At the end of the first Mid-Quarter, GGC entered the choir room now just like any of my other ensembles: they put their stuff on a chair, retrieve their folders, socialize about last night’s football game as they make their way over to the risers. At my cue, they start the warmup. I get them in their August version of their singing voice and we sing through all of the rounds we have learned for the last four weeks. 100% participation. They still need help in transitions learning to stop talking but they are excited about singing!

I then informed GGC that they will sing two songs that I will pick and one song that they will pick for their concert in November. I gave them the opportunity to request songs on the whiteboard. Any current artist. Any song. No one wrote anything. They needed to think about that one. It’s an important decision.

After four weeks, thanks to solfege and consistent attempts, they can now sing a 4 part chord inconsistently and a 3 part chord pretty consistently. At the end of class, I started playing some Juice Wrld songs on the piano to see what they would do and they all started singing together without me asking. In the ninety seconds before the bell rang, four songs were now on the board, all from different artists. Meet them where they are…..indeed.

If you would like to help support this program and are in Middle TN, please purchase a city saver mobile code! I purchased one last year and it saved our family $85! For the student, just put my name: Tyler Merideth. Have a great three day weekend.