Martin Methodist hosts area high schools for choral festival

Martin Methodist College (MMC) held the First Annual High School Choral Festival Monday, November 7, featuring the MMC Chamber and Concert Choirs in performance with regional high school choirs from Lawrence County High School, Lincoln County High School, Mt. Pleasant High School and Columbia Central High School.

MMC’s Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music Dr. Tim Powell planned this event for over a year after reaching out to more than 60 regional high school choir directors and asking for their input about starting a fall choral performance festival. “Any high school that wanted to be involved was included,” said Powell. “We were able to get commitments from four high schools, and I was pleased with that level of participation, especially for the first event.”

The choirs gathered in Martin Hall Auditorium and rehearsed from noon to 4:00 then performed in concert for the community at First United Methodist Church in Pulaski at 7:00 Monday evening.

The festival will be held in November on an annual basis with the goal of expanding and including more and more high school choirs each year. “I definitely want this event to grow. I enjoy the ‘festival’ aspect of the event, where each choir gets to hear each other and hopefully benefits from the experience of singing together in public without the competitive element,” Powell said.

“Tim Powell did a masterful job with the choir festival—a real jamboree!” said MMC’s Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Judy Cheatham. “The students from Mt. Pleasant, Lawrence County, Lincoln County and Columbia Central were wonderful, and the Martin Methodist choirs were superb. The event was impressive all the way around.”

“We are extremely grateful to the four high school choirs who participated, and I want to extend that thanks to their fantastic directors, Barry Petty from Lincoln County, Aaron Evans from Lawrence County, Drew Givens from Columbia Central and Lori Joffs from Mt. Pleasant, and their administrators who gave the students the opportunity to attend,” Powell said. “The high school singers were so attentive, talented and full of energy, and we appreciated the great, standing-room-only crowd who came to support the concert.”