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 2025 UAB Honor Choir.  I am so proud of your work ethic and attitude.  Congratulations to our Chamber Choir as well as a 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


This Week in Choir…

Women’s Choir:
Final preparations for Assessment
Music Theory Test

Men’s Choir:
Final preparations for Assessment

Concert Choir:
Final preparations for Assessment

Chamber Choir:
Final preparations for Assessment
Continue learning Laus Trinitati, Rest, Fá Una Canzona, & Nachtwache
Continue learning Invictus & The Lord Bless You & Keep You, & the Alma Mater


Grissom Choral Parents Association Monthly Board Meeting
This Monday evening, the GCPA Executive Board will be hosting their monthly board meeting at the South Parkway Starbucks at 5:30p.m.  These meetings are open to any current Grissom Choir stakeholder, including parents/guardians.  If you wish to become more involved with supporting our students, or are interested in becoming a member of the board next year, please feel free to attend.

Tidal Wave Auto Spa Fundraiser
Last week, Grissom Choir kicked-off its last fundraiser of the school year, a final run of our Tidal Wave Auto Spa Car-Wash Fundraiser.  Each ticket can be sold for $10 (valued for the $20 Car Wash), of which $5 will go towards the student’s individual My Music Office Account.  This is an easy and fast way to raise money for Grissom Choir related fees!  Pre-Sell Ticket Order Forms were made available last week in the Grissom Choir room, and students will have around 2 weeks to sell.  Order forms will need to be turned in to the Grissom Choir Money Box in order to receive tickets once the fundraiser ends.

Grissom Choral Assessment
THIS week, our first annual Grissom Choral Assessment (GCA) will be held at Grissom High School on March 6th.  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.  As this is a performance, all students are expected to be at school and participate in this assessment for a Summative Performance Grade.  Please see below for the schedule for this day:

    Thursday, March 6th: A-day
        A1 - Chamber Choir (normal class time)
        A2 - Men’s Choir (normal class time)
        A3 - Concert Choir (will be excused from A3 class)
        A4 - Women’s Choir (will be excused from A4 class)

Grissom Choir Course Registration
All students should have received 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) on the course registration sheet.  All other students should register for The Concert Choir, which should be listed as Mixed Chorus III (Course Number: 05110G1003) on the course registration sheet. 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.  Should there be any student that wishes to be in The Vocal Lab class (an entire class block that allows students to rehearse their All-City, All-State,Solo & Ensemble, and Pizza & Pop music!), please come and speak with me so that we can have the correct class listed on your course registration sheet upon director approval.


Sincerely,

Tucker Ratcliff
Choral Director | Grissom Choir
Webmaster & Editor | Alabama ACDA
Treasurer | Huntsville Choral Directors Association
(256) 428-8000 ext. 2271 | [email protected]