Saturday, April 04, 2009

Emótiönal Landscapes



Here's yet another amazing accomplishment from a first rehearsal. Yes, I am VERY proud to say that the kids learned this song yesterday in just one sitting, and it is one of my favorite things I've ever heard on them. I really planned on working on the bounty of new material we've bitten off, but during rehearsal I could tell the kids were fiending for still another new song. So I looked over my iPod and came up with this song by Björk called "Jóga."

The kids are just brilliant on this. I can't believe how polished the kids sound after learning it only yesterday. I'm so happy about this one.....



33 comments:

  1. I LOVE THIS! Great job everyone...voices are great, very moving & a great arrangement. Drumming puts the icing on the cake!

    PV :)

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  2. thanks peevs!! great to hear from you!! always look forward to the PV review! :)

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  3. Amazing! I'm a huge Bjork fan and this is one of her more beautiful and melodic songs. What a great choice and such a tribute to her. I would think she'd love it too and hope she sees it. I can also see "Unravel" as a really pretty one for them to do. I would love to know HOW you taught them in one day!

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  4. hi cali! they love the music and are dedicated to making it work, so that certainly helps. as far as a magic formula, don't know if i can supply.... :) thanks so much!

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  5. hey mr.b its maya the video sounds great and the pic is really cool

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  6. hi maya! the video sounds INCREDIBLE! i'm so proud of you guys! and the pic IS cool. do you know who it is? :)

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  7. hey mr.b its april nd i juss wanted 2 say that we did great on the first day that wuz so amazing nd incredible lik u sed 2 maya the question that u asked maya do u noe the person i dont noe it juss sayin nd the pic is kool nd pretty funni 2 lol =)

    april

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  8. amazing you did indeed! :) so can you figure out who it is in the photo? mrs. johnson couldn't tell who it was after i messed with it, and she took the original picture! lol!

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  9. ohh yea another thing is that i saw us on schooltube 4 video of the day the song is everybodys changing thats so kool wen i saw it i wuz shocked =0

    april

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  10. nd noi cant figure it out can u tell me plzzzz =(

    april

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  11. nope, you have to guess! :P and about schooltube, i'm not shocked but it IS awesome!!!!! congrats on that! you guys are non-stop!

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  12. hey mr b its joel i juss wanted 2 no if ur pikin up coaches 2 morrow n in chorus do not come near my ile i cant swim in spit lolsxz i juss wanted 2 tell u me n ashley will be visiting alot next year cuz we will walk 2 my house by our selves 2 gether i will treasure dis year like the best skewl year it is but even better ill miss u wen we gradguate n ill cum talk 2 u on the site in the summer ill always be there 4 u n the chorus no matter how old i am i luv chorus and i will teasure it like its suppose to be even though i do from ur bff,joel

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  13. man joel, you and your cuz will never let me forget the whole 'spitter b' thing.... :P aside from that, i appreciate that very nice message. i can't believe it is getting close to the end of the year -- it seems like it's barely begun! but yeah, you BETTER come visit with ashley! :)

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  14. A favorite song of mine - bjork's intensity and poignancy is the tops. And your kiddos really do all these songs justice - and more - it becomes something new and alive with them, all these "adult" concepts and the poetry and the stuff in between the lines -- one can see that they are becoming infused with understanding in the music and the lyric and they are really just beautiful. You do a wonderful job of nurturing this in young people and I wish i could create the same in my community.

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  15. ps i am planning to link to your blog in my blog for Five Magazine. Hope that's ok. readfive.com > editor's blog

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  16. Thanks SC, I too am a huge fan of Bjork, so to hear that you appreciate our arrangement makes me quite happy! Thanks for offering to feature us on your blog -- that's awesome. :)

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  17. hey mr.b itz bahira!!i was thinking bout the eyes i think itz either alley or lobna cuz lobna has a scrunched nose and a clear skin or alley!!itz so haard to guess is it a soprano?

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  18. hi bahira, it is indeed a soprano.... ;)

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  19. it is lobna !!!i can tell her face anywhere the same scrunched nose, eyebrows i love the way u designed the eyes its truly beautiful!!!
    have an amazing vacation going anywhere?



    bahira

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  20. well done, bahira!! you got it! :) thanks for the compliment on the design of the pic! actually, i'm just going to be catching up on some much-needed sleep this vacation. i hope you are doing something fun over the break! i'm sure i'll be hearing from you on the blog! :)

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  21. HEYY!Mrrrb.I cant figure out who that pic is can you plaessssssse tell me!

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  22. the answer was revealed in this post by that awesome girl who sits next to awesome you in chorus. she had a bit of an advantage in recognizing her..... :)

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  23. well,the first day i went over my friends house then i got 2 see the miley cyrus movie.after i got to go to new jersey and i went to woodbridge mall and ate at a resturaunt now im stuck doing homework!!!tell tirzah i practically gave them the answer so she can read other comments and how come no one can tell who it is?!! bahira

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  24. ha! yeah, apparently tirzah decided not to read all the comments before posting! glad to hear you're doing some fun things on your break! :)

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  25. Just learned about your chorus today. As a fellow vocalist (by hobby), I must say that these kids are absolutely phenomenal. I've posted some of the songs to my Facebook & send your blog to some of my chorus-loving friends.
    This song, especially, struck a chord with me. Absolutely beautiful rendition.
    Chorus held my happiest memories all through public school. Now, as an adult, it's something I truly miss. Mr. B, you've truly given these children a spectacular gift. Not just your teaching & nurturing, but by recording it here so that they can continue to enjoy this later in life. I can't wait to see what these beautiful children will do to enrich the world in the future.
    Thank you for your gift to them. Thank you to the PS 22 Chorus for your gift to the world!

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  26. and thank you for YOUR gift -- that amazing comment! (joga's a definite favorite of mine this year too!) :)

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  27. Mr. B,

    This is absolutely amazing. As an inspiring music teacher that is starting my senior year, you have absolutely blown my mind with this absolutely amazing rendition of Bjork's Joga. The students have so much passion, its unbelievable. I found this video by chance and thought it would be cool to see students singing, thinking it was just something cute. However, this was absolutely beautiful. To see so many students be singing with so much passion just continues to bring tears to my eyes. Unreal. Keep doing an amazing job and keep inspiring not only your students but the world. You are doing an amazing job by helping our future...children.

    Infinite thank you's
    Brandon

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  28. wow, thanks so much brandon! good luck with the career -- you chose the best profession you could ever hope to get into! :)

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  29. I just want to say this is absolutely amazing - sounds so good... this version is beautiful. Great work on this as well as the passion pit stuff, im floored. Mr. B your take on these songs are great!

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  30. i appreciate that corey, thanks! :)

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  31. So beautiful! I'm a huge Bjork fan. :) Please keep up the good work. You're exposing these children to such diverse music & hopefully instilling in them a life-long appreciation for music!

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  32. Hi, I'm from France

    Tonight I felt very low, depressed and everything and a friend sent me an e-mail with a link to this video... I literaly melt down in front of my screen. You guys sound beautiful. You made me cry but you made me smile too.
    So thank you so much

    Keep up the good work, you are really appreciated over here.

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  33. This is incredibly beautiful. You have done a truly amazing thing here. I just watched you on the Oscars last night, and am embarrassed it's taken me so long to watch these videos. Best of luck to you. You are an inspiration!

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