Today was CHORALPALOOZA 2015 at Ridge HS. For the past 10-15 years, I have hosted a choral festival at my high school where I invite 5-6 area schools to come perform for each other and often times, for a clinician. In the past, we have invited Patrick Gardner from Rutgers, Heather Buchanan from Montclair, Tony Leach from Penn State, Chris Thomas from Rowan University, Z. Randall Stroope from Oklahoma…to name a few.
This year we invited NICK PAGE from Boston http://nickmusic.com/ and the timing of his work with our singers could not have been better. If you have experienced Nick as a community song leader (in the day he referred to his work as POWER SINGING), you know deeply how memorable his time can be with a room filled with singers. He transformed our 500+ high schoolers into a beautifully resonant ensemble in minutes. He worked his inspiration and magic through all kinds of songs and activities. Our invited schools included Warren Hills HS, where their quarterback recently passed away suddenly after a Friday night football game…a hit to an unknown enlarged spleen was the cause of death. Hanover Park lost two teachers and a grad over the summer. Here at Ridge, one of my junior girls was run over by her uncle as she lay in his driveway on her cellphone staring at the stars. He never saw her; she never heard him. Miraculously, she is home and ambulatory with movement of both legs and toes after surgery for broken pelvis, ribs and punctured lung. Lucky kid. She was in school to take the PSAT last week. Everyone experiencing various unexpected life losses/changes of which Nick was aware and incorporated those back stories into his work with the kids. It was magical and transforming and I would highly recommend him as a clinician for your school.
I hope as month number two comes to a close you are finding many magical moments in your world.
Thanks for reading
Barbara
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