By DIANE HODA
Six local children were chosen to perform in the Honor Choir before members of the American Choral Directors' Association in Pasadena at their annual regional convention.
Jamie Stieglitz, of Cupertino; Amy Groves, Sara Emery, Rachelle Scher and Elizabeth Balassone, of Los Altos; and Peter Myers, of Los Gatos, met 144 other children from Hawaii, Nevada, Utah and California March 13 to begin rehearsing for the on March 16 performance.
The children, ranging in age from 9 to 16, rehearsed many hours, their longest day lasting from 7:30 in the morning until 9:30 at night. They went through four days of hard work, but in the end were rewarded with a standing ovation--from directors, no less, says Boyer, the children's chorus director.
"American choral directors are serious about their work," Boyer says.
The directors of the association teach vocal classes to students in schools, colleges and community choirs.
Stieglitz, 11, a sixth-grader at Stevens Creek Elementary School, says, "The rehearsals were hard work, but I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot from Janet Galvan, the director there.
"I met a lot of kids, went to Knotts Berry Farm on Friday and felt great after we performed."
The 150 young performers sang pieces in Spanish, Latin and other languages.
"When we sang 'Las Amarillas' in three beats per measure, I liked the way it sounded when we were divided into three parts and took turns clapping per beat," Stieglitz says.
Jamie started singing at age 4 in other children's choirs and has performed with Cantabile Children's Choir for six years, says her mother, Alayne Stieglitz.
The six local children, who all sing with Cantabile, auditioned individually for the Honor Choir by submitting a tape in October to the association. They sang a scale, one required song and one song of their choice. When notified the following month that they had been chosen, they began learning six songs that they would rehearse with the rest of the choir in Pasadena.
The director of Cantabile Children's Chorus, Signe Boyer, judged children from Utah, and three other judges chose children from the other three states. Boyer encouraged the six Bay Area children to audition based on not only their musical talent and knowledge but also on their maturity, independence, personality and ability to follow directions and get along with others. The children were accompanied by two parent chaperones.
Cantabile singers, 60 boys and girls, ages 6 to14, are divided into four levels--beginning, intermediate, concert chorus and advanced ensemble. The five girls and one boy selected to participate in the Honor Choir sing with the advanced ensemble.
"Private instruction is a unique experience," Boyer says. The students join the choir prepared to commit one evening a week and some weekends to practicing at Foothills Congregational Church in Los Altos and to practicing at home. They do this of their own volition, Boyer says. They learn ear training, theory and to sing up to three- or four-part music, depending on their level. But they derive other benefits while working as a team: self esteem, self-confidence, self-discipline and a sense of community.
"My goal is to expose the children as much as possible to eclectic classical choral music and contemporary music and to help them to develop into singers of choral excellence who will appreciate good music and support the arts when they are older," Boyer says.
The choir has sung Bach's "Bist Du Bei Mir," Irving Berlin's "Steppin' Out With My Baby," Charles Collins "Mary Had a Little Blues" and a Hebrew folk tune, "Ma Tov," and others.
Although Boyer teaches local classes full-time to children in a Palo Alto school, she says she loves directing Cantabile.
"There's a chorus movement outside of public schools due to cutbacks," Boyer says, explaining that schools tend to cut chorus before band because some people don't consider the voice an instrument since it isn't a visible product. Yet it is a most difficult and challenging instrument, she says. Nor do they understand the value of total brain development achieved by studying music, she adds; teaching 5- to 7-year-olds rhythm, words and ear training promotes their acquisition of motor and eye coordination.
Cantabile has performed at Stanford Hospital and Filoli in Woodside with the San Jose Symphony and at San Jose State University. The choir will be performing The Pirates of Penzance at the Los Altos United Methodist Church on May 26.
The six Honor Choir children will be performing on July 6 at Disneyland for the Children's Celebration Choral Festival and on July 7 at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove. At both of these concerts, the six children will sing in a mass choir of 450 children and also as a separate choir.
For information, call Ginny Hauser at (415) 967-8012.
This article appeared in the Cupertino Courier, April 10, 1996
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.