Two hundred twenty-six of the county’s best young singers met for the first time this weekend to perform in the Prince William All-County Elementary Chorus concert at Patriot High School in Nokesville.
Unlike high school and middle school “all county” groups, elementary chorus students do not meet regularly to practice. Rather, four elite fifth grade singers from 56 county schools earned a spot in the chorus, but did not gather together until early Saturday morning in Patriot’s auditorium. Then they began their day-long rehearsal session, which culminated in a live choral performance.
Despite the super group’s short time together, Pennington Traditional School music specialist Debra Stewart, who helped found the program nine years ago, said the performances always sound as though, “they’ve been singing together for years.”
Stewart said the purpose of the all-county program is to create a true honors level chorus experience that would challenge the advanced students.
“Much of the challenge is the rigorous musical literature itself,” she said. Some of the lyrics are in a foreign language and there is a “depth and variety” of the music not found in the regular elementary school choral curriculum.
This year, students sang such advanced choral pieces such as “The Star Spangled Banner,” “Bonse Aba,” “Topsy Turvy World,” “Banjo Sam,” South Australia,” “Al Shlosha D’Varim” and “Rejoice and Sing.”
In addition, students had a chance to sing with guest instrumentalists and additional “timbers” or sounds, like xylophones and banjos. But students like Cedar Point’s Kiley Smith say she and her friends were most excited to play with their guest conductor. This year’s guest conductor was Christopher Fox, who is a chorus teacher at Stafford Middle School.
Others are excited to sing in a concert in front of so many people.
Matthew Meyer, music teacher at Cedar Point Elementary School in Bristow, co-chaired the Prince William All-County Elementary School Chorus program with his wife Ashley Meyer, who is a music teacher at Martin Luther King Elementary School in Woodbridge.
Mr. Meyer said it is a very big event for fifth grade choir students in Prince William.
“This is their experience doing an honor group for Prince William County and they’ve worked hard to be here,” Meyer said.
Meyer notes there is competition at each school to earn one of the four top spots. At Cedar Point, his honor choir students auditioned before winter break, but at other schools the teachers might select several of their best singers to audition, or even make the audition a requirement for the entire fifth grade.
The students also do a great deal of preparation on their own before the day of their performance. After the students earn their spots in the choral group, they receive sheet music and a recorded CD of the songs for their recital. They are expected to learn most of the music before reviewing it with their teachers. In the weeks and months that follow, they will then meet with their music teachers once a week before or after school to practice the songs.
Stewart thinks the Elementary All-County Chorus program is a great way to introduce the county’s best young singers to opportunities outside of their elementary school choirs.
“They bring this experience with them to the middle school and high school.” Moreover, she said it allows them to “connect with kids from throughout the county.”
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