A Las Vegas Homeschool Choir

The first day of choir will indeed be September 14th (that’s a week from this coming Monday), and we will meet at the American Heritage Academy at the corner of Patrick and Sandhill in Henderson. That day you will need to register each child for insurance purposes. This will entail filling out basic information and emergency contact forms. In addition to the regular choir fee that I will collect each week, I will collect the $5 per month per child building usage fee (this goes to the SEEK co-op to cover their building costs). I will collect this fee to give to SEEK at the first rehearsal of each month. Now, I know you would all like to know how much the per child choir fee is going to be weekly, but first I need to know how many students we have. Again, it won’t be more than $5/week per child, because we won’t hold the choir unless there are at least 10 students, and the fee will likely be less. I know it may be difficult to make a decision based on this information, but I need a head count as soon as possible. If your decision is contingent upon how many children are in the choir, please let me know exactly what you are willing to pay per child and how many of your children would be included, and I will let you know if there are enough students or not.

I am looking forward to working with you all!

Good news! We are going to become part of the SEEK co-op in Henderson. This means several things for the choir. First of all, we will have a regular place to meet. SEEK meets on Mondays at a private school at Patrick and Sandhill. They pay rent for the building, so all students involved in the choir will be charged a $5/month building use fee. The choir will meet Mondays at 1:30 from September 14th through December for 12 weeks. We will start again in January for another 12 weeks.

Next, as far as a regular fee is concerned, we have decided to offer a $50 weekly flat rate, per the choir. Before you stop breathing, please note, this is NOT a per child fee. This fee is what the choir as a whole will be charged. In other words, if there are 10 students in the choir (and we will cancel the choir if there are less, to keep it affordable), the rate per child will be $5 weekly. However, if there are 20 students, the fee per child will be $2.50 weekly. In other words, it helps you to help the choir. Bring friends! Of course, we will need funds for music, but I believe we can accomplish this through fundraisers and/or donations at concerts.

Finally, each child will need to be registered, I believe for insurance reasons. I do not have the specifics at the moment, but I will pass them along to you as soon as I have them.

I’m so excited to work with you all! See you soon!!

My name is Kelsey Rogers. I love choir! It is my hope  to start a choir for homeschooled children in the Las Vegas area this fall, ages 8 and up (this is a revision of an earlier statement, the age limit will no longer be 13).

As to the specifics of location and cost, they are not yet fully determined. I know this is what concerns most of you the most, but there is still much to decide. It looks like the choir may meet as a part of the SEEK co-op in Henderson. I believe that those who are not members of the co-op would be welcome to participate, but this is still not official, nor is it yet certain that we will be able to meet as a part of this group. However, I know there are many other groups in the Valley, and I would like to include as many people as possible, so please contact me if you have any other ideas. As to fees, I am considering charging a flat fee for each rehearsal, with the individual cost reducing as the number of students increases. If the choir is small, that fee will cover music, but if it is large, there may also be a fee to purchase music. This, though, would be minimal, as there are very few pieces of music that cost more than $2/copy, and free music is abundant.

The choir will not have any particular religious affiliation, but will most certainly include sacred, as well as secular, music. I believe the exclusion of religious discussion in all areas of study to be undesirable, but in choral music it is near impossible. Choral music in our culture began as a part of the Catholic Church and cannot be severed therefrom without losing a substantial portion of its history. Spirituals are another truly significant source of choral music that ought not be neglected. Having said this, the preaching of any particular religion will be excluded, and the inclusion of music from as many cultures, backgrounds, and philosophical standpoints as possible will be emphasized. It is my hope to give these children a truly well-rounded choral experience. If you have any questions about this or anything else related to the choir, feel free to contact me at: kelseykrogers@gmail.com

A bit about me:

While I do not yet have children of my own, my journey with homeschooling began about three and a half years ago. I was in Illinois, and I had the great privilege to meet and spend a good deal of time with one of the most amazing families I’ve ever known. Their mother homeschooled all five of them, and they were some of the most secure, happy, respectful, and wonderful children I’ve ever known. Her example and children had a lasting and beautiful effect on me and caused me much reflection as to the direction I will take with my children’s education. Since then, I have felt a kinship and great respect for homeschooling moms.

The idea for a choir came in February of this year, while I was at lunch with my husband, other BYU Choral Conducting Graduate Students, and none other than Craig Jessop, former director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. In the course of our conversation with him, he mentioned that he once heard a choir of homeschoolers that was one of the best he’d heard. Knowing that homeschooling is strong in Las Vegas, and wanting to contribute something to the musical scene here, this idea piqued my interest. So here I am, offering this choir to you and your children.

Following an online English course, I will be a graduate of Brigham Young University with a  Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education. My husband has his Master’s Degree in Choral Conducting, also from BYU, and today begins his first day of teaching choir at Canarelli Middle School. He and I sang with the BYU Singers this year, and we had the great privilege of touring with them in the British Isles and participating in an International Choral Festival in Cork, Ireland. Here is a link to a youtube video of us performing in St. Tydfil’s Parish Church in Wales: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsJ1dJlxmtM

I look forward to working with you! Please contact me at: kelseykrogers@gmail.com