By Linda Parker
Special to The PREVIEW
Do you have a daughter, granddaughter, niece or young friend who loves to sing? Maybe she has a great voice and doesn’t know it. Membership in the Pagosa Springs Girls Choir (PSGC) could be exactly what she needs to provide an outlet for performance while having the opportunity to study voice privately and to give her encouragement and confidence as a singer.
The PSGC will welcome interested girls for the 2018-2019 school year on Monday, May 14, from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Pagosa Springs Middle School choir room. The choir is open to any girl who will enter fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth grade next fall, whether in public school, in a home-school program or who is enrolled in online classes. No audition is necessary, just a love of music and a desire to further her music education.
Members of the current PSGC will be present at the welcome meeting and refreshments will be served. Information packets for girls who are currently fourth-graders were sent home through the elementary school. Public school girls who are currently fifth-, sixth- or seventh-graders can get a packet in the office at the middle school. Any girls who are home-schooled (or any girl who failed to get one at school) can obtain an audition packet on the PSGC website, www.singpagosa.org, or by calling Director Linda Parker at 264-1434.
Interested girls are asked to fill out the information form that is in the packet and bring it with them on May 14.
Along with performance, the PSGC offers other opportunities for the members. Two vocal coaches provide private voice instruction during rehearsal time at no charge to the girls.
Additionally, girls are offered a summer educational trip to experience live performances of a specific genre of music each year. The trips are funded through the generosity of the Pagosa community and our fundraising efforts, so they come at a very small cost to the girls. Past trips have taken the girls to the Santa Fe, N.M., opera; to Texas; to Vail, Colo.; Salt Lake City, Utah; and, this year, the girls will spend four days in New York City.
“The information packet will provide many answers to questions about membership in the PSGC. There is a tuition fee for the choir, but because fundraising is so important to us, parents have the opportunity to have the tuition discounted with fundraising participation. There are also opportunities for scholarships, and no girl has ever been turned away because of financial reasons,” said Parker. “Membership in the Pagosa Springs Girls Choir is a wonderful and unique opportunity for girls to learn about vocal and choral techniques and to learn and perform high-quality choral music in a variety of styles. The girls are also introduced to choreography and props as part of their music training. I hope our Pagosa girls will take advantage of these unique opportunities.”
For additional information about membership in the PSGC, call 264-1434 or email singpagosa@gmail.com.
