The school year started out rough for Justice with regards to choir. On the first day of school, he learned that his beloved choir director unexpectedly took a job at a university and there was no choir director at his school. This was a huge blow to him, especially considering the reason he attends that school is because of the choir program. A month passed by, and they finally hired a new teacher, but she quit within two weeks. I won't speculate on why she quit, I have no idea because she didn't even tell the students she was quitting. Students came back from fall break and her office was empty.
The biggest problem with all this is the All West Honor Choir. All West is very important to Justice, it's an audition only honor choir. At the beginning of the school year, the music for All West is released and the students have about six weeks, give or take a few weeks, to learn the music. The music is hard. There were 8 songs, and all but two were in a foreign language. Not just one foreign language, but several.
Panic set in pretty quickly, because he and the other students had to learn the music almost completely on their own. Luckily, the choir director from the middle school came to spend a few hours per week with them, and that helped tremendously.
To make a long story short, he auditioned and did well, all things considered. He got 10th chair and was ecstatic. I was relieved. Not nearly as many students from his school were selected this year, unfortunately. One of the things Justice has going for him is that he can read music because he can play the piano. I use that term loosely, he knows enough piano to fumble his way around, but it did teach him to read music.
I got the opportunity to chaperone again this year, which I was really happy about. I love to watch the rehearsals. I love choir music, and at the honor-choir level, it's just beautiful.
Here is a video of my favorite piece from All West.
And one more.
This trip is grueling as far as practices go, so on Friday evening they were able to go let off some steam at a bowling alley/skating rink.
Bo went with me, like always. This is my last year taking him, next year he will be in school. He's usually very well behaved though so he isn't a problem. Until he gets tired, and at night he was tired. And satan.
He was excited about getting to wear bowling shoes.
All the other kids were really nice to him.
But his bubba is the real MVP. He helped Bo every step of the way, and Bo did NOT make that an easy task.
When Bo said he wanted to try to roller skate I was just knew it would be a complete disaster. It's obviously been about 20 years since I've been to a skating rink because they had these cool things made out of PVC pipe and scooter wheels that help little ones keep their balance. How cool is that?
I put him on the carpet first. He did well enough, so I set him loose on the smooth floor.
All of the Covington High School students together before the concert. I'm so proud of these kids.
My bubba.
There he is, the top row in front of the doorway. This is pretty exciting because they stage them by height. He went from the bottom row to the top row in a year. Haha!
The first semester of school is almost over, and they still do not have a choir director. Justice is becoming increasingly disappointed. They will likely have a new teacher after the Christmas break is over, and I hope and pray he or she is a good teacher that will last longer than two weeks. Justice has decided that he wants to be a music teacher, and he will be at a huge disadvantage if he doesn't get more choral training. Depending on how the next semester goes, I will likely need to find him a private coach so that can continue to learn and grow. Keep your fingers crossed, please. Your prayers are greatly appreciate.
And one last video. It has nothing to do with All West, but it's the Christmas season and I was lucky enough to sneak a video of Justice singing. He's just sitting at the computer doing his homework, but it's pretty nonetheless.
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