MPE Music Committee Report 2009
The MPE Board would like the members of the Music Committee to follow these guidelines when selecting music for the graduation ceremony:
MPE is a Christian Program; all music selected for the graduation ceremony must be Christian and reflect the Graduation Purpose Statement. (This rules out musical scores or secular songs.)
The Committee may select music from three categories- traditional, contemporary praise and worship and classical.
The committee must work closely with the Program Committee in consideration of the elements that will be performed during the ceremony.
MPE Graduation Ceremony Purpose Statement:
 “Graduation symbolizes a “trophy presentation” where the individual trophies are, in essence, the graduates themselves. It is to His glory that these “trophies” are laid at the feet of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. Thus, this ceremony is to focus, not on the graduates or their families, but on bringing honor and glory to our Savior.
The ceremony is to be considered a praise service to God, designed as a public display of the gratitude of the graduates and their parents for being given the privilege of home schooling. It is also to demonstrate the thankfulness of the graduates for their parents, as well as other relatives and friends, who were used by God to shape the lives and character of those graduates for future service to the Master.
Special care is to be given in the design of the ceremony to avoid any self-centered and inappropriate focus upon any individual graduate or parent by way of disrespectful attire, comments, gestures, noises, or any other activity that distracts from the God-centered intent of this event.”
Graduate and Parental Participation within the Committee:
The committee will choose the music for the following elements of the ceremony:
1.The Prelude
2.Slide Show
3.Processional
4.Congregational Hymn
5.Presentation of Diplomas
6.Presentation of Roses
7.Senior Class Response
8.Recessional

Assignments within the Committee:
Cooperation is the key. When every member helps, one individual is not over burdened with the work assigned to the Music Committee. For 2009, the chairman assigned these responsibilities to the members of the committee. The job descriptions are listed below:
Secretary: Takes minutes at each meeting and submits them to the committee the following Saturday by email. (This will keep absent members informed.) Compiles a report for the committee after the graduation ceremony that will encourage future Music Committees.
Auditions Coordinator: Designs a checklist to assist in selecting musicians. Organizes audition times. Communicates with potential musicians. Works closely with directors and assists the committee in the decision making process. (It is recommended that the auditions take place before or after the monthly meetings. Seniors were selected first to participate in the ceremony
Program Committee Liaison: Submits correct spelling of composers, music titles, directors, musicians and arrangements to the Program Committee.
Financial Coordinator: Contacts the budget committee and makes recommendations for the music committee. (For 2009, the committee requested $250. With these funds, we purchased folders for the students’ music and compensated the directors.)
Appreciation Committee Coordinator: Submits the names of those we want to express thanks. (The Appreciation Committee will send thank notes and gifts to those submitted by the Committee.)
Music Coordinator: Works closely with the directors, students and parents by scheduling practice times, sends practice reminders and copies music for the congregational hymn and student response. This member is also present for all practices to assist the director and students when necessary and collects all music after each practice, the rehearsal and the graduation ceremony.
Recommendations:
* It is important to note that many homeschool families do not share the same taste in music. Because of this, it is important to compromise when selecting music for the graduation ceremony. This can be accomplished if each member keeps the graduation purpose and guidelines in focus.
* After the first few meetings, a committee chairman will be assigned by the Graduation Coordinator and/or the Music Committee.
The following information should help the Committee avoid some of the challenges faced by former committees.
1.Discuss how the committee will vote on all decisions.
2.Discuss how absent members will be informed of decisions made by the committee.
3.Make a timeline of what should be accomplished each month. (The Committee will have from October to March to complete its assignment. There is no scheduled meeting in December. )
4.Vote in person at the monthly meetings.  It saves time and allows room for open discussion. Use email as a back-up. Other meeting dates might be necessary, but are difficult to schedule.
5.Settle music choices early with a back-up plan.   (Make selections from well known songs for the congregational hymn.  It will encourage greater participation.
6. Recruit directors, musicians and graduate participation ASAP. (Only the directors are compensated.)
7.Schedule senior choir practices during the monthly meetings to ensure better attendance. This request should be submitted to the Graduation Board in advance. (The 2009 committee began choir practices in March. This allowed for 4 practices before the graduation ceremony-one in March, one in April and two at the graduation rehearsal)
8. Complete all decision making by the March meeting. Submit final plans to the Program Committee and Graduation Coordinator at this time. (The graduation programs will go to the printer the first week in April.)
9.You will find the 2009 music program below:
Prelude: Classical
“Largo” J.S.Bach             Emmett McWoods III ‘09/ Violin
“Lullaby” Rhett Barnell Bryant Sarensen ‘09/ Harp
                   “Seek Ye First” Karen Lafferty Matt Crowther ‘09/ Viola
Rebecca McClurg ‘09/ Violin
Slide Show: (Pre-recorded) Various Christian Artists (Selected by the Seniors)

Processional: “Pomp and Circumstance” Rebecca Bell and Mary Grant

Welcome:

Invocation:

Congregational Hymn: “To God Be the Glory” by Fanny Crosby
Emmett McWoods III ‘09/ Violin
Bryant Sarensen ‘09/ Harp
                   Matt Crowther ‘09/ Viola
Rebecca McClurg ‘09/ Violin
Senior Address:

Presentation of Diplomas: Soft instrumentals- Rebecca Bell and Mary Grant

Presentation of Roses: Soft instrumentals- Rebecca Bell and Mary Grant

Class Response: “Take My Life” arranged by Chris Tomlin
Instrumentals- Rebecca Bell and Mary Grant

Presentation of Class:

Recessional: “How Great is Our God” by Chris Tomlin
Instrumentals- Rebecca Bell and Mary Grant

Suggest music for preludes, processional, rose distribution, etc. during ceremony. MPE Board has final approval.  Recruit musicians, as needed.  Help choose background music for video presentation.

Minimum needed: 4 people

If you are interested in playing an instrument or singing during the ceremony, please note that (and what you play) when you volunteer.

Order of Ceremony

Processional Bobby Allison-Gallimore ‘98 – Piano

“Pomp and Circumstance”

Welcome Todd Kangas, MPE President

Prayer of Invocation William High

Master of Ceremonies Bill Ward

Class Verses and Quote Karie Behm

Congregational Hymn Cedric Saunders – Music Leader

“In Christ Alone” Bobby Allison-Gallimore – Piano

Andrew Summers – Guitar

Senior Addresses Molly Allison-Gallimore

Mike Phillips

Presentation of Diplomas Parents of Graduates

Bryant Sarensen – Harp

Presentation of Roses Kathryn Gerringer – Introduction

“Remember Me” Audrey Waddell, Michael Miller ’07 – Duet Taylor Quinn – Piano

Aaron Dorsett – Guitar

April Cervinka – Violin

Parental Blessing Mike Summers

Senior Class Response Taylor Quinn, Director

“My Tribute” Karie Behm – Piano Aaron Dorsett, Andrew Summers – Guitar

April Cervinka, Rebecca McClurg – Violin

David McClurg – Cello

Leah Shoemaker – Flute

Presentation of Class Bill Ward

Recessional Bobby Allison-Gallimore – Piano

You are invited to attend the reception following the ceremony.

2008 Music Committee Report

Our committee was made up of four adults and four seniors, which seemed to be about the right number of people.  It’s helpful for the committee members (especially the adults) to have some expertise in music.

The guidelines for the committee were unclear since we had no report from previous years, so we used last year’s agenda as our prototype.  I would recommend clarifying with the MPE Board which elements of the ceremony are “set in stone” and which are optional.

The musical elements we chose (based on the 2007 ceremony) were:
Pre-ceremony harp music in the foyer (Mojeh Tahmehr)
Piano Prelude (Bobby Allison-Gallimore ’98)
Congregational Hymn: “In Christ Alone” (led by parent Cedric Saunders with Bobby Allison-Gallimore ’98 on piano, and Andrew Summers ’08 on guitar)
Harp music during presentation of diplomas (Bryant Sarensen)
“Remember Me” during presentation of roses (Audrey Waddell ’08 and Michael Miller ’07 on vocals, Taylor Quinn on piano, Aaron Dorsett ’08 on guitar, and April Cervinka ’08 on violin)
Senior class response: “My Tribute” (directed by Taylor Quinn, Karie Behm ’08 on piano, Aaron Dorsett ’08 and Andrew Summers ’08 on guitar, April Cervinka ’08 and Rebecca McClurg on violin, David McClurg on cello, and Leah Shoemaker on flute)

It’s great if you have someone associated with the graduation class who can direct the music.  We did not, so we hired Taylor Quinn (who teaches voice classes and directs music for Greenleaf and Brighton Academy). Taylor directed and also played the piano for the Rose Ceremony song.  We paid Taylor $200 for his services.  You’ll need to submit your proposed budget to the financial committee early in the year, so you’ll want to make the decision about whether to hire someone fairly quickly.  The person you choose needs to be able to come to practices and spend some of their outside time on the music as well.

We didn’t pay any other musicians, but the Appreciation Committee sent thank you notes and also gave gift cards to the two adult musicians.

As you can see, we had quite a few seniors performing during the ceremony.  We invited all the seniors to contact us if they were interested in using their musical talents in this way.  We felt it was better to use the talents God had placed within the group than to go looking for other musicians.  The seniors who chose to participate were able to serve their class and the community with their gifts.  We didn’t find ourselves in a position where we needed to hold auditions, although I suppose that could happen if you ended up with a larger group of interested musicians.  We heard a lot of positive responses about the seniors (and their siblings) performing, and we think it’s a great opportunity for the community to gain a broader view of homeschool students.  One of the statements that is often made about the graduation ceremony is that it’s an encouragement to young families, and we believe that the music ministry is an encouragement to those families as well, as they enjoy the fruit of many years of music practice!

The earlier in the year you can settle on the music choices, the more time you’ll have to find musicians and practice music with the seniors.  In previous years, the music practice was held during a small segment of the monthly graduation meeting.  We felt like we needed more time than was available, so we scheduled additional practices, most of which had a fairly small turnout.  Unfortunately, most of the seniors are busy with classes, work, sports, and church activities, so it’s probably more realistic for practices that involve the whole class to be held at the monthly meetings.  It’s also an option not to have a “senior response song.”

Our committee met a couple of times in addition to the monthly meetings so we could listen to music options and have extra discussion and decision-making time.  We chose all the music as a committee.  In the case of the congregational hymn, we selected three options and let the class make the final vote.

In summary, your responsibilities include the following:

1.Turn in a budget for your committee to the treasurer. (Thank you gifts would be part of the Appreciation Committee budget, but you can make recommendations to that committee if you think gifts are appropriate for particular musicians.)
2.Determine which elements of the ceremony should include music.
3.Choose music.
4.Recruit musicians.
5.Get copyright releases for music.
6.Submit music information that needs to be included in the program to the Program Committee.  This includes musicians’ names, song titles, and song lyrics. The MPE printing deadline is in April, but the Program Committee usually wants that information by March.
7.Let the Graduation Coordinator know how much practice time you’ll need at each meeting.  (This is usually a compromise since other business has to be conducted at those meetings as well.)
8.Arrange any additional practices with musicians.
9.Proofread the music portion of the program to make sure the information is correct.