HHS Choir Monthly Updates

Even though Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, indicating 6 more weeks of winter, things are heating up in the HHS Choir Program! Here's what's coming up this month and next as we dive into February!

As you can see, we have our last two big concerts coming up!! All concerts are graded, summative events for choir students. If there are conflicts, they need to be discussed as soon as possible. This will allow us to try and find a way for students to be able to do both, however, if that's not the case, students must make it to the concert.

If you have any pictures, we would love to see them. Please upload them to this Google Drive Folder for all of the choirs to be able to see! A huge thanks to Phil Burling for all the amazing photos that we've had up to this point. They've been incredible!!

Choir Pictures 25-26

Dear Choir Families:

Hello! I wanted to write you a note to introduce myself. My name is Nate Zadzilka, and I am student teaching with Mr. Moore this semester! I am in my final semester at Baldwin Wallace University pursuing a Bachelors of Music Education with an emphasis in Musical Theatre. At Baldwin Wallace, I served as the Student Conductor of the Baldwin Wallace Men’s Chorus and President of our chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. During the summers, I make it a point to perform musicals with local community theatres! I have been with your choir students for the past month and I am blown away by their intelligence, maturity, and passion. It is an honor to be able to spend this semester learning and growing alongside them. They inspire me to be better every day! If you see me around at choir events, please come say hello! I would love to meet you all!

Sincerely, Nate Zadzilka

On Saturday 1/17, these 8 students performed at the Ohio Music Educator Association's Solo & Ensemble Contest at Barberton HS. All students performed incredibly well earning Superior (1) and Excellent (2) ratings. They represented themselves, our program, and HCSD with pride!! Congrats to these students!

In March, Chamber Choir & Bella Voce will both head to OMEA Large Group District Contest. Contest will take place at Nordonia HS and although time requests are not always honored, we will look to attend contest on Friday March 6th as March 7th is the PTO Pancake Breakfast.

I have requested Friday in the early afternoon (~4:30 PM) but I won't know for sure for about another 2 weeks.

The HHS Concessions Committee is still in need of volunteers from the music department for the basketball games on 2/13 and 2/24. There may also be two home playoff games that will be added once the playoff schedule is confirmed. Proceeds from concessions get split between the Athletic Boosters and the Music Association, so when you volunteer it benefits our Choir program. Please take a moment to look if there is a date that you would be available to volunteer. Every little bit helps and we appreciate you giving your time to help support the choir program. Students may also earn service hours by helping - only one student may sign up per shift.

MUSIC 25/26 Basketball Season Concession

Our Chamber Choir will be performing the national anthem at the Cavs game on Tuesday, February 24th vs. the New York Knicks at 8pm (late start for students on Wednesday!). For those who purchased tickets previously and chose to transfer your tickets to the new date, our Choir VP Kim Murphy has already transferred your tickets via SeatGeek. If you did not purchase tickets previously and would like to join us to support the Chamber Choir and the Cavs, you may purchase tickets here: https://cavaliers.group/hudsonchoir. If you have any questions, please reach out to Kim at choirvp.hhsma@gmail.com.

Please note that we have arranged to have a school bus to transport students to the game who do not want to drive up to Cleveland. Students wishing to ride the bus should sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080849A5AB2CA4F85-62000739-busfor. The bus will be leaving school around 5:45pm as we must arrive at the arena no later than 7pm. We are currently only sharing the bus link with our choir families but will eventually share it with band and orchestra families who may want to join so choir students should please reserve a spot now if you would like to ride the bus. Please note: all students attending must have a ticket on the SeatGeek app to enter the arena.

Join Us at the CAVS Game

Bus Signup

We know that many of our HHS Choir Members enjoy performing outside of Hudson High School whether it be in a community chorus, musical/theater performance or show choir competition - to name a few. If you would like to share information about any of your upcoming performances, please send the information to our Choir VP Kim Murphy so that we may share them with our choir families to come and show support.

In February you can see some of our choir students perform at the Evening of Jazz at 7pm on February 6th and the Twinsburg Northcoast Show Choir Invitational on February 7th at 10:30am and 3pm!

Learn about the outside events our students participate in

Did you know that you can earn a Varsity Letter in Choir? Taking voice lessons is just one of the ways students can earn points to letter. Take a look at this attached document regarding what it means to letter in Choir and how you can earn one.

Hudson High School Choir Varsity Letter System

Voice Lessons

Make sure to mark Wednesday March 4th at 7:00 PM as we will have our second Composer in Residence with Jake Runestad. Jake is an EMMY winning and GRAMMY nominated composer!! You won't want to miss it!

There will be a mandatory meeting for all students and the parents of students participating in the HHS Music Department Trip to Orlando, FL, on Tuesday, February 24, 2026. The meeting is at 6:30 P.M. in the HHS Auditorium and will cover important topics like luggage guidelines, trip itinerary, safety procedures, performance details, and more. All students and parents must attend. If a student cannot attend because of another HHS-sanctioned event (game, competition, etc.), that student must be represented by a parent or guardian.

Thank you for your generosity and support in this year’s fundraising efforts. The mattress sale, along with Stoller’s and other fundraising activities, made a meaningful difference and directly supported the trip to Florida.

We also wanted to share that HHSMA used organizational reserves, in addition to fundraising, to help offset the cost of the trip, reducing each student’s cost by $100. Supporting the music program and ensuring access to experiential learning is central to our mission, and this was a deliberate decision aligned with that commitment.

We’re grateful for your partnership in sustaining these opportunities for our students.

Chamber Choir will not be able to attend as they will be performing the National Anthem at the CAVS game so therefore will be excused from the meeting and have to pick up the information the following day at school.

If you are new to HHS Vocal Assessments, or just want to review what to prepare, please read the following:

All students currently enrolled in the HS Choral Program, with the exception of seniors, must complete a vocal assessment. Vocal assessments are worth a 25 point completion grade. These assessments also double as auditions for next year's Chamber Choir & Bella Voce.

During vocal assessments, students will be assessed on the following criteria:

Ear Training (I will play a series of notes and have 1 student at a time sing the notes back to me on a neutral syllable of their choice)
Sight-reading (this will be done in small groups using SRF. Women’s & Men’s Choir should expect level 2 and Bella Voce & Chamber should expect level 4)
Part Independence aka how well can you sing your part with little to no help. While most students should expect to sing their part on their own, there are few circumstances where more than one student may be asked to sing at the same time to ensure all students get through their assessments in a timely manner.

Men's Choir - Michael Row the Boat Ashore (measures 9-23)
Women's Choir - Water Fountain (measures 73-91 | Letter G to the End)
Bella Voce - How Merrily We Live (measures 1-28)
Chamber Choir - Please Stay (measures 20-42)

A schedule will be put in Google Classroom during the weekend of March 6th as each student will have an individual time slot to attend. It’s important that students arrive early to their time slot so we can stay on time. All time slots are during each choir’s respective class period, when a student is not in vocal assessments, they will be in the band room for a study hall

After the first round of assessments are completed, a call back list will be posted in Google Classroom for those students being considered for our auditioned groups, which are Chamber Choir and Bella Voce. If your name does not appear on the callback list, it means that you are not being considered for those groups.

Callbacks will take place on Tuesday March 10th during each choir’s respective class period.
A portion of a song in the style of what to expect in Chamber Choir/Bella Voce will be posted on Monday afternoon in Google Classroom for students to learn on their own. At callbacks, they will be asked to sing their part in small groups.

Finally, a list of each group, Chamber & Bella Voce, will be posted on Friday 3/13 after school in Google Classroom and sent over to the Guidance Department so that those students’ schedules can be adjusted accordingly.

Students can use the following websites to help prepare them for their assessments - Ear Training & Sight Reading Factory

I know that this can be a stressful process but just a reminder to all students to do your best, as that's all that I can ever ask of you. You've got this!!

Make a Donation to the Harmony Project HERE

The Harmony Performing Arts Project will add a brand new orchestra room to Hudson High School, renovate the band and choir rooms, and provide a renovated state-of-the-art auditorium. The $5.5 million project will be a joint venture of public and private funds. We are excited to announce that the Orchestra Room will break ground this summer as part of the beginning of Phase 1

We are particularly looking for funds for Phase 2, which concerns the updates to the choir room & auditorium

We're also looking for someone to join our team as a Project Manager. If this interests you, please reach out!