Stettler’s Gracenotes choir combined singing, dancing, and acting in its last recital of the season on Monday and Tuesday.
The four groups – Gracenotes, Rhapsody Girls, Tiny Tenors, and Tiny Gracenotes – performed pieces they began preparing for music festival in January. The Gracenotes choir also added in several more concert pieces within the last two weeks.
“I thought they did great,” said choir director Rhonda Sylvester.
There was a full house for the recital and a standing ovation at the end after all four groups and Sylvester joined forces to perform their final song.
As the Gracenotes performed some songs while standing in rows like a traditional choir, they also had props (like suitcases in their rendition of “Chattanooga Choo Choo”) costumes (chicken costumes, to be precise) and lines (while they acted the part of the stereotypical angsty teen with “Teenager in Love.”)
Sylvester and the choirs come up with the choreography themselves, and she says that the Gracenotes get more leeway with choreography so that they’ll remember it better.
“It’s just to get the creative juices flowing,” she said. She added that the choirs are all very good at remembering the songs and choreography.
“They’re amazing,” she said. “They catch on in a way that adults don’t. They’re like little sponges.”
The Gracenotes choirs start rehearsals again in September for the new season.