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About Us
Updated Saturday, August 14, 2010
About the Choirs
Lovejoy Varsity Choir (2nd period) The Varsity Choir is the premiere performing ensemble of the high school program. This SATB group will participate in all contests including UIL Concert and Sight-reading Contest in March. Varsity Choir is known for their mature, healthy, rich sound, their challenging and interesting repertoire, and their music reading skills. Members of Varsity are expected to show the utmost diligence and commitment to the Lovejoy Choir Program.
Concert Women’s Choir (5th period)
The talented Concert Women's Choir will focus on sight-singing and producing quality vocal tone as they sing challenging and varied repertoire. These women will have the opportunity to participate in all vocal competitions and each singer receives attention to her individual musicality. The members of Concert Women are at the beginning level of high school singing and are gifted with great voices and great attitudes! This choir has tradition of being very fun as well as successful, winning the Best Overall Choir trophy at the Alamo Music Festival in 2008.
Concert Men's Choir (1st period)These awesome singing men are newcomers to the high school choir program. They will focus on sight-singing and producing quality vocal tone as they sing challenging and varied repertoire. Concert Men will have the opportunity to participate in all vocal competitions and each singer receives attention to his individual musicality in this smaller ensemble setting. Concert Men will join Varsity Men in the UIL Concert and Sightreading Contest. This class is a blast!
Bel Canto Women's Choir (6th Period)Bel Canto is brand new to the Lovejoy Choir family. The term “bel canto” literally translates to “beautiful singing” and originates from the eighteenth century style of singing with strength, health, and grace. The women of Bel Canto are singers who have proven themselves to have lovely tone and strong vocal technique, and they have advanced in their sight-reading skills. The inaugural year of this choir will be an amazing one. Bel Canto singers will have the opportunity to participate in all vocal competitions.
About the Pop Groups
SpotlightThis women’s ensemble (of 15 sopranos and altos) perform pop repertoire, singing and dancing at concerts and representing Lovejoy Choirs at athletic events, benefits, and many other venues. Spotlight rehearses outside of regular school hours.
A CappellaMen and women in the Lovejoy Choir program may audition for A Cappella, the top auditioned ensemble at LHS. Members of A Cappella can expect to be musically challenged and to have a blast performing in many settings in our community. A Cappella rehearses outside of regular school hours.
About the Conductors
Bethany Green
Bethany Green graduated in 2006 with a master's degree in choral conducting from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign where she conducted the undergraduate Illini Women's Chorus. Ms. Green also studied at Texas Tech University, graduating with bachelors degrees in Music Education and Vocal Performance, Suma Cum Laude in Honors studies. While living in Lubbock, Ms. Green assisted in the direction of the Lubbock Community Children's Chorus and received music education training from the West Texas Kodaly Initiative.
As a performer, Ms. Green has sung at conventions for the American Choral Directors' Association, Texas Music Educators' Association, Southwest American Choral Directors' Association, and the Association of British Choral Directors with the world-renowned Texas Tech University Choir. As a soloist, Ms. Green has free-lanced for churches and community choirs in performances from Handel's Messiah to Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. With Texas Tech she performed in such shows as The Magic Flute, Show Boat, La Traviata, and The Fantasticks. Currently Ms. Green sings with the professional choir Orpheus, the premiere chamber choir of the DFW area.
During Ms. Green's four years of teaching, her choirs have succeeded on many levels, from All-State Choir to UIL State Solo and Ensemble. No choir under her direction has received any thing but the highest possible rating at UIL Concert and Sight-Reading Contest: the Sweepstakes Trophy award. Her choirs have won awards at many competitions, including Best in Class and Outstanding Overall Choir in Competition trophies at the Lonestar Music Festival in 2008 and the Space City Music Festival in 2010. Ms. Green is so proud of her students' achievements and of the development of the department which has grown over 1000% since its inception in 2006.
Brooke Grall Brooke Grall graduated Cum Laude, in 2004 from The University of North Texas College of Music in Denton with a Bachelors of Music Degree in Vocal Performance. In 2007, Mrs. Grall received her teaching certification in Music Education, also from The University of North Texas. While completing her certification, she worked as an Assistant Choir Director at Rice Middle School in Plano, Texas.
As a performer, Mrs. Grall has sung with Paradigm Vocal Ensemble, Texas Choral Artists, and the UNT A Cappella Choir, under the direction of Dr. Jerry McCoy, performing the world premier of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, arranged by Juan Vincente Mas Quiles. While in college, Mrs. Grall appeared in numerous musicals and operas. An accomplished pianist, Mrs. Grall has accompanied choirs, soloists, and instrumentalists for the last ten years, throughout the metroplex. She performed as a soloist and section leader at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Ft. Worth, TX for two years. Currently, Mrs. Grall sings with Ms. Green in Orpheus Chamber Singers, the premiere chamber choir of the DFW area. She also performs occasionally in churches throughout Dallas and surrounding areas.
During Mrs. Grall’s four years of teaching, she has had opportunities to teach on all levels, elementary, middle school, and high school. She taught at Thomas Elementary in Plano for 2 years as a Music Specialist and received her Kodály Level I Certification while working there. She then joined the Lovejoy Community and taught aside Mrs. Christina Chapman at Sloan Creek Middle School for one year. Mrs. Grall is a member of both the Texas Choral Directors Association and Texas Music Educators Association. She has taken choirs to numerous local performing venues, including the dedication of the Veterans Memorial Park in Plano, and she helped organize Metroplex Children’s Choir students to perform at Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. Last year, as the assistant choir director at Sloan Creek Middle School, her choir received sweepstakes at UIL. Mrs. Grall is the proud mother of her new baby girl, Zoe and she and her husband, Jay, are ecstatic about the exciting year ahead.
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