This past weekend was the NCC January Jubilee. This is the overnight retreat where the choristers turn in holiday music for their new spring literature, and spend a whole lot of intensive practice as a choir and as individual parts. Belle sings first soprano and Moo sings second soprano. By the end of the weekend, all of the kids have gained a familiarity with the music that would have normally taken two months' worth of weekly rehearsals--but with a whole lot of fun in the margins of a very busy weekend schedule. This year, the girls both had colds, so what is not pictured is their constant nose-blowing...though the presence of friends served as a blessed distraction, and they both report that they had a whole lot of fun. I did too, as I stayed to help out wherever I could and got in lots of good conversations with other choir moms. We left at 11pm on Friday (sorry, no overnights just yet..) and showed back up at 7:45 am on Saturday. When we got home at about 1pm on Saturday, we took our day of rest very, VERY seriously...and we all napped for a few hours.
Here are some pictures I was able to snap along the way:
Dinner time with friends.
After hours of rehearsal, everyone was ready for Mr. James to lead games.
James Wells is one of the directors, and an over-all fun guy. He introduced the kids to the game "Knight, Rider & Princess". It was a lot of fun.
At the end of the night on Friday, at about 10pm, a professional storyteller was brought in to lead the kids in large movement and rhythm activities, and then she told a couple African folk tales and a "spooky" story before bedtime.
She was a very gifted storyteller, and I have decided that this makes my short list of things I want to do when I grow up.
Back for breakfast on Saturday morning--having missed nothing but a sleepless night. :)
Mr. James getting ready to start group rehearsal time.
The NCC put together a demo DVD of the choir singing the National Anthem so they can send it on to some Chicago sports teams ahead of the tour to Chicago coming up in the spring. We'll see if anything comes of it!
During break time, we had the privilege of listening in on a spontaneous ukulele duet, complete with backup singers.
Weirdos...both of them. Sweet, but weird.
That's better. :)
This group is so fortunate to have the resources that it does. It has the luxury of 3 talented directors, who are able to split the group up into parts for individualized part instruction. I am in awe of how excellently Jenny Helwig did the same thing as ONE director over the Young Fox Valley Singers. How blessed we've been to benefit from such gifted instruction!
Here is the demo video that will be sent to the sports teams in Chicago:
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