New chorus soon to face the spotlight
May 3—HIGH POINT — Even at age 14, Rebekah Franks has been looking forward to the moment when, after weeks of rehearsing by themselves in a room, she and other members of High Point's new community chorus will face an audience.
"I like to sing a lot, and family is very musical," she said after the High Point Community Chorale's final rehearsal.
The group's first concert will be this Sunday at 7 p.m. in the sanctuary of First United Methodist Church. Its concerts are expected to all be fundraisers, and this first one will raise money for A Special Blend, a coffee shop that hires developmentally disabled individuals.
Wesley Hudson, the director of music ministries for First United Methodist, organized the High Point Community Chorale early this year to fill the voids — a loss of community music but also a loss of personal connections and bridge-building — left after the High Point Community Chorus stopped performing several years ago.
The group now has 36 members, and Hudson is pleased at the wide range of ages — the youngest is 10, and the oldest is far past retirement age.
"And they all read (music), and they're all good singers," he said.
Nancy Turney, who said she has sung in choruses since the first grade, said people never seem to realize how many good singers live in their community.
She said she is grateful, after all the shutdowns related to COVID-19, to once again have an outlet for singers to gather and perform.
"It just killed us singers because we had nowhere to go sing," she said.
Andi Brooks agreed. The chorus is a family affair for her because her husband, Matthew, and their three daughters — Emily, 20, Hannah, 18, and Sarah, 10 — also joined.
"This is an absolute thrill that we can do this," Brooks said. "And the fact we can have our kids with us is a blast."
Turney is one of just three former High Point Community Chorus members so far who have joined the High Point Community Chorus.
"I'm hoping we can get some (more) of them," she said. "I've talked to some of them by phone."
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