Prese Release • September 6, 2022 • A. Fish
(Reidsville, NC) – A youth choir to provide young people between the ages of eight and 14 the opportunity to enhance their vocal abilities and experience live public performances is being organized in Rockingham County.
Rockingham Youth Singers will hold its first auditions from 5- 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, at Main Street United Methodist Church, 221 S. Main St., Reidsville, which is partnering with co-founders Renee Goletz, musical director, and Joelle Begic, program director. The child should be prepared for the audition with a one-minute song or they can sing the song provided for them.
The mother-daughter duo created RYS so children in the community can showcase their musical talents and participate in an extracurricular activity outside of school and church.
“Although we encourage participation in those areas, we serve all of Rockingham County and plan to perform at special events all around the county,” Goletz said.
Performances will be on Dec. 10, March 11 and June 3.
The idea for the youth choir began when Begic reviewed Facebook posts about her old children’s choirs in Colorado. She said her happy memories whetted her desire to form a similar choir in Rockingham County, and suggested her mother start a children’s choir after learning no children choirs were in the County.
“She has the musical background,” Begic said, adding as a former member of middle and high school choirs, she thought a local one would be fun.
Goletz admitted that in the past year since moving to Reidsville from Colorado, she thought about starting a youth choir but never said anything.
The beginning of June, Begic suggested Goletz, who teaches private piano and private voice lessons at Scales Street Music in Reidsville, do a two-week workshop or other musical activity for the summer , but the idea of the choir was more appealing.
The pair decided to start the youth choir in September. They and another daughter, Jessica Leth, came up with Rockingham Youth Singers.
“We are really excited to get going and hear the beautiful children singing with their beautiful voices,” Goletz said.
The hardest part was finding a place to rehearse and give their concerts.
“I’m kind of silly too, so I’m sure the children will be laughing as well as singing,” the musical director admitted. “We just like to have a lot of fun and like to laugh.”
“Singing is an art that can come both naturally and can be learned,” Begic said. “It is an expression of self and a powerful way to make things heard.”
As children grow and their brains develop, studies have shown children involved with music focus better, have better attention spans, increase their vocabularies, retain more information and have improved performance on memory recall.
“Children who participate in extra-curricular activities tend to perform better in school and/or participate in more school-related functions,” Begic said.
Joining in these activities outside school leads to a better sense of community and fosters this into a positive way by engaging and advocating for growth and community functions.
Both women were born into musical families. While young, Begic was in several choirs, starting with Young Voices of Colorado, high school and church choirs. She also played the clarinet in a band. Although she “dabbled” with the trumpet, guitar, trombone and piano for several years, Begic never went professional with any instrument but decided to enter the human services field instead.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science from Metropolitan State University in Denver, and a master’s in liberal studies from the University of Denver. She now works for Rockingham County.
She and Elvedin, her husband of 20 years, have two teenagers. They have lived in Madison since 2017 because they wanted a change of scenery. In her free time, Begic likes to boat, fish, watch movies with her husband, or go to the beach with her family.
Goletz holds a bachelor’s of music degree in vocal performance from Metropolitan State and a master’s degree in human resources from Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas and taught music lessons for many years.
She has participated in community choirs in Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Portland and Denver. She also was the Mother Abbess in the Sound of Music and Mrs. Bedwin in Oliver in the Colorado Summer Musicals in Englewood. She serves as a music leader and piano accompanist for the children’s group at her church.
A talented seamstress, Goletz designed the Go-Letz Sing Add-O-Pocket for choral folders so community choir singers could keep valuable personal items with them during performances when no secure place is available. She also sews other music items for musicians.
“We welcome any child in Rockingham County to come sing with us,” Goletz said. “ It will be fun.”
SIDE BAR:
Rehearsals will be from 5:30-6:15 p.m. every Thursday, starting Sept. 15 and ending June 1.
The fee includes a registration fee of $75, an annual fee of $360, due by first rehearsal, or a monthly payment of $45 due the first Thursday of each month.
Information can be obtained by calling 336-949-8937 or at rockinghamyouthsingers@gmail.com
or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rockinghamyouthsingers
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