in the FHS Choir Room

  • Please plan to enter via the doors by the theater classroom

  • All final trip information will be given out to parents at this meeting, and we hope to be able to answer all questions at this time!

• Other info

  • We have been in constant contact with our travel agency (they are based in NYC), and they have assured us that our trip will still be happening! While there has been an expected spike of Covid cases following the holidays, we are anticipating it settling down again over the next couple of weeks.

  • All students and parents attending the trip should plan to bring masks to wear while in NYC. It is likely that we will be required to wear a mask, regardless of vaccination status, at any time that we are inside a building in the city.

  • We WILL be needing to provide proof of vaccination before entering many of our events. We, of course, don't recommend lugging your vaccination card around everywhere -- a photo will probably suffice. We will have more concrete information about this at the meeting in February.

  • Finally, as we do not have anyone going on the trip that has informed me that they are not vaccinated, we have not made any plans for trip attendees that cannot participate in events due to their vaccination status, and it is too late now for us to add those kind of plans into our itinerary. If you have not been vaccinated, and were waiting to see if the restrictions were going to be lifted, we can tell you now with a fair amount of confidence that they will not be. If you would like to withdraw from the trip, we will miss you SO much, but it is probably time to go ahead and make a decision. Please contact Mr. Tyer (mtyer@fisdk12.org) with questions.

UIL Solo & Ensemble - Saturday, February 19

(Optional for all students)

• This event is optional for all students, however singers in Vocal Ensemble and students taking voice lessons are generally expected to participate. Any singer that is NOT taking private lessons that wants to participate needs to let Mr. Tyer know ASAP! Encourage your kiddos to do this!

• This is a GREAT first step into competing. If your child has never participated in an event like this, encourage them to do so. They will learn a single short song (typically a pretty easy one for first-timers) and perform it for a (usually very nice) judge.

• This competition is very low pressure –- students don’t compete AGAINST other singers. They simply sing, get a rating, and go home. Easy!

Pre-UIL Concert - Tuesday, March 22

(REQUIRED FOR ALL SINGERS!)

• At this concert we will present our UIL Concert music that the kids will have been working on for months. This performance showcases the culmination of all of our work throughout the school year, and is often some of the best litertature we that we perform.

• The concert will begin at 7:30pm in the FHS Auditorium, and should last about an hour.

• Admission is FREE!

Last night 24 singers from the FHS Choir competed in the Pre-Area audition at Clear Falls High School. This is an extremely competitive event, and those that advance will be moving on to the final (fourth) round held on Saturday, January 8th. Congratulations to the following singers:

Connor Adams

Trinity Bosley (FRESHMAN!!)

Skyler Cloyd

Tristan Hobratschk

Mia Killian (FIRST CHAIR in her room!!)

Gabi McGregor (FIRST CHAIR in her room!!)

Mallory Migl

Dagan Ray

Alternates (will be called to audition if someone in their section is unable to perform):

Alli Daly

Julia Houting

Jimmy Perry

Ainsley Whittington

(A little more info about the process for those that are interested):

The music for each school year is actually released at the end of the previous year in early May. Many of the kids that compete are working on preparing this collegiate level music as early as June/July and often attend week-long camps at major universities in the state to get a head start.

In September we have our first audition, District, where each of the eight voice part sections will audition as many as 80+ singers. From this pool of singers, the top 48 advance to the second round.

In October at the second round, Region, the remaining 48 singers are auditioned again on a new set of music (they had only about 4 weeks to prepare!). From these singers, the top 15 in each of the eight sections are selected to move on to the third round.

The third round, Pre-Area, is the one that we competed in over the weekend. At this audition the singers' level of preparation is extremely high. It's generally understood that a single mistake can result in missing out on advancing. From these 15 singers, the top 5 are selected to advance to the final round.

In January the top 5 singers per section from our Region are grouped with the top 5 from three other Regions (the "WORST" singer in every section is the 5th best in their Region -- they are all INCREDIBLE) to compete in the Area audition (often known as the All-State Audition) resulting in 20 auditionees per section. From these 20 singers, the top 12 girls and the top 9 boys are chosen to be members of the prestigious All-State Mixed, Treble, and Men's choirs, which are known to be some of the best choirs in the nation. The Texas Music Educators Association tells us that appx. 2% of the students that begin the process achieve this honor.

We are so proud of our singers for MONTHS of tireless work on their music. If you see any of the singers mentioned above, please congratulate them on their accomplishment so far and cheer them on as they prepare for the final round. It is truly an impressive feat, and they are SO PROUD of what they have done. Help us cheer them on!

In This Email:

• Choir Handbook / Emergency Form (IMPORTANT!!)

• Upcoming Events

  • Trip Payments

  • Holiday Concert

  • Holiday Party

Choir Handbook (IMPORTANT!)

Back in August and early September we had a required Handbook form and are missing responses from over 100 of our students. Included in this form is information for our Emergency Form, required for any off campus travel. In the shuffle at the beginning of the year it slipped our notice that so many entries were missing, but now that we are aware, we cannot take any student off campus for any reason (including competitions and the choir trip) until it is completed.

I have included a list of student last names (at the very end of this email) for those that have completed their form. If your child's name is not on the list, please fill out the form.

(It sounds like many of you may have completed this form and it’s not showing up in our database. We have NO idea what happened, but we’re only showing 61 out of over 160 needed responses. If your name isn’t listed below, please fill it out again. Thank you for your patience!)

https://forms.gle/jNkzCywCuo5o9nfk7

Upcoming Events

Trip Payments

• Our final two NYC trip payments will be due on Wednesday, December 8^th, and Wednesday January 12^th

• IMPORTANT: Please note that we have a Trip Meeting for all parents and students on Tuesday, February 15^th in the FHS Choir Room starting at 7:00pm.

  • During this meeting we will give out all final details related to the trip, and answer any final questions.

  • This meeting will also count as one of our required “Full Booster Club Meetings”

Choir Holiday Concert (REQUIRED for all students)

Rehearsal - Monday, December 6th 4:00-5:30pm

Performance - Tuesday, December 7th 7:00-9:00pm

Monday Rehearsal:

• This rehearsal is REQUIRED for all singers!

• They do NOT need to bring their tuxedos and dresses for this rehearsal

• This rehearsal is a tech rehearsal (lights and sound) for the performance. We will be running the concert in program order and will release singers as their portion has been completed. At that time they may stay and watch the rest of the performances or they may go home.

• SOLOISTS SHOULD HAVE THE OUTFIT THEY ARE PLANNING TO WEAR FOR THE CONCERT!!!

Tuesday – Concert Day

• For Parents

  • We expect to open the doors to the auditorium by 6:40am

  • The concert should begin by 7:00pm and we expect it to run about 2 hours

  • Admission is FREE!

• For Students

  • Call time on Tuesday will be 6:30pm

  • Students are expected to stay until the end of the concert. There will also be an big "tear down" after the show and it would be helpful if many students stayed to help!

  • What to wear

    • Soloists

      • Dressing rooms will be available for soloists to change into/out of their solo/group outfits (usually nice dresses for the girls and suits for the guys unless some other "costume" fits their song better).

    • Concert Men

      • Tuxedos. They are to bring a pair of antlers as well.

    • Cantabile

      • Choir dresses. Accessories have been purchased and will be passed out in class.

    • Bel Canto

      • All of Bel Canto will be staying after school until the concert begins for an activity involving their holiday accessories. They are to bring their choir uniform & dress shoes and any necessities to school with them in the morning and hang them in the choir room.

    • Campus Singers

      • For one of their songs (the first one of the show) this choir will be wearing "ugly christmas sweaters". Most singers said that they have one already, and several have extras for other singers to borrow. We are going to try to cover everyone if possible. If we don't have enough spares the kids should know by the end of the school day tomorrow if they need to go buy something.

      • We would like to see these sweaters on MONDAY if possible

      • For the rest of their songs the will wear their formal tuxedos and dresses complimented by a red ribbon sash (girls) or a "fake" red pocket square (guys). These will be provided by the choir.

    • Vocal Ensemble

      • Formal tuxedos and dresses

      • Vocal Ensemble will be wearing red santa hats for their performances. We would like for these to be the "standard" red hat with the white tassle. Nothing fancy, no lights, no bells. We don't want to draw attention from our performance.

Choir Holiday Party (Optional for all students)

We are excited to return in full to one of our long standing traditions: the Holiday party!! This is typically one of our most well attended events of the school year, and we’ve already hear an exciting buzz about it drawing near.

• Thursday, December 16^th, 6:00-9:00pm

• Leavesley Park, Jones Hanger

  • 901 Buckingham Drive, Friendswood, TX 77546

  • Parking is VERY limited! Kids are encouraged to carpool or to be dropped off/picked up

• . Dinner will be served from 6:00-7:00’ish

  • Pizza will be provided by the booster club

  • Each ensemble will be asked to bring certain items:

    • Vocal Ensemble: Chips and “salty” snacks

    • Campus Singers: Desserts and other sweet items

    • Bel Canto: 12 packs of soft drinks or a gallon of tea (sweet or unsweet is fine!)

    • Cantabile: Plastic cups or paper plates (will be organized and planned in class who is bringing which items)

• One of the biggest events of the evening is the annual largest white elephant gift exchange in Texas! This will take place from appx 7:00-9:00 (it usually takes just about the entire time!)

  • Students are encouraged to bring a wrapped gift (plan to keep gifts to appx $10 and under)

    • Guidelines:

      • No live animals

      • No used “junk” from your home. Gifts should be either thoughtful or fun, but not trash

      • Keep things school-appropriate

  • What happens:

    • When a student arrives they will be given a random number, and that will be the order that they will choose gifts.

    • When their number is called, they can either choose an unopened gift, or they can “steal” a gift that someone else opened. (Who will bring the most coveted gift?!)

      • Gifts may only be stolen a total of two times before it is “locked”

We hope that all of our students will be able to join us!!

Future Events:

• UIL Solo & Ensemble – Saturday February 19^th @ Angleton High School

  • Optional for all students, however singers in Vocal Ensemble and students taking voice lessons are generally expected to participate

  • This is a GREAT first step into competing. If your child has never participated in an event like this, encourage them to do so. They will learn a single short song (typically a pretty easy one for first-timers) and perform it for a (usually very nice) judge.

  • This competition is very low pressure –- students don’t compete AGAINST other singers. They simply sing, get a rating, and go home. Easy!

• Spring Trip to NYC – March 13-17

• Pre-UIL Concert – March 22, 7:30-8:30pm

Completed Handbook/Emergency forms (We do NOT need submissions from these people):

Abbott

Adams

Armstrong

Barcelona

Baumer

Beaver

Bessler

Bosley

Bromwell

Brueggeman

Buras

Cianciolo

Cloyd

Confair

Daly

Daniels

Fledderman, B

Fledderman, B

Galloway

Gibson

Glass

Goins, M

Goins, T

Haas

Harris

Hientz

Houting

Hovorka

Hunter, A

Hunter, J

Junge

Killian

Konyha

Krebs

Lambert

Langdon

Langlinais

Mayfield, C

Mayfield, J

Mcdowell

Medina

Migl

Murray, A

Murray, El

Niles

Perry

Petry

Raines

Raska

Ray

Rowe

Setoudeh

Sharp

Slack, A

Slack, A

Smith, A

Soltis

Te'o, H

Te'o, W

Throop

Turnbull

Congratulations to the following solos and group numbers that will be featured in the 2021 FHS Choir Holiday Concert!

The program order will be released when we return to school.

Backup tracks must be emailed to Mrs. Smith (msmith@fisdk12.net) ASAP or you will be removed from the program!!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Connor Adams

That’s Christmas to Me - Connor Adams, Tristan Hobratschk, Gabi McGregor, Mallory Migl, Dagan Ray

Noel - Reagan Beaver

Where Are You, Christmas? - Mackenna Bessler, Brenna Fledderman, Brooke Fledderman

Silent Night - Trinity Bosley

For the First Time in Forever - Ruby Brashier & Alli Daly

River - Avery Buras

All I Want for Christmas is You - Ashley Campbell

Come and Worship - Skyler Cloyd

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas - Coleson Dorsett ft. Skyler Cloyd

Winter Snow - Promise Galloway

Amarga Navidad - Chloe Garza

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - Daisy Harris

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Ryan Hatfield

Winter Wonderland/Here Comes Santa Claus - Julia Houting & Jimmy Perry

White Christmas - Mia Killian

Didn’t I Get this Last Year? - Drew Koester

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree - Mallory Migl

Never Fall in Love with an Elf - Maris Morgan

Christmas Waltz - Haley Smith

The Christmas Song - Whitney Te’o

Gesu Bambino - Ainsley Whittington

Blue Christmas - Meagan Wolf

Underneath the Tree - Kyla Zalit

Congratulations to the following singers that will be performing at the PastaPalooza pre-game dinner!

(This order is alphabetical -- we will release the program order later in the week during class)

• Bella Aguilera

• Trinity Bosley

• Alli Daly

• Colseon Dorsett & Robby Scully

• Molly Ellard

• Chloe Garza

• Claire Mayfield & Torrence McGill

• Ella Murray & August Murray

• Ella Murray

• Lindsey Soltis

Please email your tracks to Mrs. Smith ASAP at msmith@fisdk12.net

In This Email

• PastaPalooza Pre-Game Dinner

• Region Clinic & Concert

• Holiday Concert Solo Auditions

• Choir Trip Information

  • 3^rd Payment

  • Chaperone Rooming

PastaPalooza Pre-Game Dinner

• Friday November 5^th

• We are still in need of 6 parent volunteers for our pre-game dinner in the serving lines (one of the most important jobs at a dinner!). Please sign up using the “Sign Up Genius” link below:
  

  • PastaPalooza Sign Up Genius

Region Choir Clinic & Concert

(Required for all members of Region Mixed, Region Treble, and Concert Choir)

Clinic: Friday, November 12th (Gloria Dei Lutheran Church)

• Students should arrive at the school by 7:00am and will load onto school buses to depart no later than 7:30am

• Singers should wear their Black FHS Choir t-shirt on this day. They will also need their Region or Concert Choir music as well as a pencil. (A water bottle is also recommended, not required)

• We will be stopping to get food on the way back to the school, so kids should bring money. (Taco Bell, Schlotzky's, Starbucks, Jack In The Box, Chick Fil A, MOD, Jersey Mikes, Chipotle, all available)

• We expect to have students back in class for 6th and 7th periods

• MPORTANT! There is a "local rule" at Friendswood ISD that states that any student that is failing a class may not miss that class period for a school event EVEN IF THEY ARE ACADEMICALLY ELIGIBLE!
  

  • If students have to miss this clinic day because they are failing a class, they will forfeit their spot in their respective choir! Help us make sure they are passing all of their classes!!

Clinic: Saturday, November 13th (Gloria Dei Lutheran Church)

• Students will, once again, arrive by 7:00am, and the bus will depart by 7:15am (we will not enter the school).

• Singers may wear whatever they like on this day

• All singers should bring:
  

  • Their choir music and a pencil

  • Their formal choir uniform (tuxedos and dresses)
    

    • It is usually best if these are in clear dry-cleaning bags if you have them rather than loose. Please label the bag with the student’s name (first and last), so we don’t get them all mixed up!

  • Money for lunch (est $5-10)

Concert: Saturday November 13th (Gloria Dei Lutheran Church)

• The concert begins at 5:30pm

• IMPORTANT! There is no bus ride home to Friendswood! Singers are expected to ride home with their parents following the performance.

Holiday Concert Solo Auditions

Tuesday, November 16th after school

(Optional for all choir singers)

Our Holiday Concert is fast approaching, and we are excited to have our singers audition for solos and group numbers to be performed in this program.

• Singers cannot audition on a song that a choir is singing in the concert (there is a list of these songs posted in the choir room).

• Singers may audition for one solo and/or one group number (duet, trio, etc).
  

  • For a song to be a duet or trio, it is assumed that there will be harmony, not just two or three people all singing the melody together.

• Audition tracks
  

  • IMPORTANT: SINGERS MUST OWN THEIR TRACKS! We will not accept tracks that are streaming (Spotify, Apple Music, etc), and we will not accept videos (YouTube).

  • We ask singers to try to cut their tracks down to appx. 3:00. If they do not know how to cut their track it is very helpful for them to have an idea of where the cut should be.

• Live music (guitar, piano, ukulele) are allowed, but it is very helpful if the guitar or ukulele have an audio pickup.
  

  • The choir owns a ukulele with a pickup that students may use. They may ask Mr. Tyer at any time if they would like to practice with this instrument.

• Following the audition, we plan to select between 20-22 solos/groups to perform in the concert that will occur on Tuesday, December 7th.

Choir Trip Information

The third trip payment will be due on Wednesday, November 10th

• $305 - Checks made payable to "FHS Choir"

• Remember that, if you haven't already, the increased $25 payment may be attached to any of our remaining trip payments.

Chaperone Rooming

• It's time to begin working out our chaperone rooming:
  

  • Please remember that there will be an added cost at the final payment if you are not planning to stay four-to-a-room:
    

    • Three in a room: additional $100 per person

    • Two in a room: additional $200 per person

    • Single room: additional $400

• Please understand that we will be much more likely to accommodate room requests if you arrange your room on your own! (For example, if you want to stay four to a room, but there aren't three other people that want to stay four to a room we may have some difficulty)

• Make sure to verify with your potential room mates before submitting!

• Please use the following form to submit your rooming requests:
  

  • Choir Trip Rooming - Parents (Click Here!)

  • (You can see the list of adults attending the trip via the form without having to submit a response)

Future Events

• Pre-Area Auditions: Thursday Dec. 2

• Choir Holiday Concert Rehearsal: Monday, December 6th, 4:00-5:30pm

• Choir Holiday Concert: Tuesday, December 7th, 7:00-9:00pm

• Fourth Trip Payment: Wednesday, December 8^th

• Choir Holiday Party: Thursday, December 16th, 6:00-9:00pm. Jones Hangar

FHS Choir Fall Concert

• Tuesday, October 19^th 7:00pm

• Doors are expected to open for audience members at around 6:40pm. The concert should start promptly at 7:00pm.

  • Please plan to enter the school via the doors near the theater

• Admission is FREE!

• We expect the concert to run between 45 minutes to 1 hour

For Students

• Call time for singers is 6:30pm – singers should go straight to their seats no later than this time so that we can take attendance before opening the doors for our guests

• Women should be wearing their formal black choir dress, with black closed-toed dress shoes. Women’s hair should be pulled back from the face, and jewelery and other accessories should be kept to a bare minimum.

• Men must wear their tuxedo including their cummerbund, black bow tie, black dress shoes, and BLACK socks. Any men with longer hair should make sure that it is pulled back from their face.

• All singers in Vocal Ensemble, Campus Singers, and Bel Canto should have a black three-ringed binder with their music inside

  • Binders should not look sloppy – no visible stickers or papers in the front, and plastic cover should not be torn

  • To be clear: singers in Concert Men and Cantabile will not need black binders for this performance

• We would love to have some student help tearing down the stage when the concert is over. With enough help we should be able to accomplish this in 20 minutes or less. (Choir officers are required to help)

PastaPalooza Pre-Game Dinner Fundraiser

• Friday November 5th

• We are still in need of parent volunteers for our pre-game dinner. Please sign up using the “Sign Up Genius” link below:

  • PastaPalooza Sign Up Genius

Region Audition Results

50 FHS Singers auditioned at the Region Audition, the second of a long string of four highly challenging auditions. The top 15 were selected from each room to advance to the third level, the Pre-Area audition, that will be held on Thursday, December 2nd at Clear Falls High School. The following 25 singers have advanced to that round (with their rank in parenthesis):

Region Mixed Choir

Soprano 1: Molly Ellard (5), Claire Gibson (7), Katelyn Glass (10), Alli Daly (12), Grace Bilnoski (15)

Soprano 2: Mallory Migl (3), Ainsley Whittington (6), Meagan Wolf (8), Lindsey Soltis (14)

Alto 1: Julia Houting (3), Gabi McGregor (7), Emma Wright (14)

Alto 2: Mia Killian (2), Ava Black (8), Promise Galloway (10), Trinity Bosley (11)

Tenor 1: Josiah Strickland (9), Hunter Hovorka (10)

Tenor 2: Tristan Hobratschk (8)

Bass 1: Coleson Dorsett (2), Jake Cipolla (8), Skyler Cloyd (10)

Bass 2: Connor Adams (1), Dagan Ray (4), Jeremy McDowell (8)

Members of the Mixed Choir and alternates to the Pre-Area Audition: Reagan Beaver, Jai Foster

Also members of the Mixed Choir: Elly Gamero, Zoey Steingas, Jimmy Perry, Drew Koester

Region Treble Choir

In addition, the following 15 students were named to the Region Treble Choir:

Soprano 1: Maris Morgan, Rylee Lambert, Haley Clausen, Elle Brown

Soprano 2: Ashton Raines, Bella Vozzo, Paige McCray, McKenna Fritts, Daisy Harris, Greta Kehres, Ray Denson, Morgan Armstrong, Torrence McGill

Alto 1: Pearl Senter, Emily Confair

Concert Choir Audition Results

17 FHS Singers auditioned at the Concert Choir Audition. This is a single-level audition, and they will perform at the Region Concert along with the Region Mixed and Treble Choirs later this month. ALL of the singers that audition placed into the Concert Choir! (ranks are listed in parenthesis):

Soprano: Brie McDowell (3), Hailey Setoudeh (7), Isabelle Chase (11), Ariana Herrera (13), Adria Reyes (15)

Alto: Haley Smith (1), Savannah Lormand (15), Katrina Martin-Jiminez (22), Ella Jones (23), Chloe Garza (26), Ava Hanning (43)

Men: JP Caldwell (7), Ryan Hatfield (12), Aiden Dean (14), Alexander Slack (21), Andrew Rowe (35), Thatcher Chase (37)

Friendswood will have 63 singers representing the school at the Region Concert on November 13th at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church. Congratulations to all of these fine singers!

Choir Notes: IMPORTANT Updates!

In This Email:

• PastaPalooza parent volunteer sign-up

  • PastaPalooza Desserts

• IMPORTANT: Final NYC Trip Cost increase

PastaPalooza Parent Volunteers

The Choir PastaPalooza pregame dinner is the event of the year that requires the most parent help. Both choir directors are fully tied up with students, sound equipment, and logistics for most of the afternoon, which is why we desperately need YOUR help!

Jobs include:

• Set up and tear down

• "Door Dads"

  • In the past we have had some people get pretty stingy about having to pay to get into the cafeteria for a variety of reasons. Because of this, having a few strong willed dads to help enforce our "pay to get in" policy is vitally important.

  • Part of this policy comes from parents that want to come to watch their kids perform, but don't plan to eat. We consider the cost of tickets to be inclusive of BOTH the meal AND entertainment. Some people don't see it this way--this is why we need our dads!

• Ticket sales

• Multiple parents helping in food service, dessert table, and floaters.

In order to volunteer to help out, please visit our "Sign Up Genius" link below:

• Volunteer to help with Pasta Palooza

PastaPalooza Desserts

Our desserts for PastaPalooza are traditionally donated by our choir families. We ask that families plan to provide pre-packaged desserts (things like brownies or cookies are great) for up to eight people. The desserts do not have to be home made -- grocery store purchased desserts work just fine. We request that parents refrain from bringing things like cakes and pies that need to be cut and served. All items can be sent with the students to the choir room on the morning of PastaPalooza.

Choir NYC trip - Raised cost

The short version (if you don't care about the details):

• Each trip participant will be required to pay an additional $25 for the choir trip

• This additional cost may be added to any of the 3rd (Nov. 10), 4th (Dec. 8), or 5th (Jan.12) payments (resulting in a payment of $330 for one of those payments)

  • Chaperones, while planning payments, please keep in mind the additional cost added to the final payment for those staying in single ($400), double ($200 per person), or triple ($100 per person) rooms. We will probably be asking for your rooming preferences within the next month to 6 weeks.

The LONG version with explanations:

We hit a bit of a snag with regard to our choir trip. It's a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless.

Our charter buses seat 55 passengers each, with two buses totaling 110 people. Unfortunately, we ended up with 114 people on our trip (116 with tour guides). This is kind of our worst case scenario financially as we are required to roll over into a third bus with very few passengers to warrant the third bus.

Because of this issue, we now have an increase of $50 per person for this trip.

• Junior Tours offered to eat the losses to keep our business. Two years ago (unknown to anyone beside Mrs. Smith and myself), we had a similar situation, albeit for a different reason, and at THAT time Junior Tours ate the losses to the point that they ended up breaking even. To be clear: in order to help us out, they gained no profit at all from our Disney Trip. As I have been working with this fabulous Travel Agency for nearly 20 years now, I would like to honor that sacrifice on their part by doing our part this time.

• In order to defray some of the increased cost, the Choir Booster Club has agreed to cover half of this cost, with the other half (at $25 per person) split between the rest of the passengers.

  • 112 paying passengers (Mr. Tyer & Mrs. Smith are not counted in this number), at $50 per person = $5,600. Half of that number, to be covered by the Booster Club, would be $2,800.

  • This way we are helping out the Travel Agency that has been so good to us over the years, AND we are helping out our families from having to eat the full amount of the raised price.

We are so appreciative of your understanding.

Please email Mr. Tyer (mtyer@fisdk12.net) if you have any questions or concerns.

In This Email

• Events

  • Patriotic Half Time Rehearsal

  • Patriotic Half Time Performance

  • Region and Concert Choir Auditions

  • Fall Concert

  • Homecoming Parade

  • PastaPalooza

  • PastaPalooza Solo Auditions

• Other Items

  • Second Trip Payment

  • Grades / Eligibility Checks

  • Order Form Item Delivery

• Social

  • Back to School Bash

  • Alto Section Party

  • Soprano Section Party

  • Choir Club

Choir website: www.friendswoodhighschoolchoir.org

Upcoming FHS Choir Important Dates & Events

Patriotic Half Time

(Mandatory for all choir students)

Rehearsal - Thursday October 30th 4:00-4:30pm

• All singers in the choir will meet at the front field near the tennis courts. They will sign in, rehearse the program, and immediately be released.

• This rehearsal is short, but it is VERY important as we are trying to coordinate over 200 singers, band performers, Wranglerettes, and theater students. Having several students not present can make standing arrangements very confusing, and those students won't know what to do at the actual event. Please help us to ensure that everyone is present!

Performance - Friday November 1st

• Students are to wear their "Patriotic Half Time T-Shirt". New students will receive this shirt this week. They should also plan to wear blue jeans and sneakers.

• Students must arrive at the stadium no later than 6:30pm. They will enter the home side via the farthest entrance from the school and will go up into the stands where they will meet Mr. Tyer and Mrs. Smith (behind the Wranglerettes).

• Please understand that, once they are with us, they will not be able to leave to get food nor visit family and friends until after the Half Time program is over. We have a LOT of kids to keep track of, and can't have them roaming all over.

• Once the Half-Time program is over the students are released. They may stay for the second half of the game or go home, but they will no longer be under the supervision of the Choir Directors.

• IMPORTANT: If parents wish to go to the game to see the program, game tickets must be purchased online
  

  • Purchase Tickets: https://friendswoodfootball.org

  • Aside from a few Booster Board members that we will have with us as chaperones, parents will not be able to sit with the choir.

Region Choir & Concert Choir Auditions - Saturday, October 16th (Clear Springs HS)

(Only required for Region & Concert Choir participants)

Both of these auditions will be held on the same day at the same location.

• All singers must have "real" copies of music (not photocopies).
  

  • Region Auditionees should already have their music.

  • Concert Choir auditionees will need to pay a fee next week including their $20 registration fee and $7 or $8 for their music (we are still finalizing the total). Payments will be made using "Square" via the FHS Choir website.

  • More information about these auditions including bus logistics, school address, etc, will be sent home the week of the audition.

Fall Concert - Tuesday, October 19th, 7:00pm (FHS Auditorium)

(REQUIRED for all singers)

We are thrilled to present our first concert of the year featuring seven outstanding ensembles, and over 160 incredible singers. Music presented will span 700 years of literature.

• Admission will be free.

• Please plan to enter via the doors near the Theater classroom (labeled as door "35")

• We expect the concert to last approximately 1 hour

• This performance is a MAJOR grade, counting for 50% of their final grade.

Homecoming Parade - Thursday, October 21st

(Optional for all singers)

Homecoming Float Work Days

• Choir President, Mia Killian’s House

• We don't yet know the days for our work days, but we usually need MANY student hands to help make our float the BEST in the parade! More information will be delivered to students in class as things are organized. (There may not be an email about this, so ask your kiddos about it if you think they may want to participate)

• The theme for the parade is "This or That", and the choir has chosen "Marvel vs. DC" for our float theme. We think we are going to WIN this year!

• Logistical information about the parade itself will also be given to participants as the event draws near

FHS Choir Pre-Game Dinner "PastaPalooza" - Friday, November 5th (FHS Cafeteria)

(REQUIRED for all singers)

The "PastaPalooza" is one of our major fundraisers. Our theme, Princesses and Super Heroes (based loosely around Disney properties), is sure to bring crowds!

• We will be calling upon MANY parents to help with the multitude of jobs. Out of all of our events, this is the one that we need help for the most -- taking tickets, directing traffic in the cafeteria, serving food, pouring drinks, and more!

• Singers will stay after school to help us set up, and rehearse between 4:00-5:00.

• We will begin serving food at 5:00pm, along with entertainment provided by our choirs and soloists. The performance will last about an hour, and food will be served until 7:00pm (or until supplies run out).

• ATTIRE: With the exception of a handful of officers and seniors that will be in princess & superhero costume, attire is the black required choir shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers. If there are additional details or accessories, each Choir will decide on their own and students will be expected to take care of this themselves. Students pulling double duty that night (Wranglerettes, band, etc) are welcome to wear the attire that their other organizations require of them - we love seeing the well-rounded talent shining in our singing groups!

PastaPalooza Solo Auditions - Thursday October 28th (FHS Choir Room)

(Optional for all singers)

We hope to have many students interested in auditioning to perform at the PastaPalooza!

• We would like to have solos that fit our theme in some way if possible, but it is not required.

• All auditionees must have a karaoke track that they have PURCHASED (not streaming via Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, etc).
  

  • We will not have equipment set up to accommodate live instruments such as piano, ukulele, or guitar.

  • If possible, tracks should be cut to ca. 3:00. If you are not able to do this, don't worry! We can take care of it if they are selected to perform.

• We will only be accepting a small number of performers (probably around 8 to 10 at most). Don't be discouraged, though! Give it a shot, and if you don't get in keep in mind that we have our Pop Show at the end of the year (probably some kind of Broadway theme this year) that typically features as many as 40+ solos and groups!

• Singers may only audition for one solo and one group number.

• Auditions must be memorized!

Other Items

Second Trip Payment - Wednesday, October 6th

(Required for all trip attendees)

The second payment for our New York trip will be due on Wednesday, October 6th.

• As before, checks should be written out to "FHS Choir"

• Payment amount: $305

• If you have questions or concerns about payments, feel free to contact Mr. Tyer (mtyer@fisdk12.net) or our booster club treasurers, Kathy Johnson-Throop and Shannon Perry (FHSChoirBooster@gmail.com).

Grades / Eligibility Checks

The first eligibility check will be based upon the 6 week progress report. The end of the grading period is Friday September 24th (this Friday), meaning that any student that is failing a class will lose eligibility at 4:00pm on Friday, October 1st.

• Any students that are not passing will not be able to participate in the Patriotic Half Time program on October 1st.

• Any students that are not passing will be disqualified from participation in the Region and Concert Choir auditions.

• The next opportunity to regain eligibility will be via the 1st 9 weeks Report card. The grade period ends on October 15th, and all passing students would be eligibile beginning a week later on Friday, October 22nd.

• IMPORTANT: Concerts, such as our Fall Concert, are considered to be "Curricular", and as such do not require singers to be academically eligibile. The only concert that is an exception to this is our Pop Show in May.

Order Form Items

All items except for the car decals will be sent home with students when they leave the Back to School Bash this evening. If your child is not attending the party we will plan to give them their items on Friday during class.

Upcoming Social Events

FHS Choir Back To School Bash! - Thursday, September 23, 4:30-7:00pm

(Optional [BUT SO FUN!!] for all choir students)

The Back To School Bash is our first full-choir party of the school year. The Choir Officers are working on a fun-filled afternoon of games, activities, food, fun, and prizes centered around a Marvel Super Hero theme (costumes encouraged!). We hope that everyone can come!

Choir Section Parties

(Optional for all singers)

Each section within the choir program will have its own party at the house of one of the members of the choir program. Each party will be unique, and a great opportunity to mingle with singers from other classes. Dates and locations are subject to change:

• Alto Party: Saturday September 25 @ Gabi McGregor's house, 6:00-9:00pm
  

  • 1508 Falling Leaf, Friendswood, TX 77546

• Soprano Party: Friday October 2 @ Ainsley Whittington's house, 6:00-8:00pm
  

  • 303 Regency Ct., Friendswood, TX 77546

More information on each party will be given out in class as the day draws near!

Choir Club

(Optional for all singers)

The "Choir Club" is a new social event organized by our outstanding choir officers. Ironically not a singing opportunity, the Choir Club is a chance for kids to get together, have fun, and be silly with their choir friends. Dates have been selected at a somewhat random interval on days that conflict with as few other events as we can. --Singers are encouraged to bring their non-choir friends along for the fun (and maybe a little choir recruiting!).

• Each choir club day only lasts from 4:00-4:30.

• Upcoming Choir Club days:
  

  • Friday September 24^th

  • Friday October 8^th

  • Friday October 29th

Trip Travel Insurance Updates

(Optional for anyone going on the Choir Trip to New York City)

We have had a few concerns shared with us related to the “Travel Insured” insurance for our trip:

• The dates on the Travel Insured website are incorrect. This is true! The dates listed are for Saturday through Wednesday which are the dates that we had initially planned for this trip. We later were forced to move the trip back to Sunday through Thursday. Because Travel Insured is a different company from our tour company, Junior Tours, some communication just got crossed and the insurance page was not updated.

  • The CORRECT days for the trip are Sunday March 13^th through Thursday Thursday March 17^th

    • We are working on getting the page updated to reflect the correct dates, but it may still take a couple of days

  • Even if you fill out the insurance form listing the incorrect dates you will still be covered and there will not be any complications involved. Don’t worry!

• Why is the page only charging me $18 for insurance instead of $81?

  • The insurance website automatically calculates the insurance cost based upon the amount of the trip.

  • The first box that you type into asks for the Trip Cost for Primary Traveler. In this box you should type the TOTAL cost of the trip which is $1,525.

    • If you type this correctly you should get a pop-up box that shows the $81 insurance fee.

    • The mistake that people are making is that they are typing the cost of insurance into that box ($81) so that it’s calculating the insurance cost at $18.

(information below is copied from our previous email):

Meet & Greet Follow-Up

After checking in with the travel agency earlier this morning, I discovered that they have changed their payment method for Travel Insurance. If you wish to purchase Travel Insurance for our Spring Break trip to New York City, please visit the following link where you will be able to pay directly:

Travel Insured

Payment Reminders

Please remember that we have several payment deadlines that are right upon us and need to be taken care of ASAP:

• (MANDATORY) Order form via Square

  • New to choir click "view products" below "New Student Order"

  • Returning HS choir singers click "view products" below "Returning Student Order"

  • The first item (Student Fee) is required. All other items are optional.

• District Registration fee ($22), only for those singers that are registered for the competition.

  • This payment is also made through Square -- click "view products" under "Competition Fees"

• (OPTIONAL) New York Trip Payments

  • First trip payment ($305) paid via check made out to "FHS Choir" delivered to the "Blue Box" in the choir room no later than Wednesday, September 8.

  • All chaperones must make the same payment as the students, also due by Wednesday, September 8.

  • Optional Travel Insurance ($81) paid using the link above no later than Wednesday, September 8.

Meet & Greet Follow-Up

After checking in with the travel agency earlier this morning, I discovered that they have changed their payment method for Travel Insurance. If you wish to purchase Travel Insurance for our Spring Break trip to New York City, please visit the following link where you will be able to pay directly:

Travel Insured

(https://www.travelinsured.com/group.signup?group=132595&guid=0e31c1c56a5244d0880d59c6506d7802)

(Any payments that were sent in via check today will be returned ASAP)

It was requested that we send out the PowerPoint slide show from the meeting last night, so it has been attached to this email.

Answers to non-trip questions that may not have been answered at the meeting:

• How do we get choir emails? The emails that we send out are delivered via Skyward. If you are not receiving our emails, please check to make sure that your email in Skyward is correct. They will also be copied onto the “Announcements” tab on the Choir website.
  

  • www.friendswoodhighschoolchoir.org

• When I ordered the optional shirt it did not ask for my kid's shirt size. How will you know? During the first week of school all singers filled out a short questionnaire and their shirt size was part of that form.

• When are auditions for Holiday Concert solos? Tuesday, November 16.

Payment Reminders

Please remember that we have several payment deadlines that are right upon us and need to be taken care of ASAP:

• (MANDATORY) Order form via Square
  

  • New to choir click "view products" below "New Student Order"

  • Returning HS choir singers click "view products" below "Returning Student Order"

  • The first item (Student Fee) is required. All other items are optional.

• District Registration fee ($22), only for those singers that are registered for the competition.
  

  • This payment is also made through Square -- click "view products" under "Competition Fees"

• (OPTIONAL) New York Trip Payments
  

  • First trip payment ($305) paid via check made out to "FHS Choir" delivered to the "Blue Box" in the choir room no later than Wednesday, September 8.

  • All chaperones must make the same payment as the students, also due by Wednesday, September 8.

  • Optional Travel Insurance ($81) paid using the link above no later than Wednesday, September 8.

Mrs. Smith sent and received over 35 applications for our contemporary a cappella women's ensemble.

Congratulations to our 2021-2022 AcaBellas!

Our first rehearsal is this Wednesday from 4-6 PM!

See you there - congratulations!

Soprano 1

Rylee Lambert (SL)

Haley Clausen

Elysia Brown

Soprano 2

Molly Ellard (SL)

Taylor Mitchell

Ronni Orr

Alto 1

Julia Houting (SL)

Katrina Martin-Jimenez

Paige McCray

Alto 2

Aubrey Smith (SL)

Torrence McGill

Chloe Garza