Thursday, May 17, 2012

Dress Rehearsal Day

The students came over to the Music Hall by bus for an early dress rehearsal!
 They were awesome....ready to work and so professional! 


Muhammad and Beverly perform their solos. (Like pros!)



The band and chorus sounded especially great in the Hall. 
And then, before we knew it, it was time to load up the bus again and go back to school! 
Thanks for all of your hard work, DMS! We're almost there!

Friday, May 11, 2012

Practicing Solos


Here's a great photo of Muhammad and Beverly practicing their solos with Missy last month. They sound great!

Sneak Peek...


To hear the world-premiere, you'll have to join us on the 20th. :D

Thursday, May 10, 2012

The Great Fire



Today marks the 150 anniversary of  the Great Fire which wiped out much of downtown Troy in 1867. This fire cleared the land that would later be used to build the Troy Music Hall.

The Times Union pulled together an interesting piece about the fire...check it out here:


Photo Credit (See here)

Monday, May 7, 2012

Friday, March 23, 2012

Another awesome visit!

Missy Mazzoli worked this past Monday and Tuesday to polish the DMS students' four compositions. Each of the four groups worked with Missy to sing through the new compositions and make improvements. Working in real-time on her computer (on a program called Sibelius), Missy inputted the edits dictated by the students. There were great discussions amongst the kids about the placement of hard to sing words and addressing the musical needs of their peers in the chorus. Each of the groups then sang through the finished product.

We were also visited by Danielle Sanzone from the Troy Record, who interviewed Missy and two students. The article may be seen here:


Thanks to Ms. Hermance and Mr. Vatalaro for working so tirelessly with the kids – they are always ready to work and well prepared! We are SO excited to debut the finished product this May. 

Monday, January 30, 2012

A lyrical day...

Missy has come back for another visit! She'll be in Troy this Monday and Tuesday. Today Missy met with the young composers of DMS to discuss what they had uncovered about Troy, NY in their research.

 Some of our notes on topics and lyric writing.



Rhonda Hermance, music teacher extraordinaire, talks to the students about topic selection.

Three of Missy's students!


We'll be back tomorrow with more photos and updates. Students will begin to delve into lyric writing tomorrow!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Small Group Day! 1.19.12

A small group of DMS students work with music teacher, John Vatalaro (one of the key teachers in this residency, along with Rhonda Hermance!) to compile facts about Troy, NY in 1875 - the year the Music Hall opened it's doors!





Missy Mazzoli returns to work with DMS students in just two weeks! 

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