Twenty-one Whitefield students recently attended a choral festival in Rome, Georgia. At the invitation of Shorter University, choir teacher Abe Okie took his fifth-grade choir to be a part of the Northwest Georgia Choral Festival held on the Shorter campus. In doing so, they joined with other fifth- and sixth-grade students from around the state to prepare three pieces of music for performance in a concert that evening.
This treble choir worked with Dr. Patty Nelson, assistant professor of music and director of music education at Shorter. During the course of morning and afternoon rehearsals, Dr. Nelson and her assistants led the choir through learning the notes and words of three songs as well as an array of fun exercises and games. During a snack break, the treble choir was treated to a lively performance by Shorter’s men’s a capella group.
Local high school students were also invited and had the opportunity to collaborate with the Shorter Chorale under the direction of Dr. Aaron Rice. They rehearsed and performed a diverse selection of choral classics and modern works in the evening concert. The Treble Choir performed the songs “Winter Is Coming Soon” by Jeffrey Smith and John Parker, “Jazz Cantate” by Andy Beck, and “Where Go the Boats?” by Mary Lynn Lightfoot. Finally, Dr. Rice invited Shorter Chorale alumni to sing the school song, a choral arrangement of “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”
The concert was well-attended by families and the Shorter community, and the response to all the choirs was enthusiastic. For the Whitefield fifth-grade students, the festival presented an opportunity to experience the power of being in a large choir and the expressive musicianship of a renowned university choir. The fifth-graders will present some of the fruits of their labor at their concert on December 21.