The Cashiers Valley Community Chorus is bringing a new musical opportunity to the youth as they are preparing for the introduction of the newly-formed Jackson County Youth Chorus. Rehearsals are set to begin on March 5 at 4:15 p.m. at the Cashiers United Methodist Church.
“This is this is a brand-new initiative the Cashier’s Valley Community Chorus has as one of their goals to involve young people in the community in music,” said Sarah Hall, who will serve as a co-leader of the program.
Hall, who previously taught music at Blue Ridge School before her retirement, said tuition for the semester will be $20, with no auditions required. Anyone between 3rd and 8th grade are welcome to join the group.
“We’re gearing it towards 3rd through 8th graders. I’ve heard from students from Summit Charter School and Blue Ridge School and the home school community. There’s no audition required,” she said.
Rehearsals will take place every Wednesday at 4:15 p.m. and will last an hour. According to Hall, the weekly meetings will include training through some vocal exercises, which include breathing techniques and other warmups like tongue twisters.
“We’re also going to do music games though, and movement activities. And so, it’ll be a variety. It won’t be an hour of just singing,” she said.
Speaking on the various games and activities, Hall said they will focus on the team building for the students to get to know each other, creating a strong foundation on the camaraderie of the chorus.
“They’ll be sort of like team building cooperative types of activities and games and those kinds of things too. So, music related and also activities structured toward getting to know each other better and working together,” she said.
Additionally, students will be practicing with various musical genres, which Hall said includes classical, pop, and music theater.
“Theatre is one that I’m especially interested in, so I’m hoping that we’ll have enough that we can do some scenes from some maybe Broadway shows, that type of thing,” she said.
Students will build a repertoire throughout the semester, which will conclude on May 23 with a concert.
Hall also said the chorus will also have another location in Sylva at the First Baptist Church, with the goal of the chorus being able to reach the entire county.
“The north part of the county and south part are like two different worlds. But to make it better for parents not to have to drive so far, we’re offering also a Monday site,” she said. “And when we do the concert, we’re going to combine the two because they’re going to be working on the same repertoire.”
Hall expressed hope that the children joining the chorus will learn to be comfortable with their voices and that they enjoy the program with ambitions to possibly return for future semester, should there be more.
“This is just kind of a test, this first time, to see if this is something that we’re going to continue. And I’m hoping that it that they do want to continue and that does just get bigger and more wonderful. Awesome that they’ll tell their friends,” she said.