What an exciting day at Choir Camp!  Our surprise this morning
was a visit from Christina Smith (a Choir Camp Class of 2006 graduate!).
Christina plays the Scottish fiddle.  She played us three beautiful songs
and showed us some fun dance steps, too!


Senior Choristers for today!  Congratulations!


Ms. Lee, who works in the Outreach Department at the Cathedral,
spoke to us about Mary and Jesus at the wedding feast of Cana.
Click here to read her homily!


Mr. Fryer leads us through "Shall we gather by the river?"








On our way to Skyline at First Hill for a concert!


Here we are, singing for our neighbors at Skyline at First Hill,
a retirement community across the street from St. James.
It's only Day 2, but we sounded pretty good...!!!








An appreciative audience!
Thank you for having us, people of Skyline!


Afterwards, we had lunch on the beautiful terrace at Skyline.
They even treated us to punch and cookies.  Thank you!!


In the afternoon, we had a visit from Mr. Jeremy Soule. Mr. Soule is a
composer who has written music for many video games, including some of
the Harry Potter games.  He composed a song especially for Choir Camp 2011.
The title is--guess what?--Ave Maris Stella (Hail, Star of the Sea!).


In the afternoon, some of us got a fun tour of the organ from Dr. Kraus
while the other group worked on an art project--self-portraits!








You'll see what we did with all the self-portraits tomorrow!

Self-portraits!
What are some words people use to describe you?

Funny
Friendly
Kind
Creative
Humorous
Thoughtful
Nice
Determined
Helpful
Helpful
Hardworking
Quiet
Fast
Hilarious
Crazily awesome!
Smart
Loyal
Silly
Nice
Funny
Random
Happy
Sweet
Dainty
Brave
Joyous
Crazy
Helpful
Cheerful
Exciting
Smart
Loving
Fantastic
Spirited
Kind
Faithful
Loving

Organized
Cool
Nice
Helpful
Awesome
Cute
Awesome
Nice
Nice
Happy
Creative
Excited
Different
Creative
Nice
Nice
Funny
Fair
Funny
Loving
Funny
Friendly
Spectacular
Thoughtful
Sweet
Cheerful
Friendly
Secure
Random
Helpful
Positive
Friendly
Energetic
Social
Nice
Respectful
Caring
Sensitive
Appreciative
Trustworthy
Unique
Shy
Respectful
Determined
Respectful
Reverent
Smart
Smart
Nice
Intelligent
Birght
Sweet
Kind
Leader
Role model
Helper
Energetic
Outgoing
Kind
Confident
Positive
Polite
Helpful
Fun
Creative
Awesome
Fun
Nice
Compassionate
Quiet
Kind
Awesome
Smart
Great talker
Excited
Saturated with energy
Gracious
Delightful
Nice
Sweet
Harmonious
Gentle
Positive
Helpful
Funny
Funny
Life-saving
Smart
Hardworking
Sincere
Loud and determined
Chatty
Sensitive (a bit)
Messy (a bit)
Courageous
Friendly
Helping
Generous
Excited
Kind
Talented
Awesome
Funny

We sound like a great bunch of people, don't you think?


Something I learned today was...

  • I learned a new song
  • To do THE RIVER better
  • “Clarinet” in French which is Claronette
  • I learned that it is hard to write a piece or composition of music
  • Ave Maris Stella
  • How to sing a high note to a low note
  • How to sing “Ave Maris Stella”
  • More of the “Ave Maris Stella”
  • How the organ works
  • Today I learned that God gave us the gifts we have to share them with everybody, and to use them to help the world he built.  Not to destroy the beautiful land that is our life.
  • I learned how the organs in the Cathedral work
  • How Mary is so thoughtful
  • Mary is special because she is the mother and she is a wonderful example and leader
  • I learned what “Ave Maris Stella” means
  • A new person
  • I learned about organs
  • I learned about a pipe organ
  • I learned the rest of Jeremy Soule’s “Ave Maris Stella”
  • About an organ
  • I learned that Mary is helping for our redemption as well as Jesus
    I learned how to sing the new song we got, “This day God gives me,” and NEVER DROP YOUR CELL PHONE IN WATER
    Jeremy Soule wrote “Ave Maris Stella” in about four days
    Throwing baseballs at friends with them
    Drawing is very… hard and very mind-challenging!
    That is took Jeremy Soule 4 days to write Ave Maris Stella
    I learned about organs
    I learned how all of the wind tunnels work and how the organ makes its beautiful sound
  • I learned different songs like “This day God gives me” and “At the River”
  • That organs use bellows to make sound
  • That I am positive and we accomplished a lot for 2 days
  • That if your cell phone drops in water put it in rice
  • I learned how an organ works
  • I learned some new songs today
  • Compositions come from inspiration around you (usually) and are not made up from scratch, like game ideas
  • The Ave Maris Stella by Mr Soule
  • That people like me a lot more than I thought and I like to and am good at making friends
  • I learned a ton of songs, parts of songs, and things that I could do better on songs that I sort of had down
  • I learned more of the song “Ave Maris Stella”
  • How to draw yourself and I learned a whole bunch about organs
  • Praise to God and that Mr Soule is AWESOME!
  • This Day God Gives Me
  • I learned that people draw portraits of themselves to tell the people (that are looking at the portrait) something
  • That if you are determined to do something pay attention and if you are nice to other boys and girls they will be nice to you!
  • Is that self-portraits are about expressing yourself
  • There is a secret stairway up to the organs

 

Thank you, Mr. Soule, for...

  • Coming
    Coming to our class, answering our questions, and listening to your music piece
  • Thank you for making your song that you made for us – that’s my favorite song!
  • For all the hard work, for all the time you put in the song, for us singing, etc, etc.
  • Teaching us about writing music.
  • For helping my inspiration and one day I just might be a composer, too!
  • For writing a song for us and making time to come see us.  Thank you and I hope you can write some more songs for us!
  • Thank you for writing a wonderful song for us and answering our questions
  • For creating such a wonderful tune, for coming to talk to us, for answering all our questions
  • Composing such a beautiful piece like Ave Maris Stella.  I was really not surprised but amazed at how it sounded.  Angels certainly.  Thank you for signing YOUR music!  Awesome!  And thank you for coming today and visiting.  Awesome.  Thanks!
  • Signing my score and writing my favorite song this week!
  • The gracefulness to – explain things to mere children, give the fruits of his talents to us, appreciating lovingly our work, spend his time to answer our questions, and give his beliefs to us for our inspiration
  • Composing Ave Maris Stella; it is a beautiful song.  Thank you for inspiring me to create something (songs) and to share some things with us.
  • For writing that song for us and taking the time to see it.
  • For coming today and telling us about composing.  Also thanks for doing us a big favor and composing our piece.
  • Thank you for writing us that beautiful song
  • Writing such a beautiful song for us to sing.  It’s challenging, but I really love it!
  • Teaching us valuable things!  I hope you have a good summer.
  • Telling us how you became a composer, what you did as you were writing Ave Maris Stella, the many different games you have written music for, and much more!  I appreciate your signing on all of the song covers.
  • Coming to talk to us and writing Ave Maris Stella.  I heart that song!
  • Thank you Mr. Soule for signing my copy of Ave Maris Stella.
  • Coming to watch us sing!  For signing my score.
  • For making an awesome piece of music for us.
  • Composing Ave Maris Stella, listening to us sing your song, answering our questions, signing my music
  • Composing the Ave Maris Stella song that we got to sing a lot yesterday and today.  I loved it so much!! Thanks for coming in today to answer our questions and signing the front of our Ave Maris Stella music packet, too!!!
  • Composing such a great song for us.  I really like it and want to keep singing it even after the camp.
  • Thank you for coming and telling us about what you do and how you got interested in composing.  I found it all very interesting.
  • Spending time with us and answering questions.  I like his songs.  I also enjoyed singing his Ave Maris Stella.
  • Making a beautiful song for us to sing!
  • For your beautiful music, and for sharing it with us.
  • Writing one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever song.  I really love the song Ave Maris Stella.
  • Coming and composing music for us.  I love the music you wrote.  Please come again for we want to hear more of your beautiful and magnificent music.
  • Coming to see us and for writing us an amazing song.  (It’s one of my faves!)
  • Coming here today and listening to our music.  I know I speak for everyone when I say it was pretty awesome to have you here to listen to us and be with us.
  • Coming in today, signing my score, explaining your thoughts on music, explaining the score, writing this piece of music!
  • Thank you for writing a song for our camp, and coming here.
  • Telling me how hard it is to be a composer
  • Sharing the lovely Ave Maris Stella piece you wrote
  • Coming today and saying hi to us.  I love your beautiful piece of music!
  • Writing a beautiful courageous song for us
  • Coming to our class and giving us autographs

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