ŻShasta High School Choir NotesŻ

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Volume 14, Issue 3 September 2009

Welcome Back!

Welcome to Shasta High Choir! It is great to be back in the classroom with your kids. Every year I grow to love Shasta High School more and more. I have a feeling this could be an exceptional year for the Choral Program. The students have been extremely responsive to my directions and show a genuine adoration for music and life.

Our choir schedule is as busy as ever and is summarized in the calendar on the back page of this newsletter. Auditions are sneaking up on us for our first amazing production – Madrigal Dinner. Students will be auditioning for parts on September 23rd and 24th. I hope you will be involved with your child’s life in the Choral Program in some way. There are many opportunities waiting for you in many different areas – Madrigal Dinner, Spring Musical, Choir Boosters, etc. We have a blast working together, developing friendships, and most importantly, helping our kids achieve greatness. Thank you for your support.

Sincerely, Gavin Spencer

Parent Meeting After Back-to-School Night

Our first parent meeting is on Wednesday, September 2 at the conclusion of Back-to-School Night. The meeting will start at 8:15 pm in room 712 (the large room in the music building). This is a very important meeting for all choir parents, but especially for parents of freshmen or first-time choir students. Not only will we elect board officers for 2009-2010, we will explain the structure of the choir program, including our two major fundraisers – the Madrigal Dinner in December and the Spring Musical in May. Both of these activities require intensive parent involvement. The profits from the Madrigal Dinner and the Musical are used to fund a large performing choir trip, every three years. For the last trip in June 2008, over ninety students had the pleasure of touring Europe and visiting Prague, Vienna, Salzburg and Munich. Our next large performing choir trip will be in the summer of 2011. We are working with our tour company on our next trip’s destination. With the rising cost of traveling to Europe we will be investigating other wonderful locations. We will announce the exciting destination for summer 2011 choir trip sometime very soon!! If you are interested in having your student participate in this trip, it is really important that you get involved. We use the choir point system to divide our profits and help underwrite the cost of the trip for students. The point system is explained on page five of the newsletter.

Anyone wishing to run for elected office must notify the Choir Director, Gavin Spencer, before the Back to School night by telephone at 241-4161 or e-mail gspencer@suhsd.net This will allow us time to get your name on the ballot. The elected positions are President, Vice-President, Secretary, and a Member-at-Large for Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Class Representatives. We also have lots of non-elected committee chair positions that will need filling.

Choir Communications

The choir has its own website at www.shastachoir.com. A current calendar of events is always available on the website. We also communicate important information by group e-mail. Please make sure you give us your e-mail addresses - for both parents and students – so you can keep current on what’s happening with choir. This first newsletter is being sent home with your student but after that, newsletters will be posted on the choir website unless you specifically request to have them mailed to you. Please contact Karen Woods at 244-1551 or 945-4220 if you do not have Internet access to make arrangements to get a printed copy of future newsletters. Please note that we produce four newsletters a year (Sept, Nov, Jan and April). They will be posted on our webpage and a group e-mail will be sent out as a reminder. Please make sure that you visit our webpage frequently throughout the school year. There is information updated with important schedules for Madrigal and Musical.

Congratulations to Peggy O’Lea!

Peggy O’Lea has been a great supporter of the Shasta High School Choir program. In addition to innumerable volunteer hours that she has contributed, she has served as the Treasurer for the past two years and is the past Choir Boosters President. Peggy is the 2009 recipient of the Woman of Achievement Community Award from the Redding branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), which is a wonderful honor. In addition to her involvement with the SHS Choir, Peggy participates in many other cummunity activities including as the Executive Director of the Shasta Library Foundation. Due to Peggy’s outstanding networking and fundraising, we all benefit from and enjoy the beautiful new Shasta County Library. She is also the Chairwoman of the Sundial Film Festival and services as a elected board member of the Redding School District. Congratulations, Peggy, and YOU DESERVE IT!

Has Your Student Ordered A Choir Polo Shirt?

Informal choir uniforms consist of the navy choir polo shirt and khaki pants for boys, and the polo shirt plus khaki pants, capris, or knee-length skirts for girls. Solid dark closed-toed shoes are required. Boys must tuck in their shirt. Cost for the polo shirt is $25; please make checks payable to Shasta High Choir. Credit Card payments are welcome as well.

Choir students MUST have a navy blue choir polo shirt for their first performance in November. If you have not already purchased or ordered a polo shirt, please get an order form from Mr. Spencer or call Karen Woods at 244-1551 or leave a message on the choir cell phone 945-4220. We will have order forms and polo shirts in various sizes to try on at the Back-to-School parent meeting. We will be placing only one more order to our polo shirt supplier on September 14th. Please make sure that your order is placed in time. Thank you.

Formal Choir Uniforms

Formal choir performance wear will be distributed in September. Please encourage your student to take good care of these uniforms. Girls must wear FLAT black shoes (madrigal shoes are perfect) and black TIGHTS. Boys must purchase a choir tux shirt (at any tux store), and must also wear black dress shoes and black socks. A white undershirt is encouraged under the tux shirt. The students are assigned a number to their uniform, and are responsible for replacing any article that is lost or damaged. Costs will vary, but range from $10 for a bow tie to $70 for a jacket. No student will graduate with an outstanding debt for any reason. When your student brings his/her performance wear home, PLEASE READ THE ATTACHED INFORMATION CAREFULLY. Adhering or not adhering to the performance wear dress code will affect your student’s total points in choir and may affect his/her final grade. Please check to see if your student’s clothing needs hemming of any kind. This may include your daughter’s dress hem, or son’s pant hem or jacket cuffs. There will be names of cleaners and their addresses and phone numbers listed on the information if you should need to avail yourselves of that help.

Contact Performance Wear chair: Jayme Blazian at jaymeez4@yahoo.com

Or Co-chair of Performance Wear: Colleen Tweed at mpoppins@sbcglobal.net

Cookie Dough Fundraiser

The Shasta High Choir will have a “Red Apple” cookie dough and catalog fundraiser. Students will receive the information materials in class around the end of September and sales will last for approximately two weeks. The profits from the sale of “Red Apple” items are tracked by individual student and are deposited in that student’s choir account to be used toward the cost of the large trip in June 2011 or other choir trips such as Spring trips, Honor Choir etc.

Please contact the Cookie Chairperson, Ronda Graham at brjg@sbcglobal.net if you have any questions.

2009 Madrigal Dinner

The magic of the Madrigal Dinner will soon be here again. The tradition of being a part of this wonderful dinner performance adds so much to our holiday season. It is a tremendous pleasure to watch our students take part in such an awesome program. Shasta’s Choral Department has a great cast of talented students. As parents, let’s show our support for all the hours of hard work they put in the program and be supportive volunteers to help create this “magic” once again.

The performances this year will be December 2,3,4,5 and December 9,10,11,12. In order for this long-running tradition to continue as well as it has in the past, we need the help of our new parents as well as our seasoned veterans. It is time for everyone to help by volunteering to sign up for one or more committees. You’ll find that it is a lot of fun and exciting to be an active parent in such an outstanding program. Each night’s performance requires approximately 50 volunteers. We will have an organizational meeting on September 28 at 7pm in the choir room. You don’t have to have a student in the Madrigal Dinner to help. We also need freshmen or sophomore parents who are interested in co-chairing a committee this year, to learn what is involved, and to assume the chairmanship next year. The hours you donate will be converted to “points” which can be used to help fund your student’s 2011 trip. The more hours worked, the more affordable the trip becomes. (The point system is explained on page five of the newsletter.)

For more information on volunteer opportunities and committee chairs positions available please contact:

Shelley Woollard – Madrigal Production Manager at 242-6151 or mslll@sbcglobal.net

Ronda Graham – Madrigal Production Co-Chair Manager at brjg@sbcglobal.net

Madrigal Dinner Ticket Purchases & Patronships

Pre-general ticket sales order forms will be mailed out to parents who have students involved in the Madrigal Dinner the last week of September. Tickets are $35 each with limits depending on your student's grade level. If you do not receive a letter and order form by October 1st, please call Laurel Johnson at 246-1838. The orders are due back by October 23rd. Additional tickets can be purchased at general public ticket sales from 9:00 am – 12 noon on November 7th and 14th at the Shasta Learning Center/David Marr Theater foyer with a limit of 4 per customer. We cannot guarantee the same night as your original order or that seats will be together; picking a mid-week performance might make it possible. The date by which orders are received determines the seating charts so please get them mailed back to Laurel Johnson ASAP! Thank you.

There are still Madrigal Dinner patronships available. The cost is $200 with two free tickets included with the opportunity to purchase six more. Patrons receive first consideration to choice of nights for seating. Patronships are a wonderful way to contribute to the choir program and insure that your dinner guests can be seated as a group. In addition to Royal treatment for seating arrangements, your family name or business name is displayed on our Patrons’ easel board which is placed for all guests to view as they enter the Madrigal Castle. Please let all of your family members and friends in the business community know that this is a great opportunity to advertise with the wonderful bonus of experiencing the Madrigal Dinner! For your convenience we now take payments by cash, check and credit card.

Contact: Laurel Johnson at 246-1838 or madtickets@att.net if you are interested in a patronship.

Ducky Derby Fundraiser

Shasta Choir Students will once again have the opportunity to sell Ducky Derby tickets. Ducky Derby is a very popular fundraiser in our community and can be extremely profitable for our choir!

Ducky Derby is sponsored by the Redding East Rotary and helps raise thousands of dollars each year for programs like our choir that encourage our youth to stay drug and alcohol-free! This year a minimum of 80% of all the funds raised by Ducky Derby ticket sales go directly back to the schools and programs that sell the tickets. In our case, 80% of each sale raised by an individual Shasta High School choir student will be credited to that choir student’s account. This money can be used later to help fund the participating choir students’ costs for various choir activities throughout their years in the Shasta High School Choir, including fall Opera trips, spring field trips, and even Honor choir trips. The funds raised will be allocated and dispersed according to the rules and regulations of the Shasta Choir Booster Board policies.

Starting at back to school registration and through the month of September each student has the option of selling Ducky Derby tickets to other family members, friends, or neighbors. Each duck is only $5, but every ticket can be used to adopt more than one duck up to a maximum of 100 ducks per ticket. In addition to helping the Shasta High School Choir, everyone who adopts a duck has the opportunity to win all sorts of wonderful and amazing prizes including 7’ x 10’ Dandy Ducky Kid’s Playhouse or a Giants’ Weekend in San Francisco valued at over $850. You can find out more information about prizes by going to the Ducky Derby website at http://www.reddingduckyderby.com/prizes2009.php .

STUDENT SAFETY is always our first priority so please discuss your family’s rules about selling tickets. NEVER allow anyone to sell tickets door-to-door alone and only sell to people you know. Remember you are representing the Shasta High School Choir and always conduct yourself positively and appropriately when selling tickets.

Ducky Derby is considered a charitable organization; therefore, it is advisable to discuss any possible tax deductible opportunities with your own personal financial advisor.

All Ducky Derby tickets, sold or not sold, must be returned to your choir class period on or before Wednesday, September 23, 2009, in order to ensure individual student credit and entry in the race of ducks sold. This year’s annual Redding East Rotary Ducky Derby Event will take place at Lake Redding & Caldwell Park on Sunday, September 27, 2009. All checks should be made payable to “Ducky Derby.” Please turn in your tickets to your choir class as they are sold rather than saving them all to the last minute. Remittance slips will be provided with tickets, when they are signed out by the student. If at any time during the fundraiser you need more tickets, please check with Mr. Spencer at the beginning of choir class.

If you have questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact our Ducky Derby Ticket Chairperson:

Eva Moty evamoty1@aol.com Good luck & have fun selling!!!!!

Point System Explanation

OUR GOAL: The point system was introduced to encourage parent involvement in choir activities, to help families pay for choir trips, and as a way to distribute earnings fairly to our hardworking students. The Choir Boosters was established to give our students the best experience we can. It is run by a Board elected at a general Parent Meeting. We are all volunteers.

Points may be earned by parents and students by working on choir activities such as the Madrigal Dinner or the Spring Musical. Generally, one point is credited for each hour’s work. Points will be assigned a monetary value and credited toward trip expenditures for the European trip.

Points have a monetary value only when used for the Europe choir trip. They do not constitute money in the real world and are non-refundable. Money equal to students’ unused points remains in the choir account to fund choir expenditures such as microphones, tuxedos, or computer equipment.

HOW ARE POINTS EARNED? Parents may earn points only when working on a project that benefits the entire group and not for such things as making your own student’s costumes. These points may be applied to the account of any of their children who are enrolled in choir. They may earn 1 point per hour when working on choir projects or when serving in the following ways:

Officer of Booster Club 20 points
Committee Chairperson 20 points
Newsletter 20 points

Students may earn points by participating in these ways:

Madrigal Dinner Cast 30 points
Musical Cast 40 points
Backstage Assistance 30 points
Officer in Choir 10 points
Ushering at Musical 1 point per hour; 20 maximum
Working for Music Dept. 1 point per hour
Housing out-of-town guests 1 point per visitor

A student can be credited with a maximum of 120 points each year, which may be earned in any combination by the student and his/her parents. There is a maximum cumulative total of 300 points for each student.

If you are going on the Europe Trip and you have not been able to earn points over a three year period because you were a transfer student or a sophomore the year of the Europe Trip, you may request Board review of your point status. This review must take place by the November board meeting of the Europe Trip year. Call the Points Chairperson to schedule the review.

WHO MAY EARN POINTS? Parents, or approved adults, may earn points for only their own children who are currently enrolled in choir. Children cannot earn points for themselves until they are in a high school choir, even if they are cast members. Points earned by a student in the music program cannot be transferred to a sibling or a fellow choir member. Points may not be earned by sisters and brothers, cousins, grandparents, friends, etc., nor offered to anyone outside the immediate family. Although we welcome the help of these people, the value of points would be greatly diluted if we allowed too many people to collect them. Parents who are employed by the music department do not earn points for time spent at their paying jobs, but may join committees to earn points.

HOW ARE MONETARY VALUES OF POINTS FIGURED? The total number of points earned for the year by all students will be divided into the total net income from the Madrigal Dinner and the musical. This will establish a fixed value for the points earned that year. The amount each student has earned toward the cost of the European trip is calculated by multiplying this value times the student’s total points for that year. Points and their values will be fixed at the end of each year and cannot be changed at a later date. Point values will differ from year to year depending on the number of students’ and parents’ hours and the success of the musical. (The Madrigal Dinner is always sold out.) Points are only used towards the cost of the European trip. Freshman students who can attend two trips during their high school years will be allowed to use their first year earned points (120 points maximum) for the freshman year trip. They will also be allowed to earn another 300 points maximum toward the senior year trip.

FUND RAISING PROJECTS: Fund raising projects must have prior approval from the Boosters Board when the Shasta High Choir Boosters or a particular trip is mentioned in the advertising for the event. Monies collected will be deposited in the Choir Boosters’ account, in the individual student’s name, to be used toward choir trip expenses only. The person in charge must furnish the Treasurer with a list of students who earned money.

RESPONSIBILITY: It is the responsibility of every parent and child to use the sign-up sheets provided at each activity. This is the only way your points can be reported. It is the responsibility of the chairpersons to provide sign-up sheets, tally total hours worked by each volunteer and turn in these points in a timely manner.

All appeals for change in points must be addressed in writing to the Choir Boosters Board. Questions about your account’s current status may be addressed at any time during the year to the Student Points Coordinator or at any Parent Meeting. If you suspect that there has been an oversight, be sure to take care of it during the school year in which you worked.