Bellevillettes

Summary
Bellevillettes, founded in 1980 by Don Jones, is one of many choirs that has been present over the years. Unlike the Choralettes and the Harmoneers and other groups, Bellevillettes has survived and thrived through to today. Bellevillettes is now conducted by Scott Wilson and Joy Moeller and performs at the Christmas and Spring Concerts. Today, Bellevillettes works with the Belleville Food Pantry and recently raised money to help Haiti recover from the catastrophic earthquake of 2010. Although the music and teachers have changed and the number of members has fluctuated, the history of Bellevillettes continues on and develops new facets with every group.

[[image:scan0009.jpg width="150" height="276" align="left" caption="Don Jones, the founder of Bellevillettes."]]History
In the fall of 1980, a new music course was added to the list. Bellevillettes was started by Don Jones, who ran all of the music groups and the Stamp Club. It was, and still is, an all girls' choir. Originally it met once a day for one hour, but in 1998 a second class was added that met during the sam​e hour. In 2007 Bellevillettes began meeting in both 2nd and 7th hour classes. Since 1998, Bellevillettes has been a "team teaching" project that has enhanced the abilities of the choir teachers to work together.

Interestingly, Bellevillettes was the first vocal group to get sweatshirts. According to Sharon Carter, who began teaching Bellevillettesin 1990 and retired in the spring of 2008, the sweatshirts were maroon and white. The members' nicknames were printed on the sleeves. Bellevillettes has had shirts off and on for the past decade.

Joy Moeller said that the quality of music since the 70's and 80's choirs has degraded. A comment to which Greg Riddle, former member of Men's Ensemble in the 1970's and substitute choir teacher, attested to eagerly. Riddle explained that music then was much stronger. Students wanted to be in choir for the music, not for an easy credit. As a result, the music sung then was more challenging and students learned more than the basics of rhythms and reading music. Moeller expanded on this by saying that choir teachers need to be educators, not performers. Both strive to take vocal music back to being a class for learning music.

Music

 * In the 1980’s, the Bellevillettes sung music that was often more serious and more difficult than that of the show choirs. Bellevillettes members always must audition for their places in the choir. It is rare for them to perform more than one “Pop” song per concert. The Bellevillettes has preformed many songs within the thirty years it has existed. Some patterns are notable throughout the history of Bellevillettes, but sometimes the music relates more to the teachers of the time or the music of the decade.**

Musicals are prominent throughout the Bellevillettes music history. “Oliver,” preformed recently in the 2010 spring concert, was also performed throughout the 80’s along with other musicals. In the 2000’s, spirituals are very common. The Bellevillettes sang less Pop in the 70’s and 90’s than they do now, perhaps due to the musical styles of Don Jones, who wished for the students to have knowledge of more classical choral music. The Disney Medley was performed at least twice in the 90’s and 2000’s, providing the students with recognizable, light hearted music. During the 2000’s, Sharon Carter began to lean slightly more towards less traditional songs. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Don Jones taught traditional choral music. The current teachers, Ms. Moeller and Mr. Wilson, fall in the median between Ms. Carter and Mr. Jones. == Bellevillettes Today== Bellevillettes remains an hour long advanced chorus class, now under the direction of Scott Wilson and Jeannie Moeller and meet during second hour or seventh hour respectively. Due to the scheduling problems, the classes have split of slightly from each other, and do not always practice or preform the same music. At both the 2010 spring and winter concerts, the two major preformances of the Bellevillettes, the two hours preformed seperately.

The Bellevillettes has expanded their activities to more than singing their activities to more than singing. Their class now also focuses on teaching students to count notes and sight read, preparing the students for more advanced choir classes in college. In the 2010 school year, the group was recognized for raising the most money to go to Haiti to help them recover from the earthquake. Along with working to improve global conditions, the Bellevillewttes work together with the Concert Choir and Maroon Majic to help the community. In a tradition started by Sharon Carter, the advanced choir groups offer discounts on the entry fee to those who bring boxed or canned food items. The food received is donated to the Belleville Food Pantry.

By Julie Connors and McKenzie Johnston