The Music Academy of the West’s popular and successful Sing! Program — a free, after-school choral initiative open to students in Santa Barbara County, 1st through 8th grade — is starting rehearsals on Sept. 21, so it is time for interested parents and children to go to www.musicacademy.org/sing to fill out the bilingual registration form.
Performance opportunities include concerts and collaborations with the Music Academy family of artists, and future appearances with the London Symphony Orchestra. Sing! is free of charge.
The program’s objectives are to help children:
Discover and develop their ability to imagine and express themselves through music.
Gain confidence in using their voice to communicate ideas and emotions.
Work together to create something larger than themselves.
Learn about people and cultures from around the world through singing.
Foster a lifelong love for listening to and making music.
Originally, the program took place “after school at six elementary schools throughout Santa Barbara County — Adams, Canalino, Franklin, Harding, Hollister, and Isla Vista — selected in partnership with the Santa Barbara County Education Office.
Since the onset of the pandemic, however, the program has gone online to virtual rehearsals and performances. Sing! students rehearse a minimum of two times a week over Zoom with one of our three choral directors. Zoom credentials are sent after registration is completed.
All Sing! Children’s Chorus rehearsals take place from 3:30-5 p.m. The choral directors have divided the rehearsals up as follows:
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Christine Hollinger will lead; Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, it will be Daniel Newman-Lessler; and on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, Erin McKibben will share the rehearsals.
The Sing! program also features a Concert Choir for more advanced students. The Sing! Concert Choir rehearses 10-11:30 a.m. Saturdays. Audition is required to enroll in the Concert Choir. Students in this group must also rehearse and perform with full Sing! Children’s Chorus.
To schedule an audition and for more information, email dlessler@musicacademy.org.
“When Sing! went online, I followed my two enthusiastic kids and saw what a joy it was for them to connect with others through music,” recalls Nir Kabaretti, the Santa Barbara Symphony’s music & artistic director.
“I am so impressed with how the group was led remotely, and how beautifully the kids were treated in a very personal and professional way, teaching them much more beyond the notes,” Kabaretti said.
— Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributing writer. He can be reached at gerald.carpenter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are his own.