RESOURCE PAGE FOR CHOIR MATRIX
Tuition for Session I FALL 2025 is $35.
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How to pay tuition:
--bring a check or cash to the first rehearsal
--mail a check to Consonare Choral Community, P.O. Box 338, Mansfield Center, CT 06250
--pay online via in the new registration system (above)
If paying tuition is a hardship for you, please send Sarah an email. If you would like to add a donation to your tuition, you can do so easily and your donation is tax deductible.
FALL REHEARSALS -- SUNDAYS 3:00-4:30pm
Storrs Congregational Church
September 7
September 14
September 21
September 28
October 5
October 12
October 19
October 26
[no rehearsal on Nov 2]
November 9
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Dress Rehearsal:
Friday, November 14, 2025 at 6:00-8:00pm
Session Concert:
Saturday, November 15, 2025 at 4:00pm
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Special Collaboration Performance:
Sunday, November 2, 2025 at 4:00pm with Concinnity
CONCERT ATTIRE:
All black with an optional splash of blue (scarf, hair accessory, jewelry, etc.)
INCLEMENT WEATHER:
Please check your email one hour prior to rehearsal as any rehearsal cancellations will be advised by 2pm the day of rehearsal. If rehearsal has to be cancelled, we will replace the missed rehearsal time by extending a subsequent rehearsal or two to 5pm.
FALL SESSION CHOIR PARTY
Saturday, November 15, 2025 directly after the concert (location TBD). Families are welcomed and encouraged to attend.
SINGING FOR STORRS CONGREGATIONAL:
Sunday, November 23, 2025 at 10am (arrive at 9:30am)
MEET OUR MUSIC LEADERSHIP
Sarah Kaufold, Director of Choir Matrix
Sarah is a conductor, soprano, and music educator who advocates for inclusion on the podium, within the choral ensemble, and in the choir folder. With extensive choral conducting and leadership experience, Sarah has directed choirs for singers of all ages, range of abilities, and in a number of settings, which include: church choral programs for children and adults since 2000, teaching middle and high school choral and general music classes; conducting collegiate choirs; directing adult community choral programs and a professional vocal ensemble.Sarah holds a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from UConn with extensive graduate study in choral conducting from Cal State University, Los Angeles and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Cal Poly Pomona where she began her studies as a music educator. Sarah is current and founding Artistic Director of Consonare Choral Community. Learn more on our Consonare website.
Janice Castle is our collaborative pianist. Jan is a music educator and has accompanied adult and youth choirs throughout our area for over 20 years.
GENERAL RESOURCES
SONG RESOURCES
The theme for this session is "PENNED: when words inspire" where we will explore how the written word and literacy efforts by women have inspired and changed history.
Goodnight Moon
Composed by Eric Whitacre
Text by Margaret Wise Brown
Text:
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In the great green room
There was a telephone
And a red balloon
And a picture of –
The cow jumping over the moon
And there were three little bears sitting on chairs
And two little kittens
And a pair of mittens
And a little toyhouse
And a young mouse
And a comb and a brush and a bowl full of mush
And a quiet old lady who was whispering “hush”
Goodnight room
Goodnight moon
Goodnight cow jumping over the moon
Goodnight light
And the red balloon
Goodnight bears
Goodnight chairs
Goodnight kittens
And goodnight mittens
Goodnight clocks
And goodnight socks
Goodnight little house
And goodnight mouse
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Practice Tracks
mm.
Light of a clear blue morning
Words and Music by Dolly Parton
arr. Craig Hella Johnson
Text:
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It's been a long dark night
And I've been a waitin' for the morning
It's been a long hard fight
But I see a brand new day a dawning
I've been looking for the sunshine
You know I ain't seen it in so long
But everything's gonna work out just fine
And everything's gonna be all right
That's been all wrong
'Cause I can see the light of a clear blue morning
I can see the light of a brand new day
I can see the light of a clear blue morning
Oh, and everything's gonna be all right
It's gonna be okay
It's been a long long time
Since I've known the taste of freedom
And those clinging vines
That had me bound, well I don't need 'em
Oh, I've been like a captured eagle, you know an eagle's born to fly
Now that I have won my freedom, like an eagle I am eager for the sky
And I can see the light of a clear blue morning
I can see the light of brand new day
I can see the light of a clear blue morning
Oh, and everything's gonna be all right
It's gonna be okay
I can see the light of a clear blue morning
I can see the light of brand new day
I can see the light of a clear blue morning
Ooh, everything's gonna be all right
Everything's gonna be all right
Everything's gonna be all right
It's gonna be okay
And I can see the light of a clear blue morning
I can see the light of a brand new day
I can see the light of a clear blue morning
Ooh and everything's gonna be all right
Everything's gonna be all right
Everything's gonna be all right
It's gonna be okay
I can see the light of a clear blue morning
I can see the light of brand new day
I can see the light of a clear blue morning
Everything's gonna be all right
Everything's gonna be all right
Everything's gonna be all right
It's gonna be okay
Practice Tracks
mm.
Remember the Ladies
Composed by Carol Barnett
Text by Abigail Adams in a letter to her husband John Adams
While John Adams was in attendance at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, his wife Abigail was at home in Braintree, Massachusetts, running the farm, raising four children, and maintaining a lively correspondence with her husband on a wide range of topics including news of family and friends, the activities of the British troops which had lately quitted Boston, and this advice on what to put into a proposed Constitution. The text is adapted from her letter dated 31 March 1776.
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Excerpts of the letter used in this song setting:
I long to hear that you have declared an independency -- and by the way, in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies. Be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could; that your sex are naturally tyrannical is a truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute. Why then not put it out of the power of the vicious and the lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation. But such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of master for the more tender and endearing one of friend. Adieu. I need not say how much I am your ever faithful friend.
Practice Tracks
mm. 1-14
mm. 15-36 under tempo
mm. 77-91 under tempo
Songs for the People
Composed by Rollo Dilworth
Text by Francis Ellen Watkins Harper (1896)
Text:
Let me make the songs for the people,
Songs for the old and young;
Songs to stir like a battle-cry
Wherever they are sung.
Not for the clashing of sabres,
For carnage nor for strife;
But songs to thrill the hearts of men
With more abundant life.
Let me make the songs for the weary,
Amid life's fever and fret,
Till hearts shall relax their tension,
And careworn brows forget.
Let me sing for little children,
Before their footsteps stray,
Sweet anthems of love and duty,
To float o'er life's highway.
I would sing for the poor and aged,
When shadows dim their sight;
Of the bright and restful mansions,
Where there shall be no night.
Our world, so worn and weary,
Needs music, pure and strong,
To hush the jangle and discords
Of sorrow, pain, and wrong.
Music to soothe all its sorrow,
Till war and crime shall cease;
And the hearts of men grown tender
Girdle the world with peace.
Practice Tracks
mm. 5-20
I lift my lamp
Composed by Katie O'Connor-Ballantyne
Words from "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus (1849-1887)
Full Text:
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Practice Tracks
mm.
Songs with Voices of Concinnity 11/2
Ave Maria
Composed by Franz Biebl
Latin Text:​
Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae, Et concepit de Spiritu sancto .
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, Benedicta tu in mulieribus Et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus .
Maria dixit: Ecce ancilla Domini, Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum .
Ave Maria…
Et verbum caro factum est Et habitavit in nobis .
Ave Maria…
Sancta Maria, mater Dei, Ora pro nobis peccatoribus Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae . Amen .
Translation:
The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, and she conceived by the Holy Spirit
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it unto me according to thy word.
Hail Mary…
The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.
Hail Mary…
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Practice Tracks
Soprano 1 - sing soprano line
Soprano 2/some A1 - sing alto line
Alto 2/some A1 - sing tenor line
mm. 1-20**
**altos - there is a wrong note in m.18 of the T line - the third beat should be an F (not a Gb). I have changed in the marked up copy of my score, which you can see by clicking the pdf
mm. 40 (where the other choir starts) - end
Homeward Bound
Words and Music by Marta Keen
Arr. by McKay Crockett
Text:
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In the quiet misty morning
When the moon has gone to bed
When the sparrows stop their singing
And the sky is clear and red
When the summer’s ceased its gleaming
When the corn is past its prime
When adventure’s lost its meaning
I’ll be homeward bound in time
Bind me not to the pasture
Chain me not to the plow
Set me free to find my calling
And I’ll return to you somehow
If you find it's me you're missing
If you’re hoping I'll return
To your thoughts, I'll soon be listening
And in the road, I'll stop and turn
Then the wind will set me racing
As my journey nears its end
And the path I’ll be retracing
When I’m homeward bound again
Bind me not to the pasture
Chain me not to the plow
Set me free to find my calling
And I’ll return to you somehow
Practice Tracks
mm.
Looking ahead to the Winter Session:
WINTER REHEARSALS--SUNDAYS 3:00-4:30pm
Storrs Congregational Church
January 11
January 18
January 25
February 1
February 8
February 15
February 22
March 1
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Dress Rehearsal:
Friday, March 6, 2026 at 6:00-8:00pm
Session Concert:
Saturday, March 7, 2026 at 4:00pm​
CONCERT ATTIRE:
All black with an optional splash of blue (scarf, hair accessory, jewelry, etc.)
INCLEMENT WEATHER:
Please check your email one hour prior to rehearsal as any rehearsal cancellations will be advised by 2pm the day of rehearsal. If rehearsal has to be cancelled, we will replace the missed rehearsal time by extending a subsequent rehearsal or two to 5pm.
WINTER SESSION CHOIR PARTY
Saturday, March 7, 2025 directly after the concert (location TBD). Families are welcomed and encouraged to attend.