North Georgia Children's Chorus

Bringing the Joy of Singing to Children

The North Georgia Children’s Chorus is happy to have you visit our site. Take a minute to see what we’re all about, and be sure to attend our upcoming Spring concert!

Spring Session

Registration and read-through day is January 14, 2019. Practices are on Mondays, January 21 – April 15 excepting February 18, March 11, and April 1. The concert date is April 15.

Choristers Guild Children’s Choir Festival

On Saturday, February 9, 2019 NGCC members from 3rd through 6th grades will participate in a half day festival with Dr. Martha Shaw, artistic director of the Spivey Hall Children’s Chorus.

Upcoming Spring Concert

Our spring concert is entitled SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW, and will be held at Dahlonega Presbyterian Church on Monday, April 15, 2019 at 7:00 pm.

Mission

The mission of the North Georgia Children’s Chorus is to train young singers musically and artistically, and to sing to the glory of God. The Chorus is dedicated to developing musical excellence, artistry, and literacy through the choral arts. We strive to give our singers an experience that will inspire them and encourage them to continue making music throughout their lives.

How Does My Child Join the Chorus?

If you have a child who is interested in joining the chorus, please call or email Ruth Purcell to schedule an audition. Then please view the NGCC Registration page to see the tuition policy and complete the registration form for your child.

The North Georgia Children's Chorus was originally envisioned as an opportunity for homeschoolers to experience choral singing and to be exposed to fine choral literature. Since its inception in the fall of 2007, the group has grown and the vision has expanded as well. The chorus now provides an opportunity for treble singers from public and private schools, as well as homeschoolers, to experience choral singing.

Read More About the Chorus >>

Chorus News

Chorister’s Guild Children’s Choir Festival

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Choir Festival
Dr. Shaw with NGCC participants

Marietta United Methodist Church, February 9, 2019

Members of NGCC traveled to Marietta on Saturday morning, practicing our songs while driving down 400, then enjoying viewing the beautiful landscaping and massive houses on Abernathy Road and Terrill Mill Road en route! After lunch on the playground at the church then registration, the children were led through effective singing tutorials and warmups with Dr. Martha Shaw, followed by several rehearsals, as well as enjoying short recreation and snack breaks. Dr. Shaw has conducted the Spivey Hall Children’s Chorus of national fame for many years, created an astounding choral program at Shorter College, and is now teaching at Reinhart College. She makes great use of her work with elementary school age children for her college students, and vice versa! A music educator for 38 years, Dr. Shaw is a master teacher and brought out the best from the 100+ singers working with her on Saturday.

At 4:30 a concert/worship service was offered to the public, and many proud parents were able to witness what their children accomplished in an afternoon, fine tuning the work of several months with their choir directors. All four anthems were performed beautifully from memory. Directors Ruth Purcell and Julia Morang learned plenty of teaching tips and hope that their singers will remember this experience for many years!

Christmas 2018

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Christmas Singers
Choir singing from the balcony...
Christmas Audience
as visitors listen from the square.

NGCC spent several weeks preparing Christmas music for the CASA Live Nativity outside Dahlonega Methodist Church, slated for December 14. We also made arrangements to have our second annual Community Carol Sing directly afterwards, from the Chamber of Commerce balcony. Unfortunately, the threat of rain, and the actual manifestation of it right at the time the Live Nativity was to begin, resulted in the cancellation of that part of the evening. 

Nevertheless, we met at the Chamber at 7:00, warmed up our voices, and sang our entire program outside on the balcony. There were still plenty of people on the streets despite the weather! Next year if the children sing alone, we need to do it on the patio where the folks are – too hard to see and hear us upstairs.

After briefly warming up inside, we carried on with the Carol Sing, which this year was mostly only NGCC. We were happy for the few friends who joined their voices to ours! Christmas joy was flowing from the voices and faces of the singers, and was mirrored by the faces of family and Dahlonega residents and visitors on the plaza below. This is an event we intend to polish and continue from year to year!

The Best of NGCC

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“It was a dark and stormy night…” is an accurate description of our concert day and evening! Along with flood warnings, a burst hydrant a block from our rehearsal and performance location, blue lights flashing for hours, wet feet, wet hair, wet music, over-excited singers, worried parents, a thermostat that refused to work and a reception area that never got above 58 degrees. Thankfully the performance area warmed up, eventually! And so did the singers. Although our audience numbers were small because of the inclement weather, those who were there were treated to a lively and enjoyable performance. Both the separate choirs and the combined group did an excellent job. Conductors, accompanists, and guest artists did well too – many thanks to Gabrielle Willet, Rebekah Mildenhall, and John Day. The only member who didn’t perform well was our recording device. Alas, the disc was blank at concert end!

2019 marks twelve years of of Bringing the Joy of Singing to Children. Take a trip back in time and view the programs from all of the past choir concerts, as well as some pictures of the choir each term.

View the Past Programs Archive >>