Tri-County Honors Chorus 1987
Charles, Calvert, and St. Mary's Counties in Maryland
| Song Title | Arrangement by |
|---|---|
Ave Maria |
Tomas Luis de Victoria |
Psallite Unigenito |
Michael Praetorius |
Agnus Dei* |
(Unknown) |
Has po di po melwi** |
(Unknown) |
I Want to Live With God |
Salone Clary |
Elijah Rock |
Jester Hairston |
Go Down Moses |
Mark Hayes |
Rock My Soul |
(Unknown) |
Show Me Thy Way |
Dr. Charles Gilchrist |
*"Agnus Dei" or "Mass in B flat major"
**Best Guess
Tri-County Honors Choir
In the 80's, the group of Three Southern Maryland Counties would get together for "Honors" choirs and bands.
If you want to know more go here to More About Honors Choirs
1987 Specifically
In my recollection. (Which of course is totally accurate 30+ years later. Honestly though, if I've gotten anything wrong or missed something of importance, please send me an email.)
In 1987 I was a sophomore in high school. I was in band, but was wondering if I could move to choir. I had heard there was a Tri-County choir tryout and I asked the school choir director (Julie Dropkin) if you had to be in choir to try out. Since she had never seen me before in her life, I can only imagine what she was thinking, but she said that any student in the county could try out, so I did. I did well, and so started a string of concerts for me.
For the Tri-County concerts in particular, I think that each year they would choose a different choir director to conduct the performance. In this year the choir teacher was from Lackey and he was great. He had learned from his professor at college (Dr. Charles Gilchrist) whom had gotten a PhD. His PhD was something like "Translating spirituals to choir music". Dr. Gilchrist was the guest conductor this year. He ended the performance with his own arrangement of "Show Me Thy Way".
This next part involves some guesswork, but I'll assume this is the Dr. Gilchrist from the concert. I found the following from a Google search for "Dr. Charles Gilchrist composer". The result is from Google Books and references a book titled "African Americans of Durham County". Since I currently live in NC in Wake County which is right next to Durham, I find it a wonderful reminder that the world is a small place.
Song Titles
How hard is it to find the title of a song?
Auditions
What is the Audition like?
I happened to have my audition form, and it seems they grade you on Voice Quality, Intonation, Diction, Breath Support, Posture, and Volume while you sing America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee).
Then you get some Sight-Reading and Phrase Repetition tests.
And to round it all off, 10% in "Other".
History and Technical Specs
If you have read this far, why not take the red pill and go all the way?