SwingFry Schedule for Saturday!

Hey all! We finally got to combine the grade level choirs today and we are super excited to show off these kids’ sound on Saturday! Just in case you were wondering/wanting a rundown of the schedule for the day of, we have received the show order for Saturday. Call times should be 30 minutes before their performance time (6th Grade – 2:40pm, 7th Grade – 3:20pm, 8th Grade – 4:00pm, KL – *5:25 Dressed and Ready).

Reminder: There is still time to order tickets ahead and save a little money, so consider skipping the line and ordering those online here (https://northridgechoirs.ludus.com/index.php)! More info on prices can be found below.

Excited for the kids to get an opportunity to show you the hard work they’ve been putting in! Hope to see you there!

SwingFry Ticket Link

Hello again choir parents!

I had a few folks reach out after our last post asking where to buy tickets for swingfry, and we unfortunately hadn’t been given the link to purchase them yet. Thankfully, that link was given to us this morning! Please click the link below if you are interested in buying tickets ahead of time! You may still purchase tickets at the door, but there is a discount for buying them through the website. We’re so excited for you to see all the hard work your students have been putting in!

https://northridgechoirs.ludus.com/index.php

Ticket Prices:

$16 Adult Meal/Show  –      $20 at the Door

$10 Child 5-11 Meal/Show  –  $15 at the Door

$10 Performer meal -        $15 at the Door

$8 Show only –             $10 at the Door

SINGcerely,

Mr. Maura

Swingfry Info!

Dear Choir Parents,

SwingFry is less than two weeks away! Below you will find some information that will help you and your family plan for the big event! This is the Annual Northridge Choirs Fundraiser. We will be having a big party over at NHS filled with food and entertainment on Sat. Nov. 15. Dan’s All You Can Eat Chicken and Fish will be served in the cafeteria and every middle school and high school choir will be performing in the auditorium for their scheduled time. Each choir with their specials will have approximately 20 minutes on stage. You may come and go before or after any set of songs.  

Please remember that this is a Fundraiser. Prices are higher than a normal meal price so that we can raise money. Selling tickets for the dinner, selling bake sale items, making money off of the Silent Auction, and funds raised from the concession stand will help us build our MMPA accounts to help us fund NMS and NHS Choir Department needs throughout the year. Please, please, PLEASE invite family and friends to help us raise money for our kids. These links will be found on the Northridgechoirs.com website.  Links for Volunteering Position https://mmpa.membershiptoolkit.com/volunteer/157506 WE ASK THAT ALL CHOIR PARENTS WORK TWO SHIFTS. You will find all kinds of jobs to pick from.  This is a very big party and we cannot do it without everyone’s help! 

Additional links for Bake Sale and Silent Auction Donations can be found there as well.  https://mmpa.membershiptoolkit.com/volunteer/157494 There will also be a link for you to buy your dinner and show tickets. Students don’t need to pay for the shows because they get in free to all of them, (but they will need dinner tickets if eating at the event).

We will be having a mandatory dress rehearsal for all choir students after school on Thursday, November 13. Students do not need to dress in their outfits for this rehearsal. It will be at the high school so you will pick up your child there. See below for the time and location:

6th graders should be picked up  at 5:15 at Door 23 (Back side of NHS closest to US20.  Pool Parking Lot.

7th graders should be picked up at 5:30 at Door 1 (Front of NHS in teacher’s parking lot.

8th graders should be picked up at 5:45  p.m. Door 29 (Back side of NHS Band Parking Lot …which is the side opposite of the Pool Parking area).

Knight Light Students will rehearse until 6:30 p.m.  All Knight Light students should be picked up at Door 23 (Back side of NHS closest to US20.  Pool parking lot. 

Dress Rehearsal, NHS Auditorium, Thursday, November 13

  1. Parent Volunteers who signed up for treats please send in treats or water for Dress Rehearsal. Have your child drop them off in the choir room that morning.
  2. Students will be either walking over to the high school, or riding buses, depending on the weather.  Students should bundle up for the short walk! After the rehearsal students will be dismissed to a specific door for pickup in hopes of reducing the waiting lines in the parking lot.

SHOW DAY – SATURDAY NOV 15TH students should be in the NHS Band room 30 minutes before their performance times:

3:10 pm – 6th Grade, 3:30 pm – Chamber Lights, 3:50 pm – 7th Grade, 4:10 pm – Varsity Lights, 4:30 pm – 8th Grade, 5:10 pm – Starlights Concert, 5:30 pm -Northern Lights, 6:00 pm-NHS Jazz Band, 6:20 pm – Knight Lights, 6:40 pm – Northern Lights/Starlights  

PLEASE NOTE: 

***Students will be asked to watch at least 2 other choirs perform their set before going home.  Our choirs learn so much by watching other choirs perform! This will help them complete a written critique assignment on Monday.* If you can’t stay for them to watch the two 20 minute performances, we have a make-up assignment that they can be given to complete at home. The groups that they watch are up to you, and your own schedule. We encourage our parents to sit with their children to monitor their behavior and enjoy this experience together. If you are working a volunteer shift or unable to sit with your child we would like our students to sit in the reserved seating made available for them so that they can be monitored. 

What our kids should be wearing for their show: (NOT FOR DRESS REHEARSAL) BOYS: Black pants, black socks, black shoes (may be tennis shoes), white long sleeve shirt with a collar. A clip-on tie will be given to them when they arrive. GIRLS: Black knee length skirt (or longer) or black pants, black dress shoes (no flip flops or tennis shoes), White blouse with a collar that buttons closed. They will receive a rosette tie to put on when they arrive. No colored cami’s or t-shirts under the white shirt please. No biker shorts, or black hose under the skirts. No hose or tights are necessary.

VOLUNTEER INFORMATION

  • Dress Rehearsal Chaperones will meet Mr. M & Mr. N in the NMS Choir room on Thursday, Nov. 13 at 2:45.  You will be given instructions at that time. You should be finished around 6:15 p.m. A rehearsal outline will be sent home to you with detailed instructions the day before dress rehearsal.
  • Chaperones for SwingFry Concert Day should meet their choir in the bandroom at NHS 40 minutes before the performance times listed above. You will be asked to take attendance on the clipboards and assist the kids as they put their ties on ☺.  
  • Treats and Water reminders will be phoned next week. Please drop them off Thursday morning, Nov 13th.
  • A complete list of each grade’s parent volunteers (treats, water, dress and show chaperones) may be found on the nmschoir.org website under the Sign-Up Genius page. The NHS sign up for SF Day volunteers is here:  https://mmpa.membershiptoolkit.com/volunteer/157494 
  • If you signed up to help out at SwingFry as a server, greeter, etc. Your committee chair should be contacting you with details soon.  (*If you can wear white shirts and black pants as you volunteer, please do.)
  • If you signed up to send in Baked Goods for the bake sale you can drop your items off in the high school auditorium lobby on Friday Nov. 14th, from 3:00 – 7:00 or Saturday, Nov. 15th from 10:00 – 2:00 p.m.  

        Sincerely, Mr. Maura and Mr. Norwood

  maurad@mcsin-k12.org; norwoodc@mcsin-k12.org

SwingFry Volunteer Opportunities!

Hey all!

We have received SwingFry information to pass on to you all from the high school! Below you will find a letter that should be coming home with your daughter/son today, as well as the links to the SwingFry signups mentioned.

We are just under 2 months out from our first performance of the year, the SwingFry! In case you were not a part of the choirs previously, a couple things to know. The SwingFry is our big fundraising event for the year put on in partnership with our high school choirs. During the event, students from 6th grade to senior hit the stage to put on amazing performances for the thousands of parents, family, friends, and community members coming out to the see the show! Throughout the course of the day there will be Bake Sales, Silent Auctions, as well as an All You Can Eat Chicken and Fish Dinner that you won’t want to miss! To help make this event possible, it takes a tremendous amount of help from students, parents, and volunteers. On the SwingFry tab of the choir website you will find links to different ways that you can help us out in many areas of need. Our high school parent volunteers help cover the times during our own middle school performances (tentatively between 3:00pm and 4:45pm, definite times to come in October) so that our parents/etc. are able to catch their daughter/son’s performance, so we are asking our middle school choir parents to help cover times during high school performances to allow them to do the same. We are looking to have at least one sign-up from each choir students family (more is definitely welcome as well😉). If you could take a look at those links and help fill in an area of need, it would be greatly appreciated! Can’t wait to show off the awesome work these kids have been putting in! Thanks all!

SwingFry 2025 Parent Volunteer Sign-Ups

Desserts & Bake Sale Sign-Ups

Upcoming Purdue Glee Club Performance Opportunity!

Hey all! Just wanted to share out an opportunity to catch an awesome performance this weekend! The Purdue Men’s Varsity Glee Club (including 3 of our own former Northridge Grads, Nicholas Beaver, Nathan Gibson, and Drew Stahly) will be presenting a performance alongside our own Northridge Northern Lights on Saturday, September 27th at 7:00pm. Ticket information can be found below (with a special $10 student ticket price for Northridge students)! Hope to see a bunch of you out there cheering on this awesome performance!

6th Grade Glow-In Skate Night!

This announcement is for all 6th Grade Choir parents (7th and 8th Grade Choir Parents, your announcement is still upcoming, so keep an eye out for it😉)

Hey all! Coming home with your choir daughter/son today is a parent letter talking about our upcoming 6th Grade Glow-In Skate night (a link to a digital copy of the letter can be found here for your convenience). To summarize everything quickly:

  1. Who: 6th Grade NMS Choir Students Only
  2. What: 6th Grade Choir Skate Night (Cost: $5)
  3. Where: Jarisa’s Fun Zone (14385 Indiana 120, Bristol, IN 46507)
  4. When: September, 30th from 6:00-7:30pm
  5. Why: To reward and get to know these awesome kids outside of the classroom and cut loose on the skating floor!

This will not be a mandatory event but we sure hope your daughter/son can join in for the fun! Parents are welcome to come along and watch but only 6th grade NMS Choir students will be allowed on the skating floor (Most parents drop off their child and come back at 7:30) Pick up time will be at 7:30pm.

Hope to see them there! – Mr. Maura and Mr. Norwood

A Great Start to the Year

Hello choir parents!

We’re off to a great start at here at NMS Choirs! All of our students have been working hard, and they’re sounding really, REALLY good! They’re already able to sing through 2 full songs, and they’re all doing very well with the Music Theory we’ve been working on! Personally, I couldn’t have asked for a better group of kids to be teaching during my first year, and I’m sure Mr. Norwood would agree that all of the students are a joy to teach and to be around.

Additionally, thank you so much to everybody who has already signed up to volunteer in some way for our choirs. It means a lot to Mr. Norwood and I, and it’s incredibly beneficial to the students. While checking the sign up genius, we noticed that we’re a bit light in terms of chaperones for all of the concerts, especially in regards to 7th grade parent chaperones.

If you are at all able to help out, it would be gratefully appreciated if you could please check the sign up genius for your students grade level and sign up to chaperone so our performances can run smoothly! Thank you! Mr. Norwood and I can’t wait for you to see all the hard work your kids have been putting in at Swing Fry.

-Mr. Maura

6th Grade Sign Up Genius: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090F4DADA92DA7F85-57876279-6thgrade

7th Grade Sign Up Genius: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090F4DADA92DA7F85-57877011-7thgrade

8th Grade Sign Up Genius: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090F4DADA92DA7F85-57877179-8thgrade

Mr. Maura – Introduction

Hi there! I’m Mr. Maura! I am so excited to be joining NMS Choirs, and I can’t wait to meet all of the students and make some amazing music! I just graduated from Western Michigan University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Choral Music Education in April, so this will be my first year teaching. I have always loved choir, and my experiences both singing in and teaching ensembles throughout college have only further bolstered that love. I am committed to working with Mr. Norwood to ensure the already thriving choir community here at NMS continues to grow and flourish! I cannot wait to meet you all in person. Until then!

-Mr. Maura

NMS Choir Summer Survey!

Hey all! Long time no see! Hope you all are having fantastic summers so far! Just wanted to reach out with a couple of updates on the upcoming school year while you still have plenty of time to soak up the summer sun!

First off, in case you missed the announcements towards the end of the year, with Mrs. Armington heading off into retirement bliss, there will be a new face around the NMS Choir room! Mr. Danny Maura will be joining in on the fun as the new choir director alongside myself! Mr. Maura comes to us as a recent graduate of Western Michigan University as we are super excited to have him hitting the ground running with the Northridge Middle School Choirs this year! Keep an eye out for more from him in the coming weeks!;)

Secondly, with the next school year still being a month away, Mr. Maura and I were wanting to touch base with you all in regards to the concert structure for the upcoming year. In the past as many/most of you have been a part of, we have performed 2 performances for both the Christmas Concert in December as well as the Final Blast in May. This was primarily due to the expected number of attendees being sizably higher than the high school auditorium seating capacity (999 seats). Going off of last years numbers, our tickets sold for the two performances of both concerts were between 1000-1100. With those numbers being so close to fitting in just one showing, and knowing that there were several parents/families attending both shows, we have been considering condensing the 2 performances back into a single performance for each concert. This would, in my eyes, alleviate the need for a meal in between the shows as well as lessen the number and time commitment for parent volunteers which would be a nice change of pace. There would still be a few logistical issues (finding ways for parent volunteers to still catch their daughter/son’s performance, timing of the performance for attendees, etc.) which we would be open to suggestions on, but overall it feels like it could be the right move at this juncture (with the potential to pivot back if things change in the future).

To that effect, we wanted to gauge parent/family response before committing fully to the change for the year. To help with this, I have put together a quick parent survey (I heard that groan past-KL parents;). If you could take a quick moment to fill that out at your convenience over the next few weeks, we would greatly appreciate it!

Link to 2025 NMS Choir Parent Survey

I think that’s all that we have for you all at the moment. Hope you all have tons of fun things planned to fill out these last 4 weeks of summer fun! Thank you for taking the time to fill that out and as always feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns! Thanks all!