LS Choir Places First in Delaware Music Educator Association's Youth Composers Contest

Facilitated by teachers Katie Martinenza and Emily Fareed, this was a class project where all aspects were determined by students working with the teachers.

That process was described as: "This year our school is celebrating the Quaker Testimony of Simplicity and that message was the focus for the piece. The ensemble brainstormed ideas for the song. In response to the discussion, Teacher Katie and Teacher Emily shared the Mary Oliver poem, “Mornings at Blackwater” to anchor the theme. The excerpt, “come to the pond…” was selected for the chorus. After coming to a sense of the group regarding the form, students were given an opportunity to share individual lyric ideas for each verse. The final lyrics were decided on through a democratic process. Different harmonic progressions were then explored and the ensemble selected the chords, d minor, F major, C major, and B flat major. Students then improvised melodies over the recorded harmonic structure. The teachers combined student lyric ideas and melodic ideas together and presented the product to the whole ensemble. Changes were made based on students’ suggestions for altering the key, mood, tempo, and expression."

The choir performed the piece at Grandparents and Special Friends Day to an amazed audience!