For students entering Grades 6 and 7 in the 2019/2020 school year

What is “Ignite Your Passion- Junior District Honour Choir”?

The “Ignite Your Passion- Junior District Honour Choir” is a choral music program that will provide students the opportunity to experience varied choral repertoire, learn healthy vocal technique, develop musicianship/ear training, and experience singing in harmony in ways that extend and deepen the elementary school choir experience.  Students will work with District Honour Choir Program Director, Suzanne Fulton (see bio), and various guest clinicians from across Canada and beyond to expose them to a variety of technical approaches.  In rehearsals, students will have the support of accomplished District Honour Choir pianist, Mrs. Hey Jung Choi (see bio).

Selection Process

A group audition is required to be accepted into this “Ignite Your Passion” program.  Students will be accepted largely based on musical potential and auditions will be run in as low-stress a manner possible (singing as a large group or in smaller breakout groups).  The ability to match pitch, enthusiasm for singing, and the ability to be focussed in rehearsals are the main prerequisites for acceptance.  Students do not need to prepare in advance for the audition process, as the teacher will be taking them through vocal exercises that will be taught during the audition.

Auditions for the 2019/2020 Ignite Your Passion Junior District Honour Choir will take place on Mon. Apr. 15, 2019, from 5:30-6:30pm in Room 64, South Campus, West Vancouver Secondary School. 

Date and Time for Ignite Your Passion Junior District Honour Choir for the 2019/2020 School Year:

Mondays from 3:45-5:15pm (beginning the week Sept. 9, 2019 and ending the 3^rd week of June, 2020)

Location for Ignite Your Passion Junior District Honour Choir for the 2019/2020 School Year:

Room 64, South Campus, West Vancouver Secondary School

Cost for the Program

The Ignite Your Passion Junior District Honour Choir costs $50/month for 10 months (total annual cost= $500).  A non-refundable deposit cheque for $125 will be due upon acceptance into the program.

Included in the fees are the following:

• Instruction from veteran teacher and experienced choral director, Suzanne Fulton
• Accompaniment from accomplished pianist, Hey Jung Choi
• Experiences working with high level choral clinicians
• Leather choir folder
• Access to high quality choral repertoire
• Music theory book
• Informal choir uniform (t-shirt or hoodie)
• Loan of formal choral uniform pieces for the year
• Goodies/pizza for social team building activities throughout the year

Personnel

Suzanne Fulton, District Honour Choir Program Director

Suzanne Fulton began studying the voice over 35 years ago.  She grew up singing as a soloist in festivals and concerts, singing in school choirs, and singing in community choirs in Kamloops, BC.  Her passion for music eventually led her to UBC to complete a Bachelor of Music in Opera Performance.  This degree offered Mrs. Fulton the skills required to sing a soloist in oratorio and opera performances in Canada and in Europe in famous works such as Mozart’s “Le Nozze Di Figaro” (The Marriage of Figaro), Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and Handel’s “Messiah”.

Following her opera degree, Mrs. Fulton taught private vocal lessons for a year and discovered her passion for teaching.  She went back to UBC to complete a Bachelor in Education and was hired right after graduation to be a music teacher in the West Vancouver School District.  She worked at Gleneagles Elementary for many years and is currently running the choral program at West Vancouver Secondary School.  Mrs. Fulton’s passion for music and education eventually brought her back to UBC to complete a Masters in Music Education.  Mrs. Fulton has studied choral conducting with inspiring teachers such as Dr. Graeme Langager, Richard Nace, and Geoffrey Boers.  She has also enjoyed being a member of the BC Choral Mentorship Project, collaborating with other conductors from the Lower Mainland and beyond.

Guided by her love for choral music, in 2013, Mrs. Fulton proposed the District Honour Choir courses as a way to provide a higher-level choral opportunity for students in SD #45 and the course was approved.  Annually there are over 100 high school singers enrolled in the program and they have won gold medal standings at festivals, toured Europe, and worked with world-class clinicians.

Mrs. Fulton is very excited to be launching her next choir initiative in the West Vancouver School District: “Ignite Your Passion- Junior District Honour Choir”.  The Junior District Honour Choir will be a training choir for the high school level District Honour Choir course, providing elementary students with the necessary pre-requisite skills in terms of vocal technique, musicianship, music theory and beginning sight singing.  Mrs. Fulton feels strongly that everyone has a voice and that music is an excellent vehicle for connection and belonging…something that she feels is of the utmost importance for our students.

Hey-Jung Choi, Honour Choir Program Pianist

Hey-Jung Choi has her Masters in Music (Piano Performance) from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (USA) and her Bachelor of Music from the Kyung Hee University of Seoul (South Korea).  She has performed as a concert pianist in Japan, Korea, Europe, the USA, and Canada.  Hey-Jung Choi assists the music teacher at Hollyburn Elementary School in West Vancouver as the pianist for the Hollyburn Elementary School Intermediate Choir.  She is also the pianist and director of the Silk Purse Singers (West Vancouver) and the accompanist for the West Vancouver School District Honour Choir Program.