Happy Holidays

The kids recorded this for the 2010 Holiday Season.  I think this is a Christmas Classic and hope you all remember to watch it and share it every year.

Still Alive Cover on Mandolin and Violin

A couple of guys from Minnesota posted a video cover of Still Alive on YouTube and sent it to us as a video response. I think it is great! Take a look and share it on Facebook.

Our Musical Life Kick Off

Our Musical Life, my (Jack Senzig) new community choir organization, kicked off with an event that was one of a kind. Children from many local elementary school choirs joined together to create a video thank-you card for veterans. The children descended on Skatetown, Racine’s amazing roller rink, marched to the center of the rink and sang the Star Spangled Banner, lead by Zoe a former member of the Gifford Children’s Choir. Help get the children’s message of gratitude out by sharing it with all the veterans and their families that you know.

see OurMusicalLife.com for more info.

Press Release: Skate For Freedom

Press Release:

Event: Skate For Freedom
Sponsors: Red Apple School, Skatetown and Our Musical Life
Date: November 8, 2011
Time: 5PM-8PM (must arrive by 5:30 PM)
Place: Skatetown, 1825 Sycamore, Racine, WI 53406
Contact: ourmusicallife@ymail.com
Cost: $5

Event Description:
Meeting to film a video thank-you card for veterans from the children of Racine.

Racine area children in grades K-6 and their families are invited to participate in making a Video Thank-you Card for Veterans that will be displayed on YouTube. Children should practice singing The Star Spangled Banner in preparation for this event. We ask that participants wear clothing that does not display brand names or other trademarks such as professional sports team names or logos.

All Racine area residents are invited to send the names of veterans and those in active duty from their families that they would like included at the end of the video. Branch of service, rank etc. is optional. Send or request info from ourmusicallife@ymail.com

Skatetown has graciously offered to donate a portion of the proceeds to area Veterans groups as well as to registered K-6 vocal music programs and children’s choirs.

It is our hope that this event will bring a smile to the faces of veterans and their families all across the country.

Final Hours of Portal 2

Valve, the company that made the Portal and Portal 2 video games put out an interactive e-book about the making of the games. They included a link to our Still Alive Full View video. It is available through Steam for $1.99. Thanks to our YouTube viewers for putting me onto it. It is a very interesting read.

Veterans to Be Honored By Racine Choirs

An event is in the planning to benefit local veterans groups and local vocal music programs that work with young children. All interested music teachers and directors from Southeastern Wisconsin/Northern Illinois that would like to honor our veterans as well as raise money for their programs should comment on this post with contact info or contact me at jacksenzig yahoo com. The event could involve several hundred children and will include a video that will be uploaded to YouTube in time for Veterans Day.

Check back next week for updates and more information.

Time for a Change

Have you watched what the choir has done and wished you could be a part of it? The Gifford Children’s Choir has been viewed over 2 million times by people in almost 200 countries. They have commissioned and premiered many new pieces and been invited to travel around the world.

The Gifford Children’s Choir is undergoing a transformation. The choir started as an extracurricular activity at Gifford Elementary School but is becoming the springboard for something different and exciting. SO many people from outside the school community have asked if they could join, that membership will now include children from Racine and the surrounding area that are currently in 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th grade. You no longer have to attend Gifford Elementary to be a member of such an amazing choir. Public school children, private school children and home school children are all invited to participate. Audition dates for the new choir are in the planning stages. Former members of the 2010-2011 Gifford Children’s Choir will be given placement preference.

If you would like your child to be invited to participate in an audition, comment with your name, child’s first name and an e-mail address to contact you. Comments are monitored so your information should not be available to the public. Alternately you are welcome to contact the director directly at jacksenzig yahoo com. Pass the word on to others who may be interested.

The choir is no longer associated with the Racine Unified School District in any way. This is a new endeavor supported and directed by the same creative team and director. The choir will be renamed and will be part of a larger umbrella organization.

Check back here for the next several weeks for further updates.

Help The Video Game History Museum

Join me, the director of the Gifford Children’s Choir, in supporting this worthy cause! For many of us, video games are a cultural expression in our lives. Am I the only one out here with my own video game history museum in my garage? If we know this stuff is being kept somewhere else, maybe we can actually give the old stuff up!

See the video.

Donate

See the article in the escapist magazine.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1760848975/the-videogame-history-museum/widget/card.html

Did We Make a Difference?

“Did we make a difference?”
“Oh, yes. We made a difference. Thank you.”
“It was… fun…”

Today videos of the Gifford Choirs have received 2,000,000 views. All of Racine and Wisconsin can be proud of these kids!

Our Choir in the Media

Thanks to all who have watched and shared our videos. We have gotten some incredible media attention in the past and have recently been recognized in a couple of special ways.

Our Still Alive videos have been receiving a lot of views lately. The sequel to Portal came out a few days ago. NPR’s “Morning Edition” had an interview with Jonathan Coulton and he mentioned our video. Then they played a portion of the audio! JoCo’s new ending song for Portal 2 is really great and Valve did an incredible job keeping the quirky humor and exciting puzzles going. The saying “Now you’re thinking with Portals” will now replace the antiquated “Now you’re cooking with gas.” The game is rated E 10+.

KnowYourMeme.com is the foremost authority on internet memes. Our original “Still Alive” video is now posted there in the “Still Alive” section along with only two other covers including one by Jonathan Coulton himself! Our “A Christmas Trololo” video was posted there earlier this year in the “Trololo: section.

A Christmas Trololo was on G4 TV’s Attack of the Show

The choir has been featured in the Escapist Magazine three times, G4′s “The Feed” twice and on the front page of Digg and Reddit. See the media links to the right.

Here is a run down of some of the view counts (updated: 10/7/11):
Total upload views 2,289,253
“Kids Sing Still Alive Portal” 1,140,068 views
“A Christmas Trololo” 620,339 views
“Still Alive Choir Better Video (Honestly)” 220,212 views
“Kids Sing Still Alive Again” 112,079 views
“Still Alive Full View” 93,941 views
“Kids Sing Radiohead No Surprises” 52,496 views
“Kids Sing Acapella Kelis” 12,949 views
“Kids Sing Gaga/Pomplamoose Telephone at UWP” 9,770 views

Videos of the choirs have been viewed in 195 of the 239 countries and regions of the world. There are 63 countries and 50 US states plus the District of Columbia that have watched the kids more than 1,000 times. Over 90% of the views have come from the top 28 countries, each having viewed the kids more than 10,000 times.

#1 USA: 1,093,777
#2 Brazil: 158,003
#3 Canada: 143,030
#4 United Kingdom: 142,121
#5 Germany: 81,640
#6 Spain: 61,345
#7 Australia: 49,735
#8 Russia: 45,190
#9 France: 37,838
#10 Sweden: 34,915
#11 Poland: 33,604
#12 Netherlands: 29,187
#13 Mexico: 27,308
#14 Norway: 18,153
#15 Italy: 16,668
#16 Japan: 15,638
#17 Finland: 15,819
#18 South Korea: 14,932
#19 Denmark: 13,452
#20 Belgium: 13,100
#21 Chili: 12,667
#22 Portugal: 11,953
#23 Argentina: 11,384
#24 Philippines: 10,912
#25 Singapore: 10,842
#26 Ukraine: 10,708
#27 Hungary: 10,191
#28 Ireland: 10,142

Videos of the choir have received 65 YouTube honors:
(55 weekly honors and 10 monthly honors)
Here are the honors they were given

#5 Top Favorited (4/3/10)) – Music
#5 Top Rated (4/3/10)) – Music
#6 Most Viewed (12/22/10) Entertainment – Russia
#6 Most Viewed (4/3/10)) – Music – Sweden
#8 Most Viewed (4/10/10)) – Music – Canada
#9 Most Viewed (4/3/10)) – Music – Australia
#10 Most Viewed (4/3/10)) – Music
#10 Most Viewed (4/10/10)) – Music
#10 Most Viewed (12/22/10) Entertainment – Spain
#11 Most Viewed (12/22/10) Entertainment – Poland
#13 Most Viewed (4/3/10)) – Music – New Zealand
#15 Most Viewed (4/3/10)) – Music – United Kingdom
#15 Most Viewed (4/3/10)) – Music – Ireland
#15 Most Viewed (12/22/10) Entertainment -Netherlands
#17 Most Viewed (4/10/10)) – Music – Spain
#17 Most Viewed (12/22/10) Entertainment -Canada
#18 Top Favorited (4/3/10))
#18 Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – Entertainment – Sweden
#19 Most Viewed (12/22/10) – Entertainment -New Zealand
#19 Most Viewed (12/22/10) – Entertainment
#19 Most Viewed (12/22/10) – Entertainment – New Zealand
#19 Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – Entertainment
#25 Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – Entertainment – Australia
#30 Most Viewed 12/22/10)) – Entertainment – United Kingdom
#30 Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – Entertainment – France
#31 Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – Entertainment – Mexico
#39 Most Viewed (4/3/10)) – Music – Russia
#40 Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – Entertainment – Germany
#40 Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – Entertainment – Ireland
#40 Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – Entertainment – South Africa
#42 Most Viewed (4/3/10)) – Sweden
#46 Most Viewed (4/3/10)) – Music – India
#52 Top Rated (4/3/10))
#52 Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – Entertainment – Czech Republic
#53 Most Viewed (4/10/10)) – Music – Netherlands
#56 Most Viewed (4/10/10)) – Canada
#59 Most Viewed (4/3/10))
#65 Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – Entertainment – Israel
#67 Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – Entertainment – Brazil
#69 Most Viewed (4/3/10)) – Music – Mexico
#72 Most Viewed (4/3/10)) – Music – Israel
#77 Most Viewed (4/3/10)) – United Kingdom
#78 Most Viewed (4/3/10)) – Music – Czech Republic
#78 – Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – Entertainment – Italy
#83 Most Viewed (4/3/10)) – New Zealand
#83 Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – Spain
#87 – Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – Entertainment – Argentina
#88 Most Viewed (4/10/10)) – Music
#91 Most Viewed (4/10/10)) – Music – Poland
#92 Most Viewed (4/10/10))
#93 Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – Russia
#104 Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – Poland
#148 Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – Netherlands
#155 Most Viewed (12/22/10))
#159 Most Viewed (12/22/10)) – New Zealand

Monthly Honors (10)
#10 Top Rated (April,2010)) – Music – Global
#12 Top Rated (April, 2010)) – Music
#14 Most Discussed (April, 2010)- Music
#22 Top Favourited (April,2010)) – Music – Global
#34 Top Favorited (April, 2010)) – Music
#53 Most Viewed (April,2010)) – Music – Global
#61 Most Discussed (April,2010)) – Music – Global
#68 Top Favorited (January, 2011) Entertainment- US
#79 Most Discussed (April, 2010)) – Music #85 – Top Favourited
#106 Most Viewed (January, 2011) Entertainment- US