Monday, April 9, 2018 by Brian Glosh | Uncategorized

Dear Parents and Singers,

Welcome back from Spring Break! We are now in preparation for year-end juries in both piano and voice, and we would like to get the date for these juries on your calendars. With the agreement of the schools, our policy beginning this spring and going forward will be to schedule voice and piano juries for all choristers at the end of Upper School Exam week.  It is essential that each chorister make a presentation of the skills he or she has learned so that we may direct his or her progress in the program, and exam week is the dedicated time in the academic year when such assessments are made. 

In accordance with this policy, voice and piano juries for all choristers will take place on Friday afternoon, June 1 and Saturday morning, June 2. Please keep both dates open. NCS has assigned us an afternoon exam block on that Friday, and it is our hope to schedule Upper School girls during that time. We are grateful for the school’s support in this matter. If a singer’s make-up exam for another subject moves to that Friday block, we will reschedule that student’s jury to Saturday.

There will not be an outside adjudicator this year, and juries will be open to parents. The juries will be conducted by the Cathedral’s individual instructors in piano and voice, and by Mr. McCarthy, with accompaniment provided by a professional pianist. Although we have very much enjoyed the perspectives of our excellent outside adjudicators in past years, the jury represents one of very few opportunities for individual evaluation of our choristers, and it is important that representatives of the Music Faculty hear them and offer constructive feedback.

The faculty will meet this month to draw up a schedule and to sort out details of grading, location, and logistics of voice, piano, and aural skills components. Please look for another email the week of April 23. In the meanwhile, please put a hold on your calendars for June 1 and 2.