Fun Stuff

Having fun around town. 

Adler Planetarium

This morning we had a sleep in day. We wanted to give the kids a break from the schedule we were keeping. We rode Chicago's public transportation (CTA Trains and Buses). We divided the kids by rooms and put a sponsor in charge of them. We all stood in groups in front of the doors and when the doors opened we shuffled the kids in then the sponsors looked at each other for the ok and walked in. Success! We made it without loosing any one. The kids did really well. I was proud of them. : ) 

Once we got off the train we walked to the Adler Planetarium (in the rain!) Paco Jimenez drove the rental van to the planetarium and got all the prep work done for us so when we got there walked in set up and performed. It went well. Herb Dunn came up and told me that a woman in the audience told him that he was happy to hear us sing two Christian songs (I Want to Walk... and In the Beginning was the Word). 

The kids walked around and checked out the exhibits which were really interesting. We all lined up at 3:00 pm for an Imax movie about space. (Shhhh! Don't tell anyone, it put alot of the kids and sponsors to sleep). : ) I was fighting sleep myself.

P.S. Check out my music stand.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Last night we went to see Mary Poppins at the (Cadillac) Palace Theater. The show was awesome!

The staging was brilliant and the singing was amazing! Unfortunately we were unable to take pictures inside the theater. I'll have to see if the kids have pictures of the place. I'll which I'll post later. The Walkers and Shakespeares arrived late last night. They'll be joining us for the rest of the time.

Thank you Mr. Z for the pics. 

Coming Soon Mary Poppins....

MBA at AU

It sure was a pleasure to see a number of my MBA friends here at Andrews University. I was able to watch the Oceanaires and Westwind's concert yesterday at the Howard Performing Art Center and it was an awesome performance. I didn't expect them to play Smooth by Santana but it was really good. I hope that everyone in MBA is doing good and I can't wait to see most of you at your graduation!

-Jeffrey Ypon Veloso MBA '08

Westwinds Band clinic with Claudio Gonzalez D.M.A

Clinic with Dr. Stephen Zork

Music clinics @ Andrews University

This morning the each music group had a clinic with a clinician at Andrews. I spent the majority of the time with Westwinds under the clinician Dr. Claudio Gonzalez. Dr. Gonzalez (http://www.andrews.edu/cas/music/faculty/gonzalez_claudio.html) worked with their intonation (micro tuning), sensing each other rhythmically and  taught the band kids about letting go and enjoy making music. 

I was able to walk in on the last part of the Oceanaires clinic and was blown away by the sound they were producing with Mr. Stephen Zork

 (www.andrews.edu/cas/music/faculty/zork_stephen.html).

It was nice to sit back and listen for once and enjoy their sound. Mr. Zork complemented them and gave some great singing techniques.

Oceanaires reaction...

Ernest Ly enjoyed the Oceanaires' morning activity, which was a choir clinic with Mr. Stephen Zork. "He was good at explaining and teaching techniques. They were simple adjustments that enhanced our voices, and enriched our sound."

Annemarie Gregory agrees: "We were all tired this morning, and our teacher had such an enjoyable energy. He made us laugh, he stretched our singing 'sound'. It rolled around the room! He was creative and we were comfortable with him. He was bombtastic!"

Howard Performing Arts Center

We had the wonderful opportunity of performing for Andrews University in their amazing concert hall. The kids did great! Here are some of the kids' reactions...

Vicky Hsiao says: "The opportunity to sing in the Performance Center was incredible, because the idea of sharing our musical abilities with other people was really inspiring. Being able to sing somewhere with amazing acoustics gave us a great mindset-we knew we had to perform to perfection."

"...." and that is Namiko Nagayama, appearantly unable to say anything. She is still speechless after sharing this special experience with her other Westwinds friends. "My jaw is...still on the floor," she said. Performing with a fuller sound was fun for all of us.

The Oak Hill Cemetery

We stopped at the Oak Hill Cemetery to look for the grave sites of James and Ellen White, J.H. Kellogg, Uriah Smith, Sojourner Truth, and C.W. Post. Our mission was to find Jana's great.... grandmother who is buried with the Whites (She is a White descendant). Unfortunately we didn't know where it was so several of us spread out to look for them. The problem is 28,000 people are buried there! I yelled out who ever finds the grave site gets free dinner. After about 30 minutes of searching Betsy Dunn found it. It was next to the entrance. If we would have turned to the left we would have tripped on it....we turned to the right. : ) The nice thing is that I found and saw several of the grave sites I wanted to see. It was great. Historically this was an other amazing experience. Not to be morbid but It would be great to be standing there when Jesus returns. To see all the early pioneers alive greeting each other giving each other high fives and hugs and of course saying FINALLY! No more "disappointment!"

Our Adventist Heritage

After we left B.C.A. and continued our journey to the Historic Adventist Village where we had the chance to experience the location of our early church leaders. We first stopped and hear a small presentation in  a replica of the 1857 Meeting House. At the end of the presentation we broke into song singing some hymns. It sounded so beautiful to hear our kids singing these traditional hymns a capella. I had stop just to listen to them sing. I really wish you all were here to listen. We went to Ellen White's house, a school house, a log cabin, & J. H. Kellogg's Discovery Center.

The grounds we green and peaceful. Everything stood humbly yet strong. I was in awe and I wish we could have stayed longer. I have to go back.

Battle Creek Academy

Today we performed at B.C.A. After an hour and a half we arrived in Battle Creek to a drizzly crisp morning. We were warmly welcomed by the school's principal Mr. Eric Velez whose wife taught two of our kids in kindergarten a Ridgecrest (Todd DeFluiter and Dustin Witzel). Their students were fun to perform with. Mr. Z made it really fun and interesting by dedicating an Oceanaires song to Mr. Velez's wife in Mr. Velez's name. He was just as surprised as Mrs. Velez.

The music teacher was really helpful by allowing us to use some of her percussion instruments which made setting up a lot easier. It was a good performance. On to Adventist Heritage Tour... 

We made it!

We landed safely and proceeded to the baggage claim to collect all our stuff. We met up with the Burnseds who took a direct flight. Herb and Paco went to Avis to pick up the rental van and we loaded the bus. We have an awesome 53 passenger bus and driver. It is very comfortable with plenty of leg room. It has a bathroom and a dvd player with TV monitors spread around the cabin. the kids like it!

Our driver (Thomas) is really cool and very helpful. Mr. Z and I were talking to him and asking him questions about the city. He told us that he drove the Vice President Biden's family to President Obama's acceptance speech. He stood 50 feet from then President-Elect Obama and heard the entire speech with a couple of other bus drivers who drove for the groups. He told us stories about driving McCain supporters to Ohio. It was great hearing first hand accounts of what was going on during the election. 

Once we got in to downtown Chicago we went to Sear's Tower Skydeck. We took a one minute elevator ride to the 99th floor to enjoy an amazing panoramic view of the city. The city looked amazing. 

It was time to go so we went down to street level to load the bus. By this time it started raining. We got a bit soaked but made it in to the bus and van safe.

Once we got on the bus we started our journey to Michigan passing thourgh Indiana where we had dinner.

We arrived at our hotel at midnight and shuffled everyone off to their rooms to get ready for bed. They are tired and I hope they rest well because tomorrow is a big performing day (Battle Creek Academy and Andrews University).

It's time for me to get some rest.

Good night all!

Minnesota Airport

2:16 pm

We landed safely! The Airport was cool. It had a lot of shops. Mr. Z and I found the infamous bathroom that got the Republican Senator into trouble. The kids seem in good spirits and got to stretch their legs and have a snack. We loaded the plane and are now on our way to Chicago O’ Hare Airport. The plane is more spacious compared to the last.

Well we land in about an hour. We are now at 29000 ft and able to get out of our seats.

Steve is asleep and Anita is reading her book.

Take care.

Flying

7:20 am 

We just passed over Yosemite National Park and the captain gave us the “ok” to pull out our electronic devices. I want to take some time to let you know who our sponsors are…

MBA Staff: 3

Me (Josh Rivera) - Music Tour Director

Herb Dunn - Tour Treasurer/Manager

Tim Zytkoskee - M.C.

 

Chaperones: 4

Christine Betts (Danica’s mom) - Tour Assistant

Betsy Dunn (Kirsten’s mom) - Tour Assistant

Paco Jimenez (Kevin’s dad) - Tour Assistant

Anita Pervorse (Ashley’s mom) - Tour Assistant

 

Students: 53

Girls: 26

Boys: 27

 

There’s our break down. So far so good. Flight attendants are starting the drink service.

I’m a bit parched!

Prego!

 

On NWA Plane

6:19 am Monday April 27, 2009 

Well we made it all on and we are about ready to go. I am sitting next to Steven and George. The plane seems old and scary! I will blog later.

Steve say’s “It was a really long walk to the plane”

George say’s “ So everything is organized and Todd’s here.”

Hasta!

 

Goodnight!

The packing went well and so did the pizza dinner. The kids got their fill and were happy. Before the pizza came in (Thanks Heidi!!) Herb Dunn weighed everyones suitcases with a scale that we bought for the tour. Several kids had to pull stuff out to make their bags lighter. Here's what we are up against when it comes to baggage fees. 

62" inches and 50 lbs is the limit to avoid extra fees

63" - 80" - $175.00

Over 80" - Not accepted

51- 70 pounds - $90.00 one way

71- 100 lbs - $175.oo one way

We saved a couple of students $180.00. We moved some of the percussion stands around

to lighten the load. Some students gave up some room in their suitcases. (Thanks Josh W. & Steve S.)

The kid should be getting to bed shortly. It's going to be a short night. Since we have to start loading a 3:00 am tomorrow morning. Uhhhhh! 

We currently have 60 kids and adult going on this tour. Of the 7 adults 4 are male and 3 are female. We have three other sets of parents joining us who are there for support and cheerleading. (Burnseds, Shakespeares, and Walkers) In that group have 2 doctors and 2 dentists. We are set and in good hands. 

(I'll give more info on who is on tour with us later).

Well it's time for me to go and try to get some rest. I wish you all well and keep us in your

prayers. Keep checking in on us and I'll try to keep up the blog daily. 

Ciao!

Count Down!

Well this is my first official written post. We just finished Alumni Weekend and all went well.

Chorale and Oceanaires sang for church and Oceanaires sang for the "49er" Brunch. The kids should be bring their suitcases and bags down to the Music Department to get measured and weighed for travel. Touring is getting more difficult as the years pass. We have to pay for every bag and the oversize fees are astronomical. Thankfully we budgeted enough to cover every ones bag and the cost for oversized baggage. 

My wife Heidi is going to head in to Watsonville to pick up 25 pizzas for dinner. I'm heading down to the Music Department right now to see how everything is going. 

I'll try to post tonight and before we leave tomorrow morning.

Venga! Hasta pronto!

Andrews University Concert Poster