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Music Preparatory Choirs to Present Spring Concert May 3

April 24, 2015

The youngest choir, Discovery Singers, under the direction of Ashley Pierce, will open the program with "Oh Shenandoah," an early American folk song arranged by Ruth Elaine Schram. Other Discovery Choir selections include "All Things Shall Perish," a German folk song; "Noah," by J. Paul Williams and Benjamin Harlan; "The Little Birch Tree," a Russian folk song arranged by Mary Goetze; and "Joy Inside!" by Phyllis White.

In its 32nd year, Shawnee Honor Choir, an auditioned group of third through eighth graders conducted by Conchita Hansford, will open their part of the program with "Ticket to the Promised Land," a traditional African-American spiritual arranged by John Carter. They will continue with the calypso song "Shake the Papaya Down," arranged by Ruth Dwyer and Judith Waller, which includes student performers Kaitlyn Duran, maracas; Kelby Vass, conga; and Abigail Lilite; claves. Other selections include "Little David, Play on Your Harp," an African-American spiritual arranged by Rollo Dilworth; "We are the Dreamers" by Joan Varner; "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel," another African-American spiritual, arranged by Roger Emerson; "Whisper" by Greg Gilpin; and "Happy," Pharrell Williams' 2014 hit arranged for choir by Mark Brymer. Instrumentalists include Edward Sanders on drums and Trevor Schlosser on bass.

Orff instrumentalists will perform "Canon" by Carl Orff, arranged by OBU music professor Dr. Jim Vernon. Student performers include Abigail Lilite, Catherine Burgess, Emily Day and Kaitlyn Duran on soprano glockenspiels; Estelle Lilite on alto glockenspiel; Baylor Brannan on soprano xylophone; Maggie Sherman, Keilani Anderson and Jacob Yoakum on alto xylophones; Tyler Day on bass xylophone; Clara Timmons on bass metallophone; Andi Burgess on bass bars; Andrew Terrell on hand drum; and Trenton Cope-Ueltzen on triangle.

The Shawnee Honor Choir will conclude their performance with an audience sing-a-long of patriotic songs accompanied by hand chimes. Hand chime performers include Grace Belyeu, Camille Blakemore, Abigail Canning, Luke Dyer, Genevieve Gay, Camryn Green, Allison Holter, Latrelle Humphrey, Chloe Kasterke, Mary Lytle, Brooklyn Malouf, Favor Mbote, Garrett McDonald, Brittany McDoulett, Adriana McGehee, Hyrum Miner, Corinna Ropp, Olivia Schwab, Anna Sconyers, Abby Smith, Mason Templeton, Kelby Vass, Alexis Walker, Brent White and Littie White.

The Concert Choir, comprised of high school students and under the direction of Dr. Kathy Scherler, will open with Jonathan Willcocks' "Can You Count the Stars?" They will continue with "Hitori," a Japanese folk song arranged by Mary Donnelly and George Strid, featuring Jake White on cymbals and Brennan Vanbuskirk on windchimes. Other selections include "J'entend le Moulin," a French folk song arranged by Ruth Dwyer and Martin Ellis; "Danza, Danza" by Francesco Durante, arranged by Audrey Snyder; "Spinnerliedchen," a German folk song arranged by William Bausano; and "Bayushki Bayu," a Russian lullaby by Dave and Jean Perry.

For the 25th consecutive year, Shawnee Honor Choir will also present its spring program in area schools. Tuesday, April 28, the choir will perform at Family of Faith, McLoud Elementary, Sterling House and Sequoyah Elementary. Thursday, April 30, the choir will perform at South Rock Creek, North Rock Creek and Grove.

Auditions for all choirs for the 2015-16 school year will be held May 5 and May 7 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information about OBU's Music Preparatory Department, visit the Prep Department webpage, call (405) 585-4329 or email prep@okbu.edu.