The Chattanooga Girls Choir

                            Final dress rehearsal of the festival choir       (photo by Amy Campbell)

Sunday, May 25, 2008
Day 4: Rehearsals and Festival Concert

After breakfast in the hotel at 9:00, the Girls Choir met to work on the individual pieces they would perform in tonight's concert. Aside from being sleepy and having somewhat tired voices, the choir sounded fine.

The girls then walked a few blocks to the Civic Center, where they worked with Dr. Dilworth on their individual pieces. He was very complimentary to the choir and only gave them a few comments about ways they might improve, and indeed the girls sounded even better as they applied his suggestions.

After the rehearsal at the Civic Center the group ate at the mall food court yet again--good thing there is a reasonably large number of choices there! Once back at the hotel the girls were instructed to rest their voices and just relax with TV or a book or a brief nap.

At 2:45 we all walked back to the Civic Center for the dress rehearsal for tonight's performance. The first part of the session was with the string band (for the traditional music) and the second part was with a small orchestra (for the "Dream Trilogy"). The combined choirs rehearsed for two hours, then they were all fed a nice dinner in the Civic Center.

With over an hour to kill before the concert, the choirs spontaneously broke into a game of "Ride My Pony", which is sort of like a dance done in a circle. They even got Mr. Holden to play along! (To see a brief video of their game, click on Ride My Pony 12.4MB.) The kids all had a great time and got rid of some excess nerves about the upcoming performance.

At last it was time to line up for the concert. First each choir took the stage individually to perform three or four songs--the Chattanooga Girls Choir went last and sang "You Shall Have a Song", "Inscription of Hope", "Life Has Loveliness to Sell", and "Clap Yo Hands", all songs they had sung in the spring concert this year. They sounded wonderful and got enthusiastic applause from the audience! As soon as they finished, our girls immediately lined up for the combined concert and went back on stage.

I cannot begin to tell you how special tonight's concert was! The first part was the "Dream Trilogy," conducted by Dr. Dilworth, the composer. It was stirring and joyful, and after the end of the last section the audience gave the choir a standing ovation. Then after intermission came the songs done with the string band. These musicians are so amazing, and the choir raised its level to try to meet the quality of the band. They had the crowd whooping (for "Sing Song Kitty") and cheering (for Billy Edd Wheeler's "Coal Tattoo") and clapping (on "Turkey in the Straw") and crying (on "The Water is Wide"), and when the festival choir finally closed by singing "Take Me Home, Country Roads", the people sang along enthusiastically. The audience was on its feet in appreciation of the wonderful singing and playing they heard tonight, and I truly wish you all could have been there. They did say they were recording the concert, so hopefully there will be a chance to purchase a DVD or maybe a CD.

Back at the hotel the choirs all happily gathered in the former rehearsal room, now transformed into a party room. The kids (and most of the adults!) all had a ball dancing to everything from "Yeah" to "Thriller" to the macarena! It was a great chance to have fun with old and new friends.

The girls finally got back to their rooms at around midnight. Tomorrow we leave at 10:00 a.m. to head back to Chattanooga. Hopefully we'll arrive by 4:30, but that may depend on how the bus handles the hills.

Parents, your girls have been wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing them with us these past few days! We'll see you at First Baptist Church!

The Girls Choir singers finally get a moment alone to rehearse their four individual pieces for the concert.

The choirs were mixed in the festival choir. Can you spot six of our girls?

The choir burned off a little excess energy outside with "Ride My Pony".

The kids all had a blast at the post-concert party!

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