Children’s Chorus grows as ‘doors open’

By Liz McGathey, Staff writer
Monday, November 26, 2007 11:57 AM CST

This time last year, the Children’s Chorus of Collin County wasn’t much more than an audition and a gleam in the eye of Russ and Karen Porter.

The Porters are both associated with the Rockwall School of Music and Karen teaches music in the Mesquite School District but Russ said their first love is choral music.

“We knew there was a Dallas group but they have to drive to downtown Dallas on Monday nights, so for most of Collin County, that’s not a realistic option for them. We thought, ‘there’s no reason why Collin County can’t have its own chorus,’” Porter said.

The idea of a county children’s chorus was born but more components had to come together in order to form the group.

“The Rockwall School of Music was willing to underwrite it, but we didn’t have a director,” Porter said. “We were able to make a connection with a teacher that we knew of, Janie Oliver, and once we met her we found out what a goldmine she was. She has a wealth of experience in choirs and she was in a stage of her life where she could do this. All the doors just opened at the right time.”

CCCC director Oliver taught classroom music for the Dallas Independent School District prior to becoming associate minister of worship and music at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas. She has coordinated and directed children’s choirs, senior adult choir, ladies ensemble, handbell choirs and Christmas and Easter pageants. She served as a state music specialist for the Southern Baptist Convention, and has conducted seminars and workshops for choir leaders throughout the United States. She holds a Bachelor of Music Degree and a Masters Degree in Counseling and Guidance from Texas A&M and is affiliated with Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Choral Directors Association, American Choral Directors Association and Choristers Guild.

Once they got Oliver on board, everything began to fall into place. The first group of singers had its first rehearsal in January and presented a spring concert at the Woodbridge Golf Club. They initially rehearsed in Wylie but as the chorus has grown, rehearsals have been moved to a more central location at St. Andrew United Methodist Church of Plano. As a result, Porter said they have been able to pick up kids from McKinney, Allen and Plano. And, the group has now grown to 45 singers. They will eventually offer several rehearsal sites across Collin County.

“Since we started the fall choral year, we’ve been meeting at St. Andrew United Methodist Church and we’ve started getting additional invitations to perform,” Porter said.

The chorus has been invited to be a featured part of world class Irish violinist Eileen Ivers’ concert on Nov. 30 at the McKinney Performing Arts Center. The children’s chorus will present a mini-concert prior to her concert and will also be featured along with Ivers and her band.

The children will also sing in the Christmas concert “Season of Dreams” at 7 p.m. Dec. 3 at St. Andrew’s. This year’s concert will feature Stephen Nielson and Ovid Young, Steinway Piano Artists, who will accompany the chorus and will be featured as they perform some of their famous piano duets.

Porter said the rate the chorus has grown has been surprising and he’s not sure the children can quite grasp the quality of artists they perform with.

“Just to be able to be associated and them to validate what were doing and choose to be a part of what were doing is just really amazing,” he said. “We’ve tried to explain to them the caliber of these individuals. To actually be on stage and to hear the musicianship of these individuals, I think they’re just going to be blown away by it.”

One newer feature of the chorus is a pull-out ensemble called the Boys of the Chorus.

“It’s a way of giving the boys in the chorus a featured part. They still sing with the chorus as a whole but are featured by themselves on a couple of cool numbers in the program,” Porter said. “It’s something that’s a little unique from what other choirs are doing.”

The chorus is still looking to expand its membership. Directors are looking for children that can sing, match pitches, blend easily and have not only a good sense of the music, but a love for it as well. For information visit www.childrenschorusofcollincounty.com.

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