One of my other reasons for having this Substack account is to occasionally update friends, family, and followers with some of the happenings that I call “Richey Rundown.” Here’s the first of those.
Honor Choir Clinician
About once a year or so, I get to travel to a school district and serve as a guest clinician for one of their district or area honor choirs or festivals. This weekend I’ll be in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, working with 60-80 4th & 5th graders from area schools. We’ll rehearse Friday and give a culminating concert Saturday afternoon at First Baptist there in downtown Baton Rouge. I love working with choirs and children’s and youth choirs mainly. I enjoy whenever I get asked to come and do this.
Choral Premiere: “Sail Away, Ladies”
This time I have finished an arrangement of a folk song for treble choir, fiddle, and piano that the children will premiere at the Saturday afternoon concert. I had started this piece years ago and never finished it. Then, when Barbara Walker contacted me about coming and doing this honor choir, I got myself in gear and finished it. Hopefully, the children and the audience will enjoy it.
It’s been an enjoyable experience to exercise a little creativity in arranging. The hope is that I gain some momentum to do this for my own choirs from time to time. Additionally, I’ll be conducting another children’s honor choir here in Monroe, Louisiana, on the first Saturday in February. I’m also looking forward to working with other singers that are not in my school or Delta Youth Chorale.
Folk Dance Instruction & Calling
Last, I have several opportunities to speak on music and/or lead and teach folk dancing in the spring/summer of 2022. I’ll have more on that in an upcoming post. Still, these opportunities for social dancing in groups with young people and families is something I never thought I’d be doing. Sometimes it is homeschool groups, school in-services, conferences, or summer camps. I always enjoy seeing the joy on the faces of all who participate, regardless of how successful or experienced they are at family folk dancing.