I know I’m not the only one who has been avoiding the news.  It seems a tide of darkness threatens from almost every story.  What can we possibly do?

Well, Mara Smith, Margaret Taylor and I are lucky enough to work with young people who are weekly ‘doing something’. They are more actively engaged in understanding differing cultures, cultivating brotherhood, and practicing empathy than any other program I know of: they sing together.  They sing songs from around the world and across the ages, songs of kings, songs of slaves, songs of the holy, songs of war, songs of pain, songs of hope.

One song may seem a small thing, but many voices singing as one?  That’s powerful.  That’s the power of song.

In a recent survey of community choir leaders across America, they listed “artistic excellence” as what they thought most attracted families to their choirs.  A second survey polling families already involved in community choirs asked the same question.   Parents responded with…dum…dum…dee…dum…..”Fun!”

Oh, the blow to our collective choral egos!  Not ‘artistic excellence’?  But, wait!  What could be more fun that learning something amazing, making it beautiful,  doing it with friends, in a kind and supportive setting with educators who care?  Guess what…’artistic excellence’ is fun!  Discovering you can do something awesome? Fun!  Learning to laugh at our mistakes? Fun!   Goofing around with silly noises? Fun!  Singing like a diva? Fun!

So, join us!  City Singers Youth Choirs is…..FUN!  Click here to register for auditions, being held on May 3 and July 26.  Auditions are fun, too, yall.

I am like you: sometimes I dread work.  “Ahhh,” I sigh, like an overstuffed cat, “Can’t I just sit here and eat bon-bons by the fire a little longer?  Do I have to go to work?”

Except.

Except.

I actually never say that.  I never call choir rehearsal “work”.  Email? That’s work.  Paperwork? Yep.  Uniform ordering?  Fireside bon-bons, please.

But choir rehearsal is not work.   I will come in to rehearsal after a long day with my little ones (yes, motherhood is often work) and with the first community breath we all breathe together, the kinks release and a beautiful spinning note out of the mouths of our singers dances over me and they are giving their best and I am giving my best and we are singing together and concentrating together and yes working together and suddenly we are alive.

At the end of rehearsal, we depart full of hope for what we have and can accomplish.  Full of the promise of beauty that has filled us up and overflowed and has been shared.  Yeah.  Believe it.  Believe in the Power of Song.

Blog? What blog?  Last season we were so busy doing, there was little time to record it!  Everything was positively magical, and I’d be hard pressed to rate them.  So, since each is a winner, I’m giving them all #1.  Here are a few which come immediately to mind:

#1 City Singers Children’s Choirs sings in Let it Snow with the Richmond Symphony, conducted by Erin Freeman.

#1 Attending a City Singers Children’s Choirs Civil War concert featured as #6 of Richmond Magazine’s “31 Things You Must Do in 2013” (December ’12)  We’re in the top 13 of 2013..just sayin’…

#1 City Singers Children’s Choirs give December Caroling and Valentine’s Day performances at MCV’s palliative and heart units.  Our singers learned about the power of song on those days.

#1 City Singers Children’s Choirs present Richmond debut of Legacy at Civil War and Emancipation Day, hosted by the Amercian Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar.

#1 Our choristers mastered a wide variety of music from and inspired by the Civil War and presented them in our two major concerts.  Spirituals and folksongs of the enslaved Africans, parlor songs of the North and South, Appalachian folk hymns, patriotic battle songs, children’s game songs.  With the help of the Virginia Historical Society and Dr. Jonathan White of Christopher Newport University City Singers Children’s Choirs presented two concerts of academic significance and moving beauty.

#1 We took our Civil War Songs on the road to DC and Gettysburg for the Civil War Sesquicentennial.  Words. Cannot. Do. Justice. Awesome.

I could go on and on and on…but it’s time to look ahead!  Won’t you join us for our next great adventure?

Hits and Highlights: DC/Gettysburg Choir Tour 2013

It was our singers’ idea.  We had been told that unsanctioned singing was considered a form of protest at the memorials, and had thusly restrained ourselves during a day of sight seeing (mostly), but as Daniel gave us an F, and I faded to the back of the group, they one by one raised their voices in The Star Spangled Banner, one joining another, until all were singing, and passersby and tourists paused to place hands over hearts. 

That spine tingle? That’s it. That’s the feeling of the Big Choir Tour Moment, the moment each singer and chaperone would carry with them, despite the grandeur of other venues, and humor of friends new and old; our Big Moment was singing our National Anthem at the Lincoln Memorial.

Isn’t it funny that video can’t come close to capturing the power of the moment?  You’d think that with aural and visual it would be just like being there, but it’s not.  What I remember from that moment is standing in the back of the group, looking behind us, up the stairs, past the columns, the dark sillouettes of sparrows darting against a sunset-lit sky, everything tinged with gold, and the moment that all voices came together, despite the fact that some among us were sure we’d get arrested: the sweet, strong voices of our singers gaining momentum as one by one they join in song, the war veteran beside me placing his cap over his heart, a group of very special young people who had just experienced the awe of the Lincoln Memorial, read his words on its walls, and respond of their own accord by singing our National Anthem. [And we were not arrested. Success!]

Thank you to our tireless and patient chaperones!  They cared for our singers with joy and kindness and really made the trip doable.  Thank you to our responsible singers: as expected, not one discipline issue.  Thank you to Sarah, our marvelous tour manager, and to Larry, the Best Bus Driver in the World (he parallel-parked that sucker!).  And thank you, thank you, thank you to our tour sponsors through whose donations our trip was made possible:

Dr. Sujit Mohanty D.D.S., Ardyth Lohuis, ML Bell Construction, Gary and Margaret Barnard, Betsy Gallagher, Richard H. Villa DMD PC, William T. Lucas D.D.S., APE International, LLC, Dr. Pamela F. Regimbal of  Aloha Orthodontics,  Mary Bergstrom, Total Footcare P.C.,
and Carolyn Harper.

One last word: How can it be that despite face-melting sun the choir can still sound so gooooooood.  Visit us on Facebook for more pictures and links to video.  Believe in the Power of Song!

From time to time, we have guest bloggers visit us here.  Today we’ll enjoy some reflections from Bridget Westhoven, board member and choir parent to two of our fabulous singers:

One old chestnut that teachers like to use with their students is that “you never stop learning.”  Our College Prep Workshop that we held Nov. 3 was a great case in point.  Everyone in the room, including the speakers walked away with new information about the college application and audition process.  Each of our eight talented and experienced speakers had so much to share and so much enthusiasm that they were able to keep a room full of kids and parents engaged for the better part of five hours… just remarkable.  The audience this time around did not include very many musical theater kids, but Tracia Austin seemed to be a crowd favorite nonetheless.  Her confident carriage and demeanor really showed everyone in the room that she was a professional who brings her “A Game” every time she stands up in front of a group of people.  I think just watching her body language during her presentation was valuable to performers of all kinds.  Her message about never apologizing or offering excuses during an audition was great as well.  As musicians we never want to stop trying to achieve perfection, but we need to also accept that every day will NOT be our best day and there will always be some auditions we don’t get.  That’s OK and it’s part of life. ~Bridget Westhoven

Tracia Austin speaks at College Prep Workshop 2013.

A few of our workshop speakers L to R: Suzanne M. Parker, Jeffrey Reihl, Lee Hanchey, Rebecca Tyree, Erin Freeman, LaToya Draper (not pictured: Russell Wilson. He was busy taking photos and making recordings of the event!)

College Prep Workshop: Why your music background matters!

Discount Update! Qualify for the NEW 50% discount by typing the name of your teacher or guidance counselor into the registration form.
Introducing our area’s premier college prep workshop for student musicians.  On Saturday, Nov 3 from 9am-2:30pm at Second Baptist Church (9614 River Road, Richmond, VA), 100 students involved in vocal, instrumental, traditional and non-traditional music will learn from some of the best music educators in Virginia.  Space is limited, so register today!  $100 admission benefits City Singers Children’s Choirs, and we are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Please register online and pay below by selecting Admission Option and clicking the Buy Now button below.

Workshop Speakers

Erin Freeman: Richmond Symphony Associate Conductor and James Erb Choral Chair
Suzanne Mallory-Parker: Associate Director of Education at CenterStage Foundation, retired Instructional Specialist for the Performing Arts in Chesterfield County Schools
Dr. Jeffrey Riehl: University of Richmond Associate Professor of Music, Director of University Choir and Schola Cantorum
Russell Wilson: Richmond Symphony Principal, Quincy and Anne Owen Cole Chair, Piano & Celeste
Tracia Austin: Musical Director & Vocal Coach, Christian Youth Theater; choral clinician and adjudicator, private voice instructor
La Toya Draper: Henrico High School Center for the Arts Counseling Director
Lee Hanchey: Project Coordinator for BrightLights Education Initiative Partnership with Richmond Symphony and Richmond CenterStage, Former Director of the Henrico Center for the Arts
Rebecca Tyree: Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education at Virginia Commonwealth University

Stay tuned for workshop topics….

Our Joyful Noise Spring Concert on May 20 is only a few weeks in the past, but the voices of our young singers still ring in my ears!  Many, many thanks to Christ Ascension Episcopal Church for hosting us! (Photos by Jeff Ruisi)

Listen to Young Men’s Ensemble sing “Chariot Spiritual”

Listen to Neighborhood Singers “A New Day is Dawning”

Listen to City Singers Advanced Ensemble sing “Joshua fit the Battle”

From our Joyful Noise Spring Concert program notes:

Our little blue planet probably shimmers and glimmers when seen from just the right angle in space: spinning around and around,whizzing by the fiery sun, navigating its seven fellows (apologies, Pluto).  I imagine a passing observer shaking his head bemusedly at the sight of our rambunctious orb—but he wouldn’t hear a thing!

All the raucous noise emitting from ‘we Whos down in Whoville’ is swallowed by the hollow airless vacuum outside the confines of our atmosphere. Yes, yes, radio waves can travel through space, so NPR could conceivably reach ears on Jupiter, but the sounds of the madding crowd: our shouts, our hustle and bustle, our weeping, laughter, speech and song that make up the tumble of humanity are uniquely heard only here.

So, here’s one for you in the spirit of the age-old question: if a planet soars through the middle of space and its noise cannot travel beyond the bounds of itself, does it actually make a sound?

You know the answer and so do I.  The atoms of this world literally reverberate with the noise we make.  Like ripples from infinite pebbles dropped in water, our sound waves cover the globe.

Tonight you will hear a sampling of this joyful noise from the far reaches of our little blue planet:  from Samoa to Spain and Germany to Africa and in between! What a beautiful irony it is that even as our path through the galaxy seems silent, on our Earth every people sings.