ECS Concert Choir and Guitar Ensemble
The Music Department of Evergreen Christian School Loudoun County hosted a Christmas Concert on Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021 at Bethel Presbyterian Church. Under the direction of Kelly Park, who holds a B.S. in Music Education, ECS music students delighted the audience with beautiful vocal and instrumental performances throughout the evening.
The Concert Choir opened the concert standing in the aisles singing Dona Nobis Pacem (“Grant us peace”), a round from the 16th century. They moved to the stage, where they performed a piece written by Mozart when he was 17, “Alleluia” from the motet “Exultate Justi.” Next on the program were two well-loved Christmas carols. The choir was proud to feature Clara Bloom on the snare drum and Kerry Chmielewski on finger cymbals in “Do You Hear What I Hear?” “Carol of the Bells” is a choral favorite, and the crowd was silent as the Concert Choir performed this stunning a cappella Christmas song. The last piece, “Jordan’s Angels,” incorporates the well-known spiritual, “All Night, All Day,” along with traditional call and response patterns typical of African-American gospel music. The end of the song featured Niya Hartley and Caroline Clegg as soloists, who improvised while the choir repeated the final chorus. Click here to view performance video
The Guitar Ensemble began their portion of the concert with two pieces in which they plucked strings on the guitar in 3 parts, creating interesting harmonies. They strummed the chords to the song “What Child is This?” while Andrew Chandler, a member of the Guitar Ensemble, played the melody on his trumpet. They also strummed chords to the folk song “Deep Blue Sea” in the style of blues while Buzzy Johnson played the melody on his electric guitar. The Guitar Ensemble divided into four parts to play the most unique piece in their set, the French Canadian song titled “Huron Carol.” Students strummed chords, played single notes played from music notation, and also used the guitar body as a percussion instrument. Click here to view performance video
The concert ended with a special ECS original arrangement of “O Come All Ye Faithful,” combining both the Concert Choir and Guitar Ensemble together with Clara Bloom on the drum, and the audience joining us in singing part of the song.
Ms. Parks says, “It is a joy and privilege to teach guitar and choral music to these students. They are engaged, eager to learn, and have made substantial progress since the beginning of the year. I can’t wait to see what they will accomplish by the end of the school year!”