In Houston, Texas at historic St. Paul’s Methodist Church there exists a unique choir. From the beginnings of this church, there has existed a strong program in sacred choral music and the arts. Never faltering from its commitment to traditional worship, an idea was developed for a new young choir. The idea was to pull young singers from the greater Houston area to promote choral art in the worship community with an eye towards tomorrow.
This choir would provide and opportunity for highly train high school singers to have a place where they could lead worship though quality sacred literature. Thus the development of the Choral Scholars.
Scholars represents some of the best young singers in local area Houston schools. They are advanced singers who are given the opportunity to not only refine their skills, but in doing so are fostering the continued history and life of serious sacred music.
This type of choir is a “win, win” situation. St. Paul’s benefits from a group of singers who have already been well trained in their individual high school choral programs. They are disciplined high-achieving and thirsty for the opportunity to experience quality music. These singers have well developed vocal and choral techniques. Because sightsinging techniques are well established, the singers are able to learn literature quickly and also work to develop a desired “choral ensemble” sound.
Choral Scholars has become a special and important part of St. Paul’s UMC and would be a credit to any worship community anywhere. What better place for a young voice to continue the life of sacred music.
(The ACDA National Conference is just one of the many benefits of membership in the American Choral Directors Association. Join ACDA today.)
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.