SJCS Middle School Cougar Chorus is open to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, offers professional-level instruction in vocal technique, as well as exposure to a variety of choral styles. Involvement also enhances young people’s lives, helping them to develop qualities of self-sufficiency, reliability, responsibility, consideration and self-assurance. Teamwork is the root of success for the SJCS Middle School Cougar Chorus. Rehearsals are on Tuesday mornings at 7:30 AM.
Attendance Unless students are absent from school that day, they should be at rehearsal.Please make arrangements now to attend all rehearsals and performances. Sports practices/games, community and church events, or lack of transportation are not considered valid reasons for missing a concert. Your child will only be excused from chorus practice if they were excused from school that day.There may be times a student has laryngitis – although the student might not be able to sing, it will still be beneficial to attend rehearsal – listening is learning and a part of singing. If you must miss rehearsal, please reach out to me.
Appropriate Behavior One of the criteria for membership in the Cougar Chorus is the commitment to a high standard of behavior. This is every bit as important as a student’s musical ability.If behavior becomes a problem, the student’s continued membership will be discussed with the parents.
Grounds for Dismissal from Chorus A student may be dismissed from chorus for the following reasons:
Disruptive behavior during rehearsals
Lack of Preparation for rehearsals
Excessive absences
How We Dismiss from Rehearsal
Middle School students will be dismissed to their regular scheduled classes at 8:00 AM after rehearsal.
Chorus Concert Attire Appropriate Concert attire will include the Blue CHORUS Polo Shirt with the Chorus Logo. This is NOT the SJCS uniform polo shirt. (No other shirts should be visible while wearing this shirt for performance). Performance shirt must be tucked in. Khaki/Tan pants should be worn as part of the Chorus Performance Attire. Brown or Black belt-shirt should be tucked in. Dark socks and shoes—May be brown or black--SJCS brown dress shoes are perfect!
Performance Opportunities for our Students this year Dr. TLee-Kazz is already making performance plans for the Middle School Cougar Chorus this year!Examples of potential performance venues include Christmas Tree Lighting at SJCS, the Archdiocese Spring Music Festival, and performing the National Anthem at an Atlanta Braves home game. It should be a fantastic year for us!
Composer Houses All chorus students are randomly sorted into ONE of FOUR Different Composer Houses—a la Harry Potter.This builds relationship between choral kids.Throughout the school year, we have a contest between the houses to see who gets the most house points.Students receive tickets at each rehearsal for good behavior, great singing, and generally being AWESOME!BEWARE though, students can also lose tickets for excessive talking during practice.At the end of each rehearsal, student place their tickets into their appropriate House Cup Bucket.Dr. TLee-Kazz will have a wall display showing which houses are in the lead throughout the year!The Composer Houses are as follow:
LOUIS ARMSTRONG—One of the most amazing jazz musicians of the 20th Century
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN—One of the most influential Classical Music Composers of all music history
ELLA FITZGERALD—“First Lady of Song” and considered the Queen of Jazz in the early 1900s
JOHN WILLIAMS—The most noted film scorer of all time!—He wrote music for Harry Potter, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Home Alone…to name a few!!
There will be opportunity to purchase Chorus House Shirts and other Chorus Spirit “Swag" in weeks to come.