Jamestown
Youth Choir
With music as its cornerstone, the Jamestown Youth Choir seeks singers between the ages of 11 and 18 who want to learn, sing, and grow. Attention to voice technique, foreign language study, phonetic exercise, sight-reading, historical context and educational enrichment will make for a unique choral experience.
The Williamsburg area is ripe with history, culture and music. Using the music to drive our discussions, participants will delve into historic documents, sites and artwork to bring the program material to life.
Each rehearsal will include high- level segments on healthy singing habits, advanced sight-reading, translation and proper pronunciation of foreign languages. We will explore the historical background of the composers and works, and there will be lots of singing. Repertoire will be advanced and WILL require effort and practice outside of rehearsals by the participants.
The Jamestown Youth Choir returns
this Fall. Please check back soon for
details on our 2023-24 season.
Reflecting on our Inaugural Season
Music of Jamestown, At Jamestown
Our first program
introduced the
Jamestown Youth
Choir in the most
appropriate way –
with music that
would have been heard, known, or sung on Jamestown
Island by the people who lived there.
Selections by Byrd, Locke, Gibbons and Morley, plus
some music from the Native American tradition were
included.Performances were held at historical sites in
and around Jamestown Island.
Special guests and speakers enriched our rehearsal
experience.
Here We come a Wassailing –
Traditional carols of the
18th Century
“Hark! How All the Welkin
Rings!” The Holiday
season is rich with history
in the Williamsburg area.
In the mid-18th century, the tunes and lyrics that we now
know from childhood were not quite established –
what exactly is a Welkin? Charles Wesley reigned
supreme, the Hallelujah Chorus hadn’t yet reached
Virginia, and Greensleeves was still a best-seller.
We explored the holiday traditions of the 1700's in a
performance at historic Bruton Parish Church in
Colonial Williamsburg.
Oh… and a “welkin” is a “Herald Angel”
Songs of the Civil War -Youth
on the Battlefield
“And fair the form of music shines,
that bright, celestial creature,
Who still, 'mid war's embattled
lines, Gave this one touch of
Nature.”
-Virginia poet
John Reuben Thompson
When the youth of both the North and South
marched off to battle, they took the songs of their
childhoods with them.
We explored the world of song beyond “The Battle Hymn
of the Republic” and “Dixie”, following 16-year old
Edwin. F. Jemison as he volunteered, fought, and died
at nearby Malvern Hill, near Richmond. He is buried
in his hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia. Trips to
local sites, including singing at the Museum of the Civil
War Soldier at Pamplin Park, enriched the experience
of our singers.
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