Surround the State in Song

The NDACDA "Surround the State in Song" honor choir took place on Oct. 8th. This is one of my favorite activities as a music teacher, because I remember my very first honor choir better than any other I attended. The first time you sing with a large group of talented, passionate people who love singing as much as you do is always amazing. This year I had the opportunity to take seven wonderful singers from my 5th and 6th grade chorus. I hope they had as much fun as I did!

Surround the State in Song

"Surround the State in Song" was a great event again this year! I've posted about this every year, but if you don't know what "Surround the State" is, it is a 5th and 6th grade honor choir hosted by the ND ACDA chapter. Students from all over the state attend a day-long rehearsal at 5 different locations around North Dakota. They rehearse the same songs and perform a concert at exactly the same time, 4:00. This way, the students are literally surrounding the state in song! What a cool concept!

I took 7 students from my 5th and 6th grade chorus. We also have choir members from a private Catholic school and some of those students attended as well. Here are some pictures from our day.

A little break between rehearsals!

Don't they look good?!

The members from our choir! So proud of these young people!! :)

Surround the State in Song 2014

Every year, NDACDA has an honor choir for 5th and 6th grade students. Teachers select their top 6 choir students to attend and they spend one day together rehearsing for a concert that afternoon. The cool thing about this choir is that at the same time our concert was being performed, 4 other concerts with the exact same music were being performed at the exact same time all around the state. We literally "Surrounded the State in Song".

This is always one of my favorite events during the year and its the first time many of these kids have sung together with a large group. This year, our conductor was Beth Rasch, the music teacher at Ramstad Middle School in Minot. She did an excellent job! Our choir was made up of around 50 students from 10 different schools. Here are some pictures from our day.





Hanging out with Colonel Sanders!

 Two of the instrumentalists for the percussion in "Rhythm of the Rain".

Another percussionist for "Rhythm of the Rain"

The students from Ely and Little Flower

And of course we had to take a goofy picture! 

Surround the State in Song

Once again, 6 of my 5th and 6th grade choir students attended the "Surround the State in Song" honor choir sponsored by NDACDA. This year, our school hosted the event, which was great! Dr. Charlette Moe from NDSU was our guest conductor. The students had a great day rehearsing and performed a wonderful concert that night. They sang songs in Hebrew and African, and also learned how to scat sing. Here are some pictures of our day. For more pictures and information, you can check out the NDACDA website at www.ndacda.com.

The entire choir-Students from 5 area schools attended.

Ely Elementary and Little Flower Elementary participants with their teachers.

My lovely singers!

Surround the State in Song

"Surround the State in Song" is a 5th and 6th grade honor choir that occurs every October in our state. The top singers from choirs all over are selected to perform. Five students from Ely were selected to attend this year's festival. They rehearsed for a full day and performed a wonderful concert that night. At the same time our concert was being performed, the exact same concert was being sung at 3 other locations around the state, literally surrounding the state in song! Here are some pictures of our day!