Tune In Thursday, May 2 at 7pm

A Shameless Plug for the Delta Youth Chorale's Spring Concert

I’m continually amazed at how Musically Speaking is growing with new subscribers daily. I have not been able to post a lot recently due to finishing up the semester of seminary classes and research language work. But I thought I would write and shamelessly plug one of my main projects. As much as I love hymnody and teaching music, I love choir. On Thursday at 7pm Central, we will have the spring choral concert for my Delta Youth Chorale. We will stream this concert on YouTube, and it will be of high quality so that you can listen to and enjoy the quality audio mix that gets transmitted over the broadcast. After all, who wants to see the video but hear a sub-par sound? Here’s the link to watch the concert either LIVE at 7pm Central time or after the fact at your leisure.

Why You Should Tune In

I talk a lot about music literacy in schools and churches. I write posts encouraging folks to do all they can to normalize music literacy for all. But I’m not just standing on the sidelines; I’m actually in my nine-to-five day job doing that in a church and school setting. Beyond that, this choir, my Delta Youth Chorale, is made up of students from my school and local homeschoolers who choose to enroll. I do not audition anyone. This choir is a “y’all come” choir, as they say. That’s the first reason why you should tune in; there are 47 second through sixth grade singers who will stun you with their agility in singing in English and Latin, as well as a bit of comedic music and folk songs. Their control of their high notes and their ability to sing three parts a cappella is indicative that if you give children enough of the right exposure to music literacy and singing, they can excel in making beautiful and moving music. You should tune in because I may be biased and unable to see them clearly. You should hear them for yourself!

Then we also have 51 seventh through twelfth graders that will similarly show you that they too can sing so-called “collegiate choral repertoire” and not merely hang on for dear life but actually render an artistic and lovely performance of selections by the likes of Randall Thompson, René Clausen, Robert Shaw/Alice Parker, and others. You should tune in because you should see that this motley crew of students has a variety of family and church backgrounds, and they are able to perform above what would be expected of them if you were to look at a photo of their cute faces.

You should tune in because these kids don’t live in a major metropolitan center of the arts where there are feeder programs in music and the arts from kindergarten through twelfth grade. In reality, we live and cheerfully work in a town that is not really above average in its offerings, landscape, etc. Still, these kids are able to make waves of beautiful music again and again. We do not have an executive director or a rehearsal accompanist. It’s just the music, the choir, and their director.

You should tune in because their director is a red-headed music educator who is more of a generalist than a specialist when it comes to music and choir. Their director cannot devote his sole energy to their rehearsals, seating charts, etc. Instead, he spins two plates more than he should in multiple avenues of church, school, and civic life. You should tune in not because you will see some creative conducting from him. You should tune in because, despite this, these singers testify to the great joy and potential that steady plodding for eleven years in a community youth choir can exhibit in any size town.

If you are still not convinced, you should tune in, or better yet, come in person and see the visual art that many of these same singers have contributed to a student art show for Geneva Academy. For the past four years, this spring concert of the Delta Youth Chorale has been paired with Geneva Academy’s Annual Student Art Show. It will be a lovely and encouraging time of visual and performing art.

Finally, you should tune in because you love wholesome entertainment, as an evening like this can offer. We’d love to have you tune in LIVE or afterward.