By james art Earlier this month Efland-Cheeks Global Elementary students Christian Adkins and Amara White were chosen to perform with North Carolina Elementary Honors Chorus.
The The North Carolina Music Educators Association will host the Honors Chorus in Winston-Salem at their annual conference on November 10. The Honors Chorus typically receives more than 600 audition entries and selects about 180 of those, said Cheri Thomas, Efland-Cheeks elementary music teacher. The selected students will perform for their families and music educators from across the state.
“I feel happy that i can go I love choir because it’s really fun to practice singing all the time and go places to sing,” Adkins said.
White said her love singing started through her favorite songs and singing with her mother.
“I feel proud because I want to be a singer when I grow up,” White said
Thomas said Adkins and White are excellent students who love music, and they are wonderful children to be around.
Thomas directs the Efland-Cheeks after school choir program, Eagle Chorus. She said she offered group members the opportunity to learn audition piece, “Sing for Joy” by GF Handel, and present their auditions.
Thomass said that the piece has a difficult technical elements including melisma, which is the singing of one syllable in different notes.
“It’s a challenge for everyone, especially kids,” Thomas said. “So we worked a lot on how to properly sing this style of music.”