Utah Valley Children’s Choir
The Utah Valley Children’s Choir music education program is made up of six separate choirs designed to accommodate the different skill levels of the children who participate. The six choirs are:
Music Explorers (age 4) – children match pitch, learn and perform simple songs, are introduced to a very basic singing technique, and blend with other voices. Beginning Choir (age 5) – students build upon basic singing and performing skills while engaging in both gospel-based and upbeat, activity-style songs. The main focus in this choir is on strong unison singing and blending with the group.
Beginning Choir (age 5) – students build upon basic singing and performing skills while engaging in both gospel-based and upbeat, activity-style songs. The main focus in this choir is on strong unison singing and blending with the group.
Hi-Lo Choir (ages 6-9) – students learn how to match pitch, blend with others, and produce a good vocal sound. By the end of the year, they are able to sing two-part songs.
Prep Choir (ages 10-15) – after learning to sing two-part harmony in the Hi-Lo Choir, children add to the skills that they have already been taught by learning to read sheet music, singing more complicated harmony, all the while preparing to audition for the Concert Choir.
Let’s Play Music (ages 4-9) – this is a music theory course with emphasis on total musicianship through piano playing, singing, classical music, note reading, and ear training. The key word is PLAY. The end goal is for students to be able to play piano at a mid-elementary level, transpose music, compose their own music, sight-read music, and prepare to excel in further piano instruction. In addition, students enrolled in Let’s Play Music will be given the opportunity to perform at Christmas and in the spring as they join their voices with the approximately 300 voices in the other choirs.
Concert Choir (ages 8-18 by audition) – the Concert Choir brings together 180 of the most advanced students in the music education program. The youth selected for the Concert Choir range in age from eight to eighteen.
Those chosen to be members of the Concert Choir devote large amounts of time and energy learning and producing quality music that invites the Spirit of the Lord. Many of the children in this touring choir have been singing in the program for at least six years, with some as long as sixteen years. According to the official website for the Utah Valley Children’s Choir, their mission is to “Sing for the Lord” using sacred religious music to teach spiritual values and improve singing skills. In addition to fourteen professional recordings, including nine CDs, the Concert Choir has toured Great Britain, the Eastern and Western United States, and parts of Canada and Mexico to share their witness and testimony of Christ through music.
The Choir was founded by Beverly Thomas and Mary Visker, and has been touching lives through music and service for the last 30 years. It is under the direction of Suanne Bowcut and Ryan Eggett, and assisted by Carl Bowcut. Their music is available through the choir and Deseret Book.
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