choir

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!

We have one week left of school before we hit the stage for the Christmas Concerts. these are very different than the Swingfry. Each student will be in at least 11 songs. There will be costumes, actors, dancers and at one point all 7 Choirs will be on stage together! Our shows will take place on Saturday, December 7th. One show is at 4:30 p.m. and it will be followed by a Subway dinner in the Cafeteria. The second show will begin at 7 p.m. and should end by 8:30 p.m. You may pick up your child at any door. Tickets will go on sale Wednesday or Thursday next week. They may be purchased by your son/daughter during Choir class.

We will be having our tech rehearsal on Tuesday, December 3rd for all students who have special roles: soloists, ensembles, dancers, actors, etc. It will run from 3:15 – 6 p.m. Please pick up your child at Door 23 (pool side). Some kids may leave early based on where they fall in the rehearsal schedule. They may call home when they are finished.

Dress Rehearsal takes place on Thursday, December 5th from 3:15 – 6 p.m. All choir students are expected to attend this rehearsal. Students will need to be picked up at their assigned doors. 6th door 23, 7th door 1, and 8th door 29. These are the same doors we used for SwingFry.

Students will be wearing their black and white outfits for the concert. We would also like them to bring a Santa hat, an elf hat, garland to wrap around themselves, blinking lights, etc. At one point in the show they will all Christmas-fy themselves. It doesn’t have to be a lot. Just something they can throw on in 15 seconds. No clothes needed, just accessories. 🙂

We are asking now for donations to help pay for each child’s dinner. Our total will be approximately $1,300. The smallest and largest gifts will be greatly appreciated. We don’t want one child to go without a meal between shows. Checks made payable to NMS please. Please send your donation in asap so that we know we can pay for the meals again this year. Thanks again.

Now we need to talk about volunteers. I know this is soon after the last program but we need approximately 50 people to fill out the slots per concert. DON’T STOP READING PLEASE!!! At Swingfry we had two chaperones. We cannot safely do this program with that amount. Every position needs filled. The entire second half the kids will be on stage so it won’t be that difficult. You can also be on stage watching your child perform. If we do not have adequate supervision the kids will need to sit with their parents during the show and then come up on stage. This will really hurt the flow of the show as we wait for kids to board the stage from the auditorium. I don’t want to do that, but I must think of the safety of our kids first. So please sign up on the signup genius tab to help out.

Phone moms will receive their call sheets on Monday from their child.

Dress rehearsal treats and water should be sent in Thursday morning.

Dinner Crew should report to the cafeteria on Sat at 5:15.

Dress Rehearsal moms will meet me in the Choir room at NMS at 2:45 on Thursday.

Concert Chaperones for show one will meet me in the NHS Choir room at 3:30 p.m. Show 2 will meet me at 6:25 p..m.

Box office and Ushers will meet Mr. Norwood 45 minutes before the each show.

Tear Down crew should report to the stage after the 7:00 show.

Photographers may take pics of rehearsals 30 minutes before shows and/or the show on stage.

See? It does take a village! or at least our Choir families!!

Northridge Middle School Choirs

NMS Choir Summer Survey!

One week? Can you believe it?