Welcome Back to School!
Hello Grant Choir community and welcome back to Grant @Marshall for the 2018/19 school year! I have to admit I'm thrilled to get this year underway and to have the opportunity to make music with so many students. All of the choirs have excellent enrollment and sound amazing on the first day. The energy in the choir room has been palpable in every class and it seems like everyone is eager to get to work.
As many of you know, this is the last year we'll be at the Marshall campus and next year we'll be traveling back to our remodeled NE PDX home on 36th Ave. While we are all excited to move back I think it's important to recognize some of the aspects of Marshall that have made us stronger and more connected. The commute has been hard, but many friendships and self-reliance sills have been made through various carpools and MAX rides. The abundance of practice rooms in the music wing have helped hundreds of students spend time honing their craft and work on independent projects. And the courtyard, which serves as the focal point for the entire campus, hosted one of the most inclusive and community based choir concerts I've ever been a part of last spring. While I'm thrilled to move back into the old(new) choir room as well, there will definitely be some things missed from our temporary home so let's enjoy it for one last year.
If you haven't already, please explore the new Grant Choir Website! If you're reading a paper copy of this letter, you can find it by going to www.grantchoir.org. It's full of information, photos, videos, and recordings of the choir, as well as a page dedicated to music resources for students. The resource page is password protected for copyright reasons and information on how to access it will be shared shortly. But, if you just can't wait, email me (John Eisemann, jeisemann@pps.net) and I'll send it to you right away. The website also has a contact us button for outside organizations to learn more about the program and a donation page is coming soon if you'd like to make a contribution.
I look forward to meeting or reconnecting with all of you (parents) on Back to School Night on Thursday, September 20th. If you have any questions in the meantime, feel free to drop me an email or call and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Please be sure to keep an eye out on our calendar (which is on the homepage of the website) for details about upcoming events. Our first concert of the year will be on Wednesday, October 17th at Augustana Lutheran Church on the corner of 15th and Knott in the Grant neighborhood at 7:00 pm. I hope you'll plan on being in attendance.
As always, thank you for your unending support of the choir program and the entire performing arts department here at Grant. We are incredibly fortunate to have such a strong and vibrant arts community for our students to learn from and contribute to. It's going to be an amazing school year, as always! Happy first day of school - here we go!
All my best!
John Eisemann