from GETMusic Conductor, Lynnel Jenkins

It was impressive to witness 200 girls from the Philadelphia area unite in song. These young women came together in a magical way as they rehearsed over the course of two days. They shared ideas, supported each other and collaborated on a highly effective level. Their creative input given during the rehearsal process beautifully shaped the concert performance. I applaud the Pennsylvania Girlchoir and the Knight Foundation for creating this opportunity for girls to have this empowering and musical experience.

 - Lynnel Jenkins, Conductor GETMusic

Lynnel Jenkins and Vincent Metallo with honored guest, poet Sonia Sanchez

Getting ready for the final rehearsal . . .

Two hours of rehearsal time to go........the repertoire sounds amazing and the girls are very excited to perform.  We are thrilled to share the music with our audience.  Special thanks to Lynnel Joy Jenkins for all of her inspiration and wisdom with this performance.......

 - Vincent Metallo

GETMusic Reflections

Stopped by the rehearsal of GETMusic to hear the 200+ girls of Pennsylvania Girlchoir, Princeton Girlchoir, CAPA girls, Moorestown Friends girls, and many, many girls rehearse the wonderful music of Andrea Clearfield, Andrea Ramsey, poetry of Maya Angelou, and Sonia Sanchez.

This has been a wonderful project for the girls of PG, and we look forward to sharing this wonderful music and experience with so many of our friends.

Kudos to Vince, Steve, Martha, Kelly and the incomparable Lynnel Joy Jenkins for all of their hard work in bringing this incredible project to such a successful conclusion.

The girls are about to start singing, so I've got to go and listen.  Congrats GETMusic!!

David Brown
Commonwealth Youthchoirs Board of Directors

Rehearsal continues . . .

GETMusic Festival Live Blog - Saturday Morning

It's Saturday morning here at GET Music! We had a great rehearsal last night with Ms. Jenkins; it was amazing to hear our fun and inspiring repertoire start to come together. Today, I'm really excited to continue getting to know other singers from Princeton and the Philadelphia area. It's a really great opportunity to make amazing music with other young women who share a passion for singing! Additionally, Philadelphia's most beloved poet, Sonia Sanchez, will be joining us today to hear the Pennsylvania Girlchoir and Princeton Girlchoir sing Andrea Clearfield's setting of her inspirational poem "When I Am Woman." I'm sure rehearsals today will be very intense, but making music with old and new friends is sure to make it fun and exciting!

- Taylor Bernstein, member, Pennsylvania Girlchoir

Live Blog from GETMusic Festival - Friday Night

I have been so excited about the GETMusic Festival since I heard about it in Spring 2014.  As a music teacher in a small Catholic school, I am so very appreciative of this opportunity for my two sixth grade sopranos.  They need to be inspired by other musicians who are passionate and powerful.

My former school was closed by the Archdiocese and I am in my third year at my present school. The music program at my former school was fabulous.  My students started with me in cherub choir and from there we built a beautiful liturgical choir and outstanding Music Theatre Program.  Two of these singers are presently Music Majors in college.  These two musicians had a profound effect on everyone else because they immersed themselves into whatever we were performing and sang with the deepest expressiveness any of us had ever seen.  Their passion caused a chain reaction in the growth and development of my program that I had the privilege to witness.   It was truly a gift to watch young musicians inspiring one another.

When I started at my new school two years ago, I had to start from the beginning again.  Of course, the first order of business was to start a school choir.  I knew the junior high students would be "too cool" for choir and, just as I expected, the students who were interested in choir were 3rd thru 5th graders.  We have been working hard and we are developing steadily.  But these students who are now 5th thru 7th need to make a shift to the next level and they need the experiences and the vocal modeling to help them.    

I am deeply grateful to all of the people who have worked so hard to make the GETMusic Festival possible.  I realize how much sacrifice and energy that has gone into the planning and organizing of this tremendous event.  The young singers see the dedication and value that is placed on their music-making and it creates a powerful, lasting impact on their musical futures.  I know that this event will serve as a life-changing experience for my young singers and for this I will be forever grateful.

 - Elise Malizia, Our Mother of Consolation Parish School

Watching Lynnel warm up the girls...

Wow!

In just a few minutes she has made progress in molding this group of 200 young women into an one ensemble.  And now she has just begun to sing through the first festival piece.

Double Wow!!

If this is what the girls sound like now, I can't imagine what is in store for our 5pm Festival Concert tomorrow.

DON'T MISS IT.

Vive GETMusic!

Steve Fisher
Pennsylvania Girlchoir Managing Director

After a two-year vision for GETMusic, it's hard to believe that the day has arrived! The girls are filing in to Tindley Temple. There's laughter, good energy and excitement brewing! I'm so excited to hear the music shortly...........

 - Vincent Metallo, Music Director, Pennsylvania Girlchoir

A Festival Weekend Celebrating Girls Empowered Through Music!

GETMusic! is the Pennsylvania Girlchoir’s answer to author Eve Ensler’s “call to girls, about girls, for girls, around the world to be their authentic selves.” The GETMusic! Festival is a celebration--funded in part by the Knight Foundation’s Arts Challenge--featuring hundreds of young female singers, a female guest conductor, and multiple female composers for a choral experience you will never forget!

This Saturday evening attendees will enjoy the musical piece, “I Am Woman,” written by poet Sonia Sanchez and arranged by composer Andrea Clearfield, for its world premier at the event, commissioned especially for GETMusic! Clearfield is an award-winning composer of music for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensemble, dance, and multimedia collaborations. She has been praised by the New York Times for her “graceful tracery and lively, rhythmically vital writing,” the Philadelphia Inquirer for her “compositional wizardry” and “mastery with large choral and instrumental forces,” the L.A. Times for her “fluid and glistening orchestration,” and by Opera News for her “vivid and galvanizing” music of “timeless beauty.”

PG chose the breath-taking poem, “I Am Woman,” by Sonia Sanchez for Clearfield to set. Sanchez is a national and International lecturer on Black Culture and Literature, Women’s Liberation, Peace and Racial Justice, as well as a sponsor of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and Board Member of MADRE.

Ms. Sanchez will be joining PG for this sensational experience of empowerment through choral music, along with an array of fantastic voices from:

AMLA (Artistas y Músicos Latino Americanos)
Moorestown Friends School
Our Mother of Consolation Parish School
Philadelphia High School for the Creative & Performing Arts
Princeton Girlchoir
William Penn Charter School
PLUS many girls who registered on their own from the surrounding communities the Philadelphia area!

Located at Tindley Temple, these young vocalists are getting the chance to participate in a bit of history at this already distinguished venue. It just so happens that the namesake of Tindley Temple, African American Methodist minister Charles Albert Tindley of Philadelphia, was the original composer of the civil rights anthem, "We Shall Overcome!"

Join us on Saturday, October 18th at 5:00pm for a sensational experience of "Girls Empowered through Music!"

Tindley Temple
750 S Broad Street | Philadelphia, PA 19146

GETMusic! Is here!

We are so excited that our GETMusic! Festival has finally arrived. In just a few hours over 200 girls from Philadelphia and the surrounding areas will arrive for a weekend of empowering music-making. 

During the weekend, you will hear from festival participants about their experience and their take-away from this event. 

We hope you are able to join us for the festival concert on Saturday, October 18 at 5:00 pm. It is located at Tindley Temple- 750 S Broad St in Philadelphia.