Minor key: South Hills Children’s Choir starts kids on musical path
The South Hills Children’s Choir will perform at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9 at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, 105 Gateshead Drive, Peters Township.
The South Hills Children’s Choir will perform at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9 at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, 105 Gateshead Drive, Peters Township.
The mission of the South Hills Children’s Choir is simple: Start ’em while they’re young.
“Getting kids to sing gets people to sing,” choir director Jennie Nolan explained. “If you wait until everybody is old and adult, you’re not going to get as many people to sing. And I think singing is a lost art in our culture.”
The 29-member vocal group will show that all is not lost during its winter performance, “Resounding Joy,” scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9 at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Peters Township.
“In our concerts, I like to feature the students as much as I can,” Nolan, a North Strabane Township resident, said. “So if a student plays an instrument, I’d like to encourage that.”
And so choir member Amber Willis will play piano to accompany the singers, who will perform an eclectic mix, from works by classical and modern composers – including Franz Schubert, Heinrich Schu¨tz and Chester County native Samuel Barber – to music for the holiday season.
“A lot of our songs have onomatopoeia in them,” Nolan said, referring to the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named. “That’s where ‘Resounding Joy’ came from, the idea of all kinds of instruments coming together.”
Musical guests on Dec. 9 include Wendy Hardy, whose daughter sings in the choir, on clarinet, along with percussionists from West Virginia University. Alexandria Zallo, a Bethel Park High School senior who has a sister in the choir, will sing a solo.
A trained vocalist with a degree in choral music from Biola University in her native California, Nolan worked with the San Diego Children’s Choir before moving to Pennsylvania in 2001, when her husband, the Rev. Shaun Nolan, became pastor of View Crest Church in North Strabane.
“Everybody said when we left, ‘Oh, you have to go there and start a children’s choir,'” she recalled.
Although that’s what she eventually did, Nolan almost went a different direction.
“I was asked to audition for a children’s choir somewhere else, not terribly far away but not terribly close,” she said. “I auditioned and got the job, and my husband looked at me and said, ‘We live here. Why are going there? Why don’t you just start one here?'”
With a great deal support from members of their church, the South Hills Children’s Choir was launched with 10 initial members, a number that has almost tripled as the nonprofit organization continues into its fourth season. Along with the winter concert is a spring choral festival and performances at various other locations throughout the year, including 11 a.m. Dec. 27 at the Galleria of Mt. Lebanon.
The overall music performance and education program is divided into choirs for two age groups: Canticle, 8 to 10, and Concordia, 11 to 15. Also, a special Chorale from among the older students has the opportunity to sing at special events, including one in New York City this year.
Boys and girls who are interested in joining have a brief audition for Nolan.
“They don’t have to prepare any special songs,” she explained. “It gives me 10 minutes to get to know about your personality and your musical experience.”
And she’s all for as many people making music as possible.
“There are some amazingly talented singing groups out there right now, but I would like to see not just amazingly talented people sing,” she said. “I’d like to see everybody sing.”
For more information, visit shcchoir.org/index.html, call 724-949-0048 or email director@shcchoir.org.