Louisville

Last night the girls wrapped up the singing portion of their tour, with a FANTASTIC concert in Louisville, Kentucky. It was truly their best performance of the week.... what a way to finish strong! They performed their own set to open the concert, then heard from the Louisville Youth Choir before joining them in our old favorite, "The Lord Bless You and Keep You."

Today we made our way over to Churchill Downs and took a short tour of the race track and grandstands. The girls then had some time to explore in the Derby museum.

Tonight the 9th graders presented the traditional "paper plate awards" to each of the younger choir members. So much fun!

We're spending the night back in Ohio, and will be leaving tomorrow morning to head home! See you soon!!

Indianapolis

Today the girls enjoyed the morning at the Children's Museum, learning about everything from Barbie, to Etch A Sketch, to dinosaurs, to the night time sky. This evening, the braid brigade set out on a mission to give everyone a matching hair style for their performance with the Indianapolis Children's choir. Each choir performed their own set and then concluded the concert by singing "Georgia On My Mind," together.

Happy Birthday Mrs. Perkins!

Today we celebrated Mrs. Perkin's Birthday... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! The girls gave her a lovely performance at the Methodist Church, took her out for a cruise along the Ohio River, and treated her to a chocolate volcano cake after dining at the Montgomery Boat House.

Festival Concert

This afternoon the girls had a WONDERFUL performance in the festival's final concert. Each choir sang a set individually, to showcase their own sound. Wrapping up the festival, the choirs took the stage all together, and sang the last set with Cincinnati's Robyn Lana, and Mr. Papoulis. The final song was their new composition, "Together," which has been completed and sounds fantastic! Check out the video... (sorry there are a few glitches).

King's Island

The girls did a great job singing at King's Island this morning. Then they enjoyed the afternoon in the amusement park, braving rides of all sorts. At their evening rehearsal, they worked with Mr. Papoulis again and finished their composition, "Together."

Arrival in Cincinnati

We rolled onto Cincinnati's campus today around 3:00, unloaded our bags, changed into our blue PGC shirts, and got right to work. The girls had a short and sweet rehearsal with Raegan (so kind of her to come!) and then joined the other choirs for a pizza party. Our Jersey girls quickly began making friends over pizza and games in the dorm loby. Following dinner we had our first festival rehearsal and a workshop with Jim Papoulis. Mr. Papoulis has composed many songs that our girls have sung in previous years, and they will be singing one of his new songs, "Oye," as part of their tour repertoire. They also spent time working with Mr. Papoulis to help him compose a brand new song, originating in today's rehearsal. The singers collaborated to come up with lyrics for the first verse and chorus, and we'll be waiting to hear what Mr. Papoulis does with the rest!

Everyone is tucked in their beds, resting up for tomorrow's concert and adventures at King's Island!

En route!

Thanks to well-packed dinners, Hannah Montana, ipods, magazines and 27 girlfriends, the Girlchoir enjoyed their first bus ride of the tour. Five hours after pulling away from PDS we've arrived safely in Somerset, Pennsylvania, and are tucked into our comfy beds at the Hampton Inn. We'll be off early in the morning to Cincinnati!