Changes to Choir Structure
The High School Honor Choir will include up to 100 singers in total. Final numbers will be decided depending on the number of students auditioning and the overall standard of auditions throughout all voice parts. The combined choir will perform 5 works, 3 of which will be prepared for the audition.
The top 32 auditionees, in addition to being members of the combined High School Honor Choir, will also be a part of a smaller chamber choir and will perform 2 additional works on their own. These works will not be a part of the audition but will be prepared by the students involved before the event.
During the time that the conductor will be working with the smaller chamber ensemble, the remaining singers may be participating in conference interest sessions and/or observing the chamber choir rehearsal.
The top 32 auditionees, in addition to being members of the combined High School Honor Choir, will also be a part of a smaller chamber choir and will perform 2 additional works on their own. These works will not be a part of the audition but will be prepared by the students involved before the event.
During the time that the conductor will be working with the smaller chamber ensemble, the remaining singers may be participating in conference interest sessions and/or observing the chamber choir rehearsal.
Registration schedule
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ASAP September 13 November 16 December 16 Further information |
Register early as a teacher to receive early discounts. Teacher registration must be completed before registering students for the event. To register, please click on the link above. Registration DEADLINE for Auditions (please see Audition requirements below). Please register your students for auditions using the link above. Audition Free: $35 per school regardless of how many students audition. Any cancellations should be emailed to Dan Hughes as soon as possible. hughes_r@wvwc.edu Audition date Auditions will be held at WV Wesleyan College - 59 College Ave, Buckhannon, WV 26201 Teachers are advised, via e-mail, the students who have been accepted into the chorus. Student Registration Due. Registration forms will be available after the results are announced. One School Form required per school AND one Student Medical Form per student. Please print the Medical Form 2-sided and send it before the registration deadline. Please note that medical forms no longer need to be notarized. Cost: $55 per student, not including hotel Please email questions to Jeremiah Smallridge - jsmallridge@k12.wv.us All Checks should be sent to the following address: Buckhannon-Upshur High School C/O Jeremiah Smallridge 270 BU Drive Buckhannon, WV 26201 
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Audition Requirements
Audition Fee: $35 per school regardless of how many students audition.
Students will be required to learn 4 pieces for the audition.
Honor Choir participation Fee: $55 per student. Due December 16
Audition pieces to be prepared:
Shout For Joy!, Dan Davison
I Will Be a Child of Peace, Traditional Shaker Hymn, arr. Elaine Hagenberg, ed. Dan Forrest
He'll Make a Way, Byron J. Smith
Domine ad adjuvandum me festina, G.B. Martini
In addition to preparing the 4 set pieces from the repertoire, the students will be asked to sight read one example, prepare minor scales, and clap two given rhythms, one in simple meter, and one in compound meter.
Students will be required to learn 4 pieces for the audition.
Honor Choir participation Fee: $55 per student. Due December 16
Audition pieces to be prepared:
Shout For Joy!, Dan Davison
I Will Be a Child of Peace, Traditional Shaker Hymn, arr. Elaine Hagenberg, ed. Dan Forrest
He'll Make a Way, Byron J. Smith
Domine ad adjuvandum me festina, G.B. Martini
In addition to preparing the 4 set pieces from the repertoire, the students will be asked to sight read one example, prepare minor scales, and clap two given rhythms, one in simple meter, and one in compound meter.
- Sight-reading: Sight-reading examples will be generated using Sight-Reading Factory. The sight-reading example for each voice part will be the same for each student. The student will be given the starting pitch and the major triad.
- Minor Scales: The student is to prepare all forms of the minor scale – natural minor, harmonic minor, melodic minor. They should be prepared to ask for a starting pitch for the octave they find most comfortable to sing (if they do not request a specific pitch, they will hear the pitch C). They will hear their pitch only once before beginning, and should sing all three scales successively in the aforementioned order. They may use whatever system they are familiar with to sing these scales, and will be scored solely on the accuracy of their pitches.
- Rhythm: The student will be given two examples. One in simple meter and one in compound meter. The rhythm is to be clapped at a given tempo. Students may count out loud as they clap the rhythm using whatever system of counting they are familiar with. Each example will be 4 – 5 measures long.
| cantate_domino.pdf |
Repertoire
Full Ensemble:
Shout for Joy – Dan Davison (Walton Music) SATB, piano WW1388
Domine ad Adjuvandumme Festina – GB Martini, ed. Castellini (Concordia Publishing House) SATB, piano, soloists 976304 / 1958
Nyon, Nyon – Jake Runestad (Jake Runestad Music) SATB, a cappella JR0007
I Will be a Child of Peace - Hagenberg SATB, piano Beckonhorst Press CU1023
He’ll Make a Way – arr. Byron T. Smith (Onyx Music Publishing) SATB, soloist(s), piano, drums BJS0001
Chamber Ensemble:
Cantate Domino – Hans Leo Hassler, ed. Rafael Ornes – CPDL SATB a cappella Follow link above to download copy.
Down to the River to Pray - Philip Lawson (Hal Leonard) SATTBB, a cappella 08744684
Conductor: Dr. Deanna Joseph
Dr. Deanna Joseph is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at the Georgia State University School of Music where she conducts the University Singers and leads the master’s program in choral conducting. In 2015, she was the recipient of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Outstanding Teacher Award at Georgia State, where she was selected out of a pool of over 800 faculty. A recent review of her work states, “[t]he choir sings with great musicality, excellent intonation, clear diction, and a healthy and beautiful pallet of tone colors…” (The Choral Scholar).
In May of 2017, the University Singers under Dr. Joseph’s leadership won first place in the renowned Marktoberdorf International Chamber Choir Competition while on a concert tour of Austria and Bavaria. In May of 2013, the University Singers competed in La Florilège Vocal de Tours where the choir placed second overall in the mixed choir category and Dr. Joseph was honored with the Prix du chef de choer (conducting prize). The Georgia State University Singers have been invited to perform at two Southern Division conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and at two conventions of the Georgia Music Educator’s Association during Dr. Joseph’s tenure at GSU, and the Georgia State University Choirs have been hired to sing two productions of David Bintley’s Carmina Burana with the Atlanta Ballet: in 2013 (North American premiere performances) and 2017. The choir’s professional recording, Evening Hymn (Gothic Records), is distributed internationally by Naxos and is available for purchase or streaming on all the major music distribution outlets including Amazon, Spotify, iTunes, etc. The American Record Guide review states “There are no runts in the repertory litter…[and] [t]he Georgia State choir of 40 is very good at all of it: radiant as dusk approaches, but hushed and sensitive to the coming darkness as shadows deepen and fall.” The disk has been featured several times on National Public Radio’s program, With Heart and Voice.
Dr. Joseph is an active guest conductor and headline clinician and has conducted all-state and honor choirs in more than twelve states. She is a frequent conductor of choral-orchestral repertoire and has led performances of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Beethoven Mass in C, Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation and Lord Nelson Mass, Schubert’s Mass in A-flat and Bruckner’s Mass in D Minor. She has prepared choirs to sing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Opera, and Andrea Bocelli. One of her small ensembles was featured on a 2016 episode of “The Walking Dead”.
Dr. Joseph’s research in the area of 19th-century choral-orchestral performance-practice has led to invited presentations on the topic at several division conferences of the American Choral Director’s Association and at the national convention for the National Collegiate Choral Organization. In October of 2012, she was selected as one of 25 presenters from ten countries to speak at the Lund Choral Festival in Sweden.
Prior to her appointment at Georgia State University, Dr. Joseph served on the faculties at Smith College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
Dr. Joseph holds conducting degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where she was awarded the Walter Hagen Conducting Prize. She is the founder and artistic director of the Atlanta Summer Conducting Institute (ASCI), a weeklong, summer conducting master class that draws conductors from across the country.
Rehearsal Notes
Coming soon!