This Week in Choir: Week 27

Good Evening Grissom Choir,

Congratulations to all four Grissom Choir’s for representing our program exceptionally last Monday at the 2026 UAB Honor Choir.  I am so proud of your work ethic and attitude.  Congratulations to our Chamber Choir as well their high-calibre solo performance during the Spotlight Concert.  A recording of this event can be found on our YouTube page at www.youtube.com/@grissomchoir

Another congratulations to our 14 acts on such a wonderful 2026 Pizza & Pop!  We have such immense talent in Grissom Choir, and is a joy to see our students sharing it with their friends and family!  Thank you to John Lemmons for helping us secure a great venue this year at First Baptist!


This Week in Choir…

Women’s Choir:
Continue learning Little Fishes, Don’t Cry! & The Music of Living
Begin & finish memorization of Fire & Ice, Flight, & Love Never Leaves

Men’s Choir:
Finish memorizing The Water is Wide & Actus
Continue learning Bring Me Back to My Heart & The Music of Living

Concert Choir:
Finish learning Eternal & Like A River
Finish reviewing The White Moon
Continue learning Love: Then & Still & Insane et Vanae Curae

Chamber Choir:
Finish memorizing Responsorials #1 & I Should Be Glad
Continue learning Goodbye Yellow Brick Road & Keramus
Continue reviewing The National Anthem & Measure Me Sky!


Chamber Choir National Anthem @ Baseball Game
This coming Tuesday, March 3rd, the Chamber Choir will be performing the National Anthem at our home Baseball game.  Students have been directed to wear jeans and this year’s Grissom Choir T-Shirt, as well as report to the choir room directly after school!

Grissom Choral Assessment
In one week, our second annual Grissom Choral Assessment, newly renamed the District III Choral Assessment, will be held at Grissom High School on March 11th.  Each choir, alongside our three feeder middle school choral programs, will perform 2 songs in contrasting style that we have been working on this semester in front of a panel of 2 clinician.  These clinicians assess each choir in their execution and performance of these two songs, focusing on blend, balance, tone, rhythmic and note accuracy, musical phrasing, energy, etc.  Each choir will then be rated our performance based on a rubric and scoring sheet: I: Outstanding, II: Superior, III: Excellent,  IV: Good, & V: Fair.  Grissom Choir has had a history of being rated Outstanding & Superior in their performances, of which I am excited to continue with our students.  The on-stage choir is then given a post-performance one-on-one clinic & workshop with one of the adjudicators, which is designed to encourage, invigorate, and enforce the daily teachings of each department.  All of our choir’s assessments will take place during the normal school day.  All students will need to bring their complete concert uniform to school that day and may leave it in the women’s & men’s dressing rooms until their performance time (Concert Choir must wear their uniform to school).  As this is a performance, all students are expected to be at school and participate in this assessment for a 400 point Summative Performance Grade.  Please see below for the schedule for this day:

    Wednesday, March 11th: B-day
        B1 - Chamber Choir (will be excused from A1 class)
        B1 /Advisory- Concert Choir (normal class time/will be excused from Advisory)
        Advisory/B2 - Men’s Choir (will be excused from class, with 3rd Lunch)
        Advisory/B2 - Women’s Choir (normal class time with 1st Lunch)

Grissom Choir Course Registration
All students should have turned in their Course Registration sheets for next school year.  It is my expectation that all current underclassmen choir students will continue to take choir. Should there be any student who does not plan on taking choir next year, please come and speak with me privately.  For students who are wishing to audition for The Chamber Choir, please register for the class using Mixed Chorus IV, Course Number: 05110G1004, (Put it down on your registration sheet TWICE!).  All other students should register for The Concert Choir, which should be listed as Mixed Chorus III, Course Number: 05110G1003, (Put it down on your registration sheet TWICE!). This is this same Course Names & Numbers as years prior. Based on both Concert & Chamber Choir auditions, I will relocate students back to Women’s/Mens Choir or to and from Concert & Chamber Choir.  As discussed in class, please be reminded of the following requirements for these two courses as it relates to Traditional Block Scheduling:

**Chamber Choir is designed to be a year-long commitment (2-class spots), with no exceptions.  For those auditioning,  you must be wiling to sacrifice another course if scheduling constraints occur.**    
**Concert Choir is designed to be a year-long commitment (2-class spots).  For those that cannot schedule choir both semesters, you must speak with Mr. Ratcliff when registering.**