2023 Raleigh Christmas Tree Lighting

On Friday, November 17th, 2023, the Barton Pond chorus kicked off the 2023 Raleigh Christmas Tree Lighting in downtown Raleigh with some holiday songs. The members of the chorus also got to enjoy holiday performances by a vocal ensemble from North Carolina State University and the Raleigh Youth Choir. Santa Claus made an appearance at this event and took pictures with many of the kids who attended the event. On the stage in front of the Meymandi Concert Hall, there was a live jazz band playing holiday tunes. There were also food trucks, vendors, festive lights, and a snow machine that created a fun holiday environment. The chorus had an amazing time at this event and we hope to participate in this event in the future!

2023-2024 NC Symphony Field Trip

Today the 4th graders at Barton Pond attended the annual 4th grade symphony field trip. Students heard works by Scott Joplin, Amy Beach, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Joseph Brackett, Jr., Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zequinha de Abreu, and Jacques Offenbach. I am looking forward to attending this field trip again next year! Below you can see pictures from the event.

2023 North Carolina Music Educators Conference

From Saturday, November 4th, 2023 to Tuesday, November 7th, 2023, I attended the 2023 North Carolina Music Educators Conference in Winston-Salem at the Benton Convention Center. I was able to experience some great workshops that focused on ukulele, modern band, recorders, boomwhackers, incorporating fitness into drum instruction, integrating literacy into the music classroom, and music technology. Music educators attending the event also got to participate in an inspiring performance and presentation given by Grammy award-winning educator Mickey Smith, Jr., who is originally from Louisiana, and now resides in Florida. Smith encouraged teachers to keep on teaching and persevering despite challenging circumstances and to encourage their students to do the same. He also told the workshop attendees about his book titled The Adventures of Little Mickey: Keep On Going. The book explains how Smith was not a good musician when he first started playing the saxophone. He kept practicing and eventually became a talented musician. He now teaches middle school band in Florida and won the 2020 Grammy Music Educator Award. His book inspires readers to be relentless in the pursuit of their goals. At the conference, I also had the chance to talk to my middle school band teacher, Mrs. Heidi Sue Iseminger-Ross, who taught me music at East Wake Middle School. She was one of the reasons that I kept on practicing as a percussionist to reach my career goals. I had a phenomenal time at this event and I am looking forward to attending the conference next year! Below you can see pictures from the event and listen to Mickey Smith, Jr.'s book.

Glow Party Fall 2023

On Friday, October 27th, 2023, Barton Pond hosted its 2nd annual Glow Party to celebrate the school reaching its fundraising goal! At the party students danced, played games, received glow in the dark tattoos, and got to sport some really cool glow-in-the-dark accessories like sunglasses, bracelets, and necklaces. Our artistic bullfrogs got a chance to display their glow-in-the-dark artwork created under the direction of Mrs. Annie Pakes, our distinguished art teacher at Barton Pond.  The Barton Pond percussion ensemble performed at this event under the direction of our music teacher, Ms. Stephanie Sanders. They played an arrangement of "Can't Stop the Feeling" by Sammy Foster and an arrangement of "Uptown Funk" by Tom Anderson using electric green glow-in-the-dark drumsticks. The percussion ensemble had a great time at this event. The students in this club are looking forward to participating in the event again next year! Below you can see pictures from the glow party.

Rhythms of the Latin World

On Wednesday, October 11th, 2023 ComMotion performed their "Rhythms of the Latin World" show for the students of Barton Pond in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.  The event was sponsored by the United Arts Council of Raleigh and the Barton Pond PTA. We would like to thank these two organizations for bringing Latin American dance to Barton Pond through the Artists-in-Schools program. At this assembly, students learned how to dance the bachata, the cha cha, and cumbia. Below you can see pictures from the event. We hope that ComMotion will visit us again in the future and teach us more about Latin American dance!

2023 Raleigh Youth Choir Explosion Festival

 

On Friday, October 6th, 2023 and Saturday, October 7th, 2023 a delegation of students from Barton Pond attended the Raleigh Youth Choir's annual explosion festival held at Ligon Magnet Middle School. Students got to work with the staff of the Raleigh Youth Choir, which includes Jeremy Tucker, Bo Reece, Amy Davis, Katie O'Neill, Emily Turner, and Aaron Brown. The event culminated with a concert for the community. The songs on the program included "Al Shlosha D'varim" by Allan Naplan, "Fly, Fly, Fly" by Kelsey Hohnstein-Reinhart, "Be the Light" by Franklin Willis, "Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop" arranged by Steve Zegree, "Three Quotes by Mark Twain" arranged by Andrea Ramsey, and "Woodchuck" by Mark Burrows. Our bullfrogs had fun learning in rehearsals and workshops, meeting new people, eating pizza, and performing for their parents. We hope to participate in this event again in the future!

Barton Pond in The Week Junior Magazine

Lincoln Rhyne, a member of the Barton Pond chorus and percussion ensemble, nominated our music teacher, Ms. Sanders, for the Teacher of the Week in a July edition of The Week Junior magazine! Ms. Sanders was recognized for her ability to make learning about music fun and for offering a variety of music clubs for the students of Barton Pond to participate in. Below you can see the post about Ms. Sanders and the cover of the magazine that she was featured in.