Music

Concert Choir

Highbridge Voices consists of two tuition-free music and academic programs that provide different levels of musical and academic training.  The Concert Choir, Highbridge Voices’ largest program, provides 110 children, ages nine to eighteen, an intensive music and academic after-school program, five days a week, thirty-three weeks a year.  The eighteen hours of weekly program activities consist of nine hours of musical training, seven hours of academics, and two hours of recreation.  Weekly musical activities include individual voice lessons with conservatory-trained teachers, music theory classes based on the New York State standards for music, music history classes with a curriculum designed to enhance grade-appropriate reading and writing skills, as well as eight hours of intensive choir rehearsal weekly.

The Concert Choir’s repertoire, which includes selections in seven languages, is performed entirely from memory. Recent programs have included “The Toreador Song” from Bizet’s opera Carmen sung in French, Schubert Lieder sung in German, and “La Borinqueña”, a Puerto Rican folksong sung in Spanish. The Chamber Choir, a program of the Concert Choir, provides thirty students with a more in-depth musical experience.  The Chamber Choir rehearses an additional four hours weekly, and performs more challenging repertoire. Together, the choirs give over twenty-five performances annually.

In-School Programs

The In-School program offers students in local schools the opportunity to learn about music and choral singing from highly qualified, conservatory-trained instructors. Beginning in the fall of 2010, Highbridge Voices will offer brand new in-school choral programs to elementary and middle schools in the Highbridge community.   This program was successfully piloted at one school in the fall of 2009 and will include three new schools for the 2010-2011 program year. Once, and in some cases twice, weekly, Highbridge Voices’ teaching artists and teacher’s aides meet with groups of up to sixty students during the school day.  The choir classes are a scheduled part of the students’ day and will support both the New York State and National Standards for music education.    Students learn about the basic elements of singing; including breathing, vocal production, and pronunciation.  They are also taught the basic elements of music and musicianship. Students learn to sing songs which are culturally relevant to them and their community, as well as songs which support the subject matter being taught in social studies.  Each semester culminates with a school performance attended by peers, school administration and parents.