Chesapeake Choirs Fall 2020 Outline

 Hello everyone!

Mr. Napoli, here. If we haven't yet had the chance to meet, I'm the Choral Director here at Chesapeake Choirs! We just finished off a very interesting first year together, and I couldn't be more excited to get started on the second year with you all. I wanted to give everyone a general idea of what this year is likely to look like, and I think this is the best place to do it. As you read through this, please remember that, as much as I wish I could promise everything is going to go according to plan, that this is a fluid and constantly changing situation, which means that we're going to have to be as flexible as we can when it comes to adapting to new plans.

Obviously we'll all be following our regular AACPS schedule, which means that we'll be having synchronous lessons at the scheduled times. So, without any more delay, here's the plan for each of our groups:

Concert Choir
We've got some exciting things planned, including a virtual choir (sort of like this one that Chamber Singers participated in last Spring), and some really great guest speakers! On top of the core parts of our choral curriculum like vocal technique, music literacy, and ensemble skills, we'll spend a good chunk of the year in a unit on the different careers in the choral world. In this unit we'll learn about the lives of professional singers, composers, conductors & teachers, audio & video producers, managers & administrators, and more!

Chamber Singers
Our main focus in this first semester will be on multiple virtual choirs to release around Christmas time for our parents, friends, and other audience members to enjoy! We'll continue learning more advanced aspects of music-reading, vocal technique, and we'll also have a mock-audition project to help us prepare for different audition scenarios. I'm working on getting a special tool approved that'll hopefully make rehearsals a bit more manageable for us, too. 

Evolve
Did someone say they wanted to do ICHSA? Well here we are! This year's competition, like everything else, is going to be different--it's entirely online, but for our video submission, we won't just be recording from our homes, because we want to make sure we're using the best microphones possible! I'm still working on logistics, but I have a plan that will get you in a room, individually and by yourself, with a mic that is uniquely used only by you. I'll be in a separate room mastering recordings (audio & video), and I'll combine all of your videos into a sort of virtual a cappella group to submit for the competition! I'm also working on logistics for one more project for you all, as well, but I'll save that until everything has been finalized.

All in all, though it might not be what we expected this Fall to look like, I'm so excited at the opportunities we have to continue building our musical family and making music together. Although we can't sing together in the same space, we will always have our choral community to fall back on.

More info to come. See you soon!
​~Mr. Napoli