Students, adults present 'Music Across the Years' choral concert

May 20—MATOAKA — A stage packed with students and adults presented a choral concert at Lashmeet Matoaka Elementary School Thursday with many from the community enjoying the show.

It was all part of a program through the Bluefield Arts Revitalization Corp. (BARC) to bring students and their parents, grandparents or other adults together to enjoy music and help bring the community together in the process.

Brian Tracey, Executive Director of BARC, said the organization was approved last year for a A $50,000 award from Chorus America, an advocacy, research, and leadership development organization that advances the choral field, with BARC being one of 21 recipients in this inaugural Music Education Partnership Grants program.

Chorus America's program is called "Music Across the Years," bringing youth and adults together in music.

"Initially, the purpose of the grant was to fund intergenerational after-school music programs at Bluefield Primary, Intermediate and Middle schools, using the Granada Theater for rehearsals and performances," Tracey said. "Over time, however, we found that in-school programs worked better. We also decided to focus our efforts on the lower grades."

Tracey said he asked Chorus America to allow the program to include other schools in Mercer County.

"Sandra Fox, as well as the principals of Spanishburg and Lashmeet Matoaka schools, where she teaches music, readily embraced this opportunity," he said. "And we saw the results this week at both schools — choral music as a way to bring families and communities together."

Spanishburg held its choral concert on Monday.

Fox is the music teacher at both schools and said she jumped on the opportunity to put together concerts when Tracey presented the idea.

"I have wonderful support in both of my communities, the Spanishburg community and the Lashmeet Matoaka community," she said. "So I thought this would be a great opportunity for us to do something special for the community to thank them for their support."

It also provided an opportunity for students to sing with an adult, mostly family members.

"What has made it really special is to see their smiles," she said, "seeing them standing side by side sharing music."

Fox said it also helps to bring the community closer together.

"We have built connections between the parents and the students," she said. "We built connections between community members. We have also created memories. These kids now have memories of music and of dong something special."

Everyone also had a good time, she added.

"When we did the song 'Country Roads' (as a finale), some of those who may not have been comfortable coming up and singing on the stage did ... more people got up and sang."

Fox said the two groups had four after-school rehearsals before the public performances at each school, and since the music materials were available online participants could also practice at home.

She said the concert at Spanishburg was also a "wonderful experience."

Payton Mitchell, 10, a fifth-grader, sang in the group with her uncle, Corey Walker, who is a teacher at Montcalm High School.

Mitchell said when she heard about the program she saw it a chance to "sing and make a peaceful sound with everybody."

"I just thought this could be an opportunity to share voices with everybody and sing," she said.

Mitchell said she loves to sing.

"I sing when I'm getting ready in the morning for school. I'll sing in the car ... Anywhere basically," she said.

Walker said when Payton asked him to sing with her, he said, "Absolutely."

"We both enjoy singing and this is probably the first time we have actually had a chance to sing together in this type of setting," he said. "The first I heard about was when she called and there was no doubt in my mind to say yes."

Walker said he is glad he did.

"I really enjoyed a lot of songs," he said. "They were a lot catchier than I thought they would be. I really enjoyed this. It was awesome."

Walker said he attended school at Lashmeet Matoaka and "it was fun to see a lot of people I graduated with."

"Their kids are up here and we were all singing together," he said. "That was pretty awesome too."

Payton's mother, Alisha Mitchell, was one of the people who came on stage at the end to sing "Country Roads."

She said she has always encouraged Payton to sing this was good thing for everyone.

"It gets people out, doing something with their children," she said, adding that Lashmeet Matoaka is a "wonderful school" that she also attended when it went through the eight grade and as a seventh-grader she was the point guard on the state championship basketball team.

Principal Leeann Taylor said she was on board with the program straightaway.

"I was gung-ho for it, really excited," she said. "Our kids and our community need things like this when they can get together and work together and collaborate."

Taylor said everyone enjoyed the experience.

"There were kids and adults of all ages," she said, and it was good to see them do something together.

"The success of a school is not one person or a couple of people, she said. "It is from multiple people, and that includes people in the community as well. They support our school and we support them."

"We hope to continue Music Across the Years next fall at Bluefield Primary, Spanishburg and Lashmeet Matoaka schools and, if funding is available, to expand the program to other primary schools in Mercer County," Tracey said.

— Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com

Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com