Mountain Majesties on Day 3 of Tour

Day Three:

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Day Three began with hugs and thanks for the host families who took such good care of all of our AACS students on Friday night.  The hosts demonstrated their love for the Lord and for their long-time friends, the Kemptons , by opening their hearts and homes to us.  Students enjoyed a variety of activities on Friday night, including a trip to Downtown Disney, soaking in Jacuzzis, paintball, swimming, and conversation.   It was with smiles, and a few tears, that we boarded the bus and set out for Palm Springs.

After sharing some reflections from Friday night and hearing a devotion by Ms. Kauffman, we arrived at the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.  As we took the breathtaking trip up to the summit, we sang “Hark! I Hear the Harps Eternal” for Ray, the tram operator, and the other passengers.  (There were big smiles all the way to the top.)   We ate lunch in the Pines Restaurant, took photos on the multiple observation decks, and hiked several of the trails.

Tired out by our adventures on the mountaintop, we took a quick 30 minute nap on the bus as we traveled to The First Baptist Church of Redlands, the venue for our evening concert.  We are grateful to Mr. Vineyard’s Aunt Deena, who serves on staff at First Baptist, for coordinating the concert for us.  As we got off the bus we were greeted by a joyful cadence pounded out by members of The First Baptist Church drum circle, who also accompanied us during the concert on our two African pieces, “Kwangana/Tink of Me.”  Our dinner was thoughtfully prepared by members of The First Baptist Church youth group and featured fresh Alaska salmon (caught by Mr. Vineyard’s Aunt Deena and Uncle Dale at their cabin in Alaska) and more ripe California strawberries (in addition to a build-you-own taco salad bar).  For a second night, our evening concert was made even more special by the presence of friends and extended family.

The night closed with the a long standing tradition on choir tour; skit night!  Students were put into groups before tour even began and prepared skits for TOUR SONG TWISTER.  Each group would take the music from one or more of their tour songs and rewrite the text/lyrics to fit their given theme.  Many laughs were had as we heard the familiar music of tour set to themes such as "A Night at the Opera", "Disney Delight" and "California Dreamin' & Beach Boys".  

We are all looking forward to a laid back day tomorrow, touring some of the most famous California beaches on the Pacific Coast Highway:  Newport Beach (Little Corona del Mar), Venice Beach and Santa Monica.  It is our last day, and we look forward to celebrating and being in fellowship with one another.  

AACS choir students sing Hark! I Hear the Harps Eternal on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

Madrigals - My Funny Valentine

Mrs. Joseph and AACS choir ladies on top of the mountain!

Redlands, CA

Skit Night!

Awesome dinner provided by the First Baptist Church of Redlands

First Baptist Church of Redlands Concert

Palm Springs, CA

View from the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

Maddie and Hannah enjoying some California sunshine

Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

Students enjoying hiking and rock climbing

Ms. Kauffman had an old HS youth group friend visit her at the concert.  Many students and faculty enjoyed catching up with California based friends and family!

Tour Day 2: A day dedicated to school visits and performances

Day Two:

Friday, April 14 2014

Linfield Christian School

The first stop of the day was Linfield Christian School in Temecula where we lead the Easter Chapel for the middle and high school students. As we were arriving at the school Abbey S.  remarked, “This is the first time we’ve ever sung at a school [since she has been going on AACS choir tours], and I love it!”  The students at Linfield returned the sentiment, clapping and singing along with our choirs. (Of course the middle school girls just melted when the Men of Note sang their “Nylons Medley!”)

Another memorable moment of the performance was the Bell’Arte rendition of “All the Beauty” (written by J.J. Heller and arranged by AACS alumnus Adam Cogliano).  The piece focuses on the thoughts of a young woman as she looks in the mirror and must battle the “lies” she hears about what she sees.  The Bellas interjected a moving “spoken word” section into the piece where they shouted some of the lies that they must confront: “You’re worthless. You’re legs don’t look good in a skirt.  Every time I look in the mirror, all I see is ‘gross!’”  The piece then confronts those lies with the truth:  “You were fearfully and wonderfully made.  You were made in my image.  I know every hair on your head.  You are a daughter of the King, and I love you!”  Several of the Bellas commented that they felt the power in the texts they spoke today and hoped that the piece blessed the audience as much as performing it blessed them.

After the performance we invited the high school performing arts students to hang out for an informal Q and A session before we enjoyed a delicious, and authentic, Mexican food buffet for lunch.  Dessert was a full pallet of huge, ripe, fresh, luscious, local strawberries.  They were so juicy they required a “splash zone!”

Friends Christian School—Middle School Assembly

The next stop of the day was Rick and Barbara Kempton’s former school, Friends Christian School, in Yorba Linda.  Here we performed an assembly for 500 middle school students who had earned a much needed break from a round of standardized testing.  Mr. K received a boisterous standing ovation from his former students, and during his introduction he thanked them saying, “Barbara and I are visiting those we love, and we’re introducing them to those [from Maryland] we are falling in love with.”

After the assembly we enjoyed some “down time” on the sprawling Friends campus  and were treated to Lamppost Pizza, a favorite of the Kemptons, followed by root beer floats.  (Whitney V.’s first root beer ever!)

Rose Drive Friends Church—Evening Concert

As the sun was setting , we began an evening concert at the Rose Drive Friends Church.  Besides the Kemptons,, Mrs. Joseph, Ms. Kauffman, Whitney Vandenheuvel, Brook Bloomquist, Hannah Holden, and Mr. Vineyard all had friends and family who were able to join us for the concert, making the evening a very special event for everyone. 

Following the concert the students went to stay the night in the homes of host families who were all close friends and family members of the Kemptons.

More exciting tour moments to come!  Including a hilarious, late night bus debacle with the chaperones. :)

Evening concert at Rose Drive Friends Church - Yorba Linda, CA

Primping for the evening concert

Chapel Performance at Linfield Christian School in Temecula, CA

Root beer floats in the California sun!

Whitney's first ever root beer!

The teachers get in on the root beer float action

Pizza Dinner in Yorba Linda, CA

Fresh, juicy California strawberries at lunch.  Splash zone required!

The Kempton's are reunited with their family

Chapel Performance at Linfield Christian School in Temecula, CA

Day One
Thursday, April 10, 2014

After a great night's sleep, we met "Mr. E," our bus driver, for a short ride over to The University of Southern California (USC) for a Masterclass with Dr. Jo-Michael Schiebe,  Director of Choral Activities and former president of the American Choral Directors' Association.  After hearing our combined choirs sing their first piece, "Hark! I Hear the Harps Eternal," Dr. Schiebe remarked, "I think this is the best choir we've heard (of the 20-30 high school choirs workshopped this spring), and some of those choirs came from schools of 3,000 [students]." He then spent the next 90 minutes sharing his expertise on such technical issues as "grounding," diction, tuning, color choice, and breath control.  He even had some fun with Mrs. Joseph, helping her to use the "Alexander Method" in her conducting!

Next it was on to Hollywood where Jodi Hoffman and members of the cast of Singin' in the Rain re-enacted the opening scene of the musical, which takes place in front of the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre.  We strolled down the famous "Walk of Fame" and then boarded four canope-topped tour vans for a fast-paced tour of Beverly Hills, Redeo Drive, Sunset Boulevard, and Mulholland Drive.

For dinner we stopped the Kempton's favorite burger place, In and Out Burgers, where we consumed the famous "Double-Double" Burgers, hand-cut fries, and shakes.  (Some of us even tried our burgers "protein style," and "animal style.")

The day ended with devotions--the ladies with Mrs. Joseph and the men with Mr. Vineyard and Mr. Cherone.  One of the main themes was how only God can satisfy the longings of the human heart, not fame, or power, or wealth.  Then it was off to bed in preparation for Day Two, which includes concerts at Linefield Christian School, Friends Christian School, and Rose Drive Friends Church.

Mrs. Joseph and Dr. Jo-Michael Scheibe

Bell'Arte Singers at the USC workshop

Warm ups outside at the beautiful USC campus

The University of Southern California has a BEAUTIFUL campus.    We enjoyed seeing all the students and their bikes!

Ready for our Hollywood Tour!

Ready for our Hollywood Tour on open air buses!

Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Kempton at Grauman's Chinese Theater

Girls Devotional Night

Group pic at USC

We made it safely to Los Angeles!

I am writing this blog post at 1:23am eastern time, but 10:18pm here in Los Angeles, CA!  The AACS choirs made it safely to Los Angeles and now checked in and heading to bed.  It has been a long day.  With excitement, students dropped off their luggage at 7:15am to the AACS Kerr Center, decked out in their tour t-shirt and jeans.  The end of the day couldn't come soon enough!  A big thank you to David Mitchell who graciously offered his truck and help to get all 50 pieces of luggage to the airport.  Ms. Kauffman, Mr. Vineyard and Mr. Cherone accompanied Mr. Mitchell to the airport and set up early for the arrival of the students.  Thanks to great teamwork, we successfully moved all students through security swiftly and efficiently, leaving plenty of time for dinner and group activities.  We had a smooth, non stop flight and our students represented AACS well.  Their character and behavior were exemplary, earning them an announced compliment at the end of the flight.  What a proud moment to hear the whole plane cheering in gratitude for our amazing students and image bearers of Christ.

I think we were all thankful to see the hotel shuttles roll up to the airport, ready to take us to some long awaited rest.  We look forward to sharing our experiences with you and stay tuned for some more fun filled posts!

Thank you all for praying us literally across the country!

Luggage lined up and ready to go!

Working on some fun group activities!

Still can't believe all the luggage fit into this truck!

Our friendly luggage crew at LAX

We are finally in California!  Waiting anxiously for our shuttles.

Please pray for us!

We greatly covet your prayers while we are away!  The following are specific ways you can be praying for us ...

Choral Tour 2014 Prayer Requests

Prayer Request #1

Spiritual Protection

Prayer Request #2

Musical Performances

-       for excellence, for our audiences to be blessed by the musical gifts that God has given us

Prayer Request #3

Safety

-       traveling mercies, personal safety of the students, and all the logistics that need to come in to place to have a successful tour

Prayer Request #4

Experience for the Students

-       that it will be a rich time spiritually for our students

Prayer Request #5

Conduct

-       that all we do, our actions and thoughts, will glorify the Lord and bless and love others

Prayer Request #6

Relationships

-       that we will love and support each other, as fellow choir members, at all times.  That we can let little offenses go

Prayer Request #7

Health and Weather

 - health of our students, chaperones and directors, to get rest and proper hydration.  Also, please pray that the Lord will give us good weather as we will be outside touring many of the cities that we have the privilege to perform in.

The 2014 California Tour!

Southern California Choir Tour 2014

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Dress:  Tour T-shirt (with shirt underneath), casual pants

3:20pm            Leave school for Airport (Buses provided)

4:00pm            Check in at Airport (packed dinner or buy at airport $10)

6:25pm            Departure – United Flight UA307

9:17pm            Arrive in Los Angeles, CA (LAX Airport)

                        Take Holiday Inn Shuttle to hotel

10:30pm          Check in to Holiday Inn Express/LAX Airport Hotel

                        8620 Airport Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045

                        1-310-645-7700

11:00pm          Head to rooms/Lights out!

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Dress:  Smart Casual

8:00am                                    Wake up!

8:45am                                    Breakfast

9:15am                                      Bus arrives to start our trip

                                                Pick up Address:  8620 Airport Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045

9:30am                                    Report to Bus

9:45am                                    Leave for Workshop at USC

11:00am – 12:30pm             College Workshop – University of Southern California

                                                Dr. Jo-Michael Schiebe

                                                USC Thornton School of Music

                                                3450 Watt Way - TMC 200, Los Angeles, CA 90089

12:30pm-1:30pm                     Lunch at Cafe 84 at USC

2:30pm                                    Drop off to Hollywoodland Tours

                                                Address:  1710 N. McCadden Place, Los Angeles, CA 90028

5:15pm                                    Bus Pick Up for group at address above

5:30pm                                    Dinner - In and Out Burger ($10)

                                                Location:  TBD in Los Angeles area

7:00pm                                    Head back to Hotel (Holiday Inn Express)

7:30pm                                    Devotion Night (Girls/Guys)               

9:00pm                                    To Rooms

9:45pm                                    Lights Out

Friday, April 11, 2014

Dress:  Tour T-Shirt, Khakis

6:00am                                    Wake up!

6:40am                                    Breakfast (report with Luggage & Concert Attire bag)

7:15am                                    Report to bus

7:30am                                    Leave for Linfield Christian School (Temecula, CA)

                                                Address:  31950 Pauba Rd, Temecula, CA 92592

                                               

9-9:30am                                 Arrive at Linfield Christian School

10:30am                                  Linfield Christian School - Performance

11:30am                                  Q & A Workshop with US Fine Arts Students

12:00pm                                  Lunch at Linfield Christian School

12:30pm                                  Leave for Friends Christian School (Yorba Linda, CA)

                                                Address:  4221 N Rose Dr, Yorba Linda, CA 92886

1:30pm                                    Arrive at Friends Christian School

2:30pm                                    Concert - Friends Christian School

3:30pm                                    Free time at Friends (open gym/baseball game)

4:30pm                                    Rehearsal if needed

5:30pm                                    Dinner at Rose Drive Friends Church

7:00pm                                    Concert - Rose Drive Friends Church (same location as

school)

                                                Concert Attire:  Black Gowns & Tuxes

8:00pm                                    Cookie Reception after concert

8:30pm                                    Leave with host families

8:30pm                                    Bus takes faculty to Embassy Suites - Brea

            Address:  900 E Birch St, Brea, CA 92821

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Dress:  Smart Casual

8:45am                       Bus picks up faculty at Embassy Suites - Brea

9:00am                        Pick up students at Rose Drive Friends Church

                                    Breakfast provided by host families

10:30am                      Arrive at Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

                                    Address:  1 Tram Way, Palm Springs, CA 92262

11:45am                      Lunch at Pines Cafe

12:45pm                      Take Tram down and Leave for Living Desert

                                    Address:  47900 Portola Ave, Palm Desert, CA 92260

1:30pm                        Arrive at Living Desert & Safari Riding Package

3:30pm                        Leave Living Desert for First Baptist Church

4:30pm                        Arrive at First Baptist Church

                                    Address:  51 W Olive Ave, Redlands, CA 92373

5:00pm                        Dinner - First Baptist Church

5:45pm                        Rehearsal

7:00pm                        Concert - First Baptist Church, Redlands, CA

                                    Concert Attire:  Black Gown & Tuxes

8:30pm                        Leave for hotel/Check in students

                                    Embassy Suites Brea, North Orange County

9:15pm                        Skit & Game Night

10:30pm                      Back to Rooms

11:00pm                      Lights Out!

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Dress:  Smart Casual

7:15am                        Wake up!

8:00am-9:00am           Breakfast/Check out

9:30am                        Leave for Beach chapel

10:30am                      Beach chapel at Newport Beach, CA (Corona del Mar/Little

Corona)

                                    Address:  3100 Ocean Blvd, Corona del Mar, CA 92625

12:30pm                      Leave for Venice Beach/Santa Monica, CA via Pacific Coast

Hwy

                                    Snacks on the bus

1:30pm                        Free Time at Venice Beach, CA

(Lunch or Snack on your own)

                                    Address:  1800 Ocean Front Walk, Venice, CA 90291

3:00pm                        Leave for Santa Monica, CA

3:15pm                        Free time at Santa Monica, CA

(drop off Shutters on the Beach)

                                    Address:  1 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405

5:45pm                        Report back to Shutters on the Beach, Santa Monica

6:00pm                        Dinner at Shutters on the Beach, Santa Monica

7:30pm                        Tour Reflections

8:30pm                        Leave for Holiday Inn Express/LAX & Check in

                                    Address:  8620 Airport Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045

9:00pm                        Arrive at Holiday Inn Express/LAX & Check in

9:30pm                        To Rooms & Lights Out!

                                   

Monday, April 14, 2014

Dress:  Tour T-Shirt, Casual Pants

4:00am                        Start shuttle service to airport

4:30am                        Check in for flight

6:30am                        Flight – United 1410/1411

5:12pm                        Arrive at BWI

                                    (Parents pick up students at airport)