Take Note: Concert Season Wrap-Up

What an amazing winter concert season Dade County Chorus had this year! 

Starting the first week of November till final week of December, Dade County Chorus has been performing all across the region. 

District Honor Chorus: November 2 & 3
DC Chorus had 27 Middle School students and 22 High School students to perform in the Georgia Music Educators Association's District 7 Honor Choruses at Woodland High School in Cartersville, Ga.  Students worked with renowned clinicians from across the Southeast for a day of rehearsals and then presented two FANTASTIC concerts to a packed auditorium each night. 

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Shorter Chorale Performance: November 9
DCHS Chorus was honored to host Shorter University's Chorale, Women's and Men's Choruses on Monday, November 9th, as they began their southeast recruitment tour.  Two of our DC Chorus Alumni, Jacob Case and Ashley Phillips, are members of the Shorter Chorale and according to Dr. Cash, they have both represented Dade County extremely well. We are SO proud of our alumni and absolutely LOVE when they come back to perform! 

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Veteran's Day Performances: November 10 & 11
Dade County Chorus participated in both the Dade Middle and Dade County High School Veteran's Day Assemblies this Fall.  These ceremonies truly honored our local veterans and the speakers gave inspiring talks about honor, integrity, and responsibility to our students. 

On November 10, the DCHS Women's Chorus performed the National Anthem to open the assembly.  Our Men's Ensemble performed the moving piece, Tell My Father, following the reading of the Gettysburg address by Coach McMahan.  The DCHS Band and Mixed Chorus combined in a stirring performance of the Civil War hymn, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, to close out the assembly to a standing ovation from the student body and special guests. Click here to view the entire DCHS Veteran's Day Assembly. 

On November 11, a duet by Rachel Thorne and Taria Johnson opened our assembly with the National Anthem.  8th Grade student, Daniel Murphy read a piece entitled, "United We Stand" before the 8th Grade Chorus performed the song, We Will Stand With You.  The 6th Grade Chorus had their first public performance later in the assembly when they sang My America.  Parents, students, and teachers walked away from the Veteran's Day Assembly saying it was one of the most veteran honoring and best assemblies we have had. 

Rock City Enchanted Garden of Lights: December 1
​The DMS 8th Grade Chorus and DCHS Mixed Chorus performed to a packed out North Pole Lodge at the Rock City Enchanted Garden of Lights.  Selections from our upcoming Christmas concerts were performed to rousing applause from everyone there.  The DCHS Mixed Chorus piece White Winter Hymnal featured five of our eighth grade chorus students performing the intricate clapping pattern of this piece.  The students received free admission for themselves and one adult, as well as a free hot chocolate/drink coupon for their performance. 

Trenton United Methodist Community Christmas Luncheon: December 4
The DMS 7th Grade Chorus was invited to be the featured performer for the TUMC Annual Christmas Luncheon.  This luncheon was particularly special because Bishop Looney was the guest speaker. Bishop Looney's wife, Carolyn, was actually the music teacher and Dade High School back in the 60s and he told many humourous and touching anecdotes from their time here in Dade County.  The attendees were very complimentary of our performance and kind to our students as they fed them a delicious lunch of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, salad, and dessert in appreciation of their performance.

DMS Winter Concert: December 7
Our DMS Chorus students performed a wonderful concert on Monday, December 7.  The 6th Grade Chorus performed pieces in Hebrew and Spanish as well as bringing down the house with Christmas...in about 3 Minutes. The 7th Grade Chorus  featured a number of soloists on the classic holiday favorite, The Chipmunk Song. Our 8th Grade Chorus began their selections with an a cappella piece, Riu, Riu, Chiu. The finale of the concert, Christmas Chopsticks, featured a four hand piano accompaniment by our wonderful accompanists, Ms. Karen Swafford and Ms. Carey Dupree. 
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DCHS Mixed Chorus performs for State Superintendent: Dec 8

Georgia State Superintendent, Richard Woods, traveled to Dade County High School to recognize us for our great strides in improving the graduation rate of our students.  To welcome him into the building, Principal Josh Ingle requested that the Mixed Chorus perform some of our holiday repertoire.  We were honored to be asked and even more excited when we saw this tweet! :) 

DCHS Winter Concert: December 10
The Dade County High School Mixed Chorus and Women's Chorus presented their Winter Concert on Thursday, December 10th.  The Mixed Chorus started off the concert with a bang as they sang, Eatnemen Viulie, also known as the opening song of the Disney movie Frozen.  The Women's Chorus performed several foreign language pieces to highlight Christmas around the world, as well as the new Ken Berg piece Bells of Christmastide featuring soloist, Sarah Jones. We closed the concert, as has become tradition, with The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah and invited our DC Chorus alumni to join us on the stage. With nearly 100 voices joined in song, this piece was the highlight of the evening. 

DCHS Vocal Ensemble Caroling on behalf of the Dade County Chamber: December 12
A vocal ensemble from DCHS Chorus went caroling on behalf of the Dade County Chamber, Saturday December 12th to many businesses around town.  We visited many locally owned restaurants where we asked to perform for patrons and employees alike.  Every single business or restaurant we visited invited us to come back any time! Several patrons remarked, "This is SO nice! Nobody really does this anymore!" We were happy to spread the Christmas spirit with this and all our other Winter Concert season performances! We hope to see you at our Spring Concert Season events in 2016!  ​

DCHS Chorus Christmas Coffeehouse: December 14
Our final event of the season was the Christmas Coffeehouse.  This is an annual fundraiser where for $5 you get all the desserts you can eat and coffee you can drink while the students perform solos, in duets and other small groups widely known and celebrated Christmas songs.  We had the debut performance of our Men's Quartet and we also featured our Mixed Chorus performing White Winter Hymnal by Pentatonix. We had over 13 acts to perform and the students are already preparing for the Spring Coffeehouse on Monday, April 25! 

Many thanks to our friends, families, and community partners who made the 2015 Winter Concert Season a rousing success!