Cantata anthem!

Remember, we'll show up Wednesday from 8-maybe 8:30pm and then again Sunday afternoon at 12:15 to eat a snack lunch, or at 12:30 prompt to start rehearsal. This will be our last rehearsal of the year and will end at 1:30pm, to be back in the evening at 5:30pm for our 6pm Cantata. See you soon! Blessings, R

Great Job Sunday!

Hey folks! Great job these last two Sundays! This last Sunday was even better than the week before, which set us up well for another great rehearsal. We're working on Ken Medema's "Lost Coin". The youngest choir, Joyful Noise, will sing the Chorus/Refrain and the rest (grades 2-5) will sing the verses. We'll be working on the pieces from "Wise Guys and Starry Skies" as well, with 4 tunes for Joyful Noise, 7 for grades 2-3 and 10 for the 5th graders.

We'll have CD's for everyone at the next rehearsal, as well as scripts appropriate for each group. Each week, the order for rehearsal will be: 3-3:45 5th grade only (speaking parts, singing and blocking) 3:45-4pm All arrive; Mission oriented arrival activities 4-4:30 Jeanette in Rm 8 ( 2-3 grade); Carrie Beth Atkinson in Choir Room (Joyful Noise); Matt Hamilton in Horton Hall (4-5 grade) 4:30-5:00 Jeanette (4-5 g); Ronn in Choir Room (2-3 g); Matt (Joyful Noise) 5:00-5:30 Jeanette (JN), Ronn (4-5g); Matt (2-3g)

Feel free to call or e-mail with any questions -- ronnalford@bellsouth.net

Sunday 11am and Auditions for Hallelujah at 3:45pm

Hey folks!

Just a quick reminder that we sing and ring again this coming Sunday morning, October 11 at the 11:00 am service. We'll meet in the Sanctuary with our Pneuma T-shirts and khakis ready to sing at 10:30 prompt. We will seat the singers on the piano side in the front three rows (and we will sing from the piano side, so you may want to sit on that side in order to be able to see them well!). I felt that the children did well for only having a couple of rehearsals and look forward to making this coming Sunday even better!



Schedule Concerns and Changes:
Auditions for Kathie Hill's Children's Christmas Musical, "Wise Guys and Starry Skies" will begin for Hallelujah this Sunday afternoon. The speaking parts will go to this year's 5th graders, with a couple of singing solos and one line speaking parts to the 2nd and 3rd graders. Joyful Noise will learn a smaller number of songs and won't have to worry with the stress of learning lines.

Speaking parts: In order to audition for a speaking role, please realize what a time commitment this is and how important each actress is to the group. Each person who gets a role will need to arrive at each of the remaining Sunday rehearsals (October 18, 25; November 8, 15, 22) at 3pm to work on their lines and their blocking (movement and motions). In addition, should any of them need to miss a rehearsal, we will depend on you to let us know as soon as possible.

Recordings: I downloaded my CD from the following link: http://www.amazon.com/Wise-Guys-And-Starry-Skies/dp/B0013GPHMQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1254934201&sr=8-4

I had mine in just a matter of seconds ( I was really surprised at the speed!). If you're sure about doing this by yourself on the net, I'll be glad to help you download and burn a CD from it. I think you'll really like the music again this year (and you can listen to the tracks at the link provided).

Email me at ronnalford@bellsouth.net if you have any questions. Thanks and blessing for your support, Ronn

Jesus Loves Me - Sign Language

Hey folks,

Wanted to post the sign language so you all could practice for the next two Sundays since we don't have a Sunday afternoon rehearsal on October 4. See you tonight for Hallelujah's 1st presentation of the year and everybody Sunday at 8am! Blessings, R

Hallelujah to sing Wednesday; Pneuma sings Sunday at 8:30am

Hey folks!

Hallelujah (grades 2-5) will sing this Wednesday night at the service. Singers should gather in the choir room at 6:20pm.

Both groups will sing this coming Sunday, October 4, at the 8:30am service (gather in the choir room at 8:15am) and October 11 at the 11:00 service (gather at 10:45am).

No rehearsal October 4th in the afternoon, but we'll resume October 11 at 3:45pm.

See you Sunday! Blessings, R

1000 words

Make your reservations now!!

Pneuma Folks at VBS

VBS 2009 was a great success; Pneuma singers were at the core of making it all work as you can see in these great pictures. Don't forget our Q&A meeting with Jeanette tonight, Wednesday, July 22 at 6pm!

Newest Furture Pneuma-ite!

Hey folks! Just couldn't resist the opportunity to post this picture of the newest member of our extended Pneuma family, Katie, being held by her sister Anna Everly. Congratulations!!

Palm Sunday and Planning

Hey folks - just thought I'd post these pictures from Palm Sunday! Looking forward to seeing you all for a Parent's meeting next Sunday, April 19 at 3:45pm. We'll meet to discuss where we want to go in the next school year. See you soon!

Seven More Days!

Hey folks - we're all looking forward to singing at both services next week (see the drawing by Emily Edwards for more information)! We'll then have two weeks off from afternoon rehearsals and then a Parent Meeting and a special activity for our kids at 3:45pm on Sunday, April 19, the Sunday after Easter. See you there!!

One more rehearsal left!

Our attendance was quite a bit larger at the Pneuma rehearsal yesterday afternoon. We sang several songs, focusing on the ones we’ll sing for Palm Sunday, April 5, at both services. Mr. Matt directed us through two skits highlighting the Upper Room and the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. I think it’s fantastic that these kids not only get to hear the scripture but that they get to walk and talk through it; to live through it. What a great way to see and to understand what was going on! Next Sunday, March 29 will be our last rehearsal before Palm Sunday, so we’ll really need to have everyone there. On the 5th, we’ll meet at 8:15 and 10:45 promptly with our Pneuma shirts and khakis on (new shirts will be provided for those singers joining us since the last time in worship). See you there!
Pneuma won’t be rehearsing on the afternoons of Palm Sunday or Easter and we’ll have a parents meeting the next Sunday, April 19 at 3:45pm in Horton Hall. We’ll be shaping the future of the program together, so I’m sure all our parents will want to attend!

By the way, the dates for Vacation Bible School Safari have been set for July 12-16. If you’d like to be a part of our Motion Team, let me know right away. All that’s required is a love of kids and a desire to have fun together (while jumping around a bit!).

When a picture is worth a thousand words...

Here's 2000.

Don't forget our parent meeting on the 19th! Only two more rehearsals left before then - March 22 and 29 - see you then!

Looking Ahead

PLANNING
Pneuma and the Westminster Bells are hard at work preparing for Palm Sunday. The children and the Chancel Choir will sing and the Bells will play as we celebrate the coming of our Lord. New ringers (and some returning) are being brought into to fill the ranks for this exciting piece. Both ensembles will take a break for the afternoons of April 5 (Palm Sunday) and April 12 (Easter) to enjoy time with their families. The next Sunday night will be a planning night for both groups: on Sunday, April 19, Pneuma will have a Parents’ planning meeting where we will make plans for the rest of the year, so please come let your voices be heard. All parents of children ages 4 through 5th grade are encouraged to attend, even if your singer isn’t participating with us, so that we can get a clearer picture of what our Children’s Music Ministry needs to grow into. Come help us shape the future! Pneuma will gather at their regular time, 3:45 pm that night. In the meantime, we will still rehearse for Palm Sunday for the remaining rehearsals, March 15, 22, and 29.

Peter Plans

Sunday afternoon Pneuma rehearsed some of the music for Palm Sunday, the next time they’ll sing in worship (April 5). We sang through a good number of songs, talked about the first paragraph of our Social Creed and acted through (experienced?!) a couple of Peter Pan acting exercises. Everybody had a great time and we’re all excited about next week, which is “Bring a Friend Week.” See you then!

Roadtrip!

Yesterday's trip was a great success! Families and friends were able to go together and experience the Roundhouse Museum (check out some interesting pictures of the place at http://www.theothersavannah.com/html/index2.html) and a great time was had by everyone!

Don't forget, we'll be singing and acting in both services on the 22nd, so we'll gather at 8:15am and 10:45am in our Pneuma shirts and khakis.

NEWS: The Pneuma Staff has decided to give the kids the afternoon off each time they sing in worship, so on the afternoon the 22nd, there will be no rehearsal!

UPCOMING DATES: April 5 (Palm Sunday) and May 3 (the day of the Production and the Sunday before Mother's Day).

Blessings, Ronn

Pictures from December (Tone Chime Day) 12/28

Angels Aware Videos available now!

Chris Anderson sent me this e-mail this morning:

"Ronn,
I've finally got some dvd copies of Angels Aware. I had to have a little editing help from my brother. Is there any way you can put this on the blog and in the church bulletin? If anyone wants one, they can give us a call at 925-3799.....and/or I could give you a few to keep and pass out (just remind them that I'm not Spielberg). I've got 10 to start and can get more copies if needed.

Chris"

So drop us a line or call us at the church office and we'd be happy to get you a copy. Blessings, R

Change Is Good

"Lord of all Creation, I pray that as we step into the New Year that you grant us wisdom and guidance as we seek to build the Children’s Music ministry not as we would want it to be but as You would want it to be. Help the Pneuma staff and me to find that way and to follow it with all of our hearts. In Your Son’s Name we pray. Amen."

When we finished 2008 with the musical, Angels Aware, we were all elated; the kids had enjoyed a fantastic success and we were all (justifiably) proud of them. And we (the Pneuma staff and I) imagined that the New Year would bring only bigger and better things for these great kids. And the New Year began. A time when many consider and reconsider priorities. More than a few families are struggling with so many, many activities available to their kids and decisions are being made.
Going into the Year the Pneuma staff felt that a simpler approach was called for. Shorter rehearsal times for our youngest singers and no lines to memorize this term. Still, in a desire to help the kids connect more with our Bible, we introduced the Parables of Jesus to them in a particularly creative style. The parable is read by a narrator and the kids explore the motions the story calls for (while hearing the words of Christ!). And we started teaching how to read music. In this case that means seeing a note and singing it without piano and starting to understand the patterns and applying them. Challenging stuff!

We are looking at several options of how to best serve these children for the rest of the term and will soon be in contact with each set of parents to see if the time is the best (Wednesday evening after Church Night Supper for Tone Chimes was one thing we’re considering). We’re going to refocus on the songs that we learned as kids with less emphasis (especially for our younger kids) in reading music and more into just singing and having a good time with God’s music. We’re going to sing some of the songs of the emerging tradition including praise choruses and hymns. For the rest of the spring term, we’re doing away with the attendance requirement. We hope that the kids will be here as often as possible, but we realize that modern families have difficult schedules and we want o give them the best experience with God’s music that we possibly can. So we’d really like to hear from you: what time is best on Sundays? From 3-4pm or later in the day like 5-6pm? Let us know what you’d like to see so that we can give the kids the best experience. Call me at the Church Office or e-mail me at ronnalford@bellsouth.net. Let me hear from you today!