ANNUAL CHORUS TRIP INFORMATION
Parent Letter | Itinerary | Commitment Form
November 9, 2009
Dear Choral Parents and Guardians,
As you know, the Westfield Choral Program has a tradition of participating in an annual trip, which has always been curricular in nature. Some of these trips have involved participation in competitive music festivals, while others have been performance or workshop-oriented. This year’s planned trip to Myrtle Beach was intended to serve as an opportunity for our students to participate in a competitive festival. However, due to the low number of registrants, a competitive trip is no longer the best educational choice for our students. Presently, no single choral ensemble has enough students registered to constitute a core contingent; therefore, no choir meets the voicing requirement for competitive representation in Myrtle Beach or other similar competitions. In light of this, I have been working diligently to design an alternative to a competitive trip that will be educationally fulfilling, memorable, and fun.
The new trip offers the students exciting learning opportunities in choral music in a cultural setting. Our trip will include travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with an overnight stop at West Virginia University. The students will have the rare opportunity to work in three separate private workshop settings with three very well-known choral clinicians, in addition to the trip culminating in a performance of the Westfield Choirs at the renowned Heinz Chapel on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. Amidst these learning opportunities, students will experience the many cultural attractions of this wonderful city. Please review the attached itinerary and PowerPoint presentation.
The cost of the trip remains the same. If your student is already registered for the spring trip, no action is required on your part at this time; we hope that your student will continue to participate in this new trip, which in many ways offers more learning opportunities than the previous trip. I know that you may have questions about this change of plans, and I hope that you will contact me directly if that is the case. Please know that my first priority is to provide a high-quality learning experience for your student. I am very excited about this planned trip to Pittsburgh. I think you will see from the itinerary that this is going to be a very worthwhile and rewarding experience.
Sincerely,
Jessica E. Lardin
Choral Director
Last Update: 10 Nov 2009