COVID-19 was an uncertain time for everyone, but there was still hope. That hope for the Winchester Civic Choir came in the form of director Christopher Smith. He sang in an outdoor performance at the First United Methodist Church in Winchester. From that performance, talks began of starting a community choir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWanda [Spencer] had reached out to me about singing with a group at an outdoor service,\u201d said Smith. \u201cI came, and we discussed that Tullahoma had a civic choir that several locals once participated in. We were really excited about potentially getting past COVID and doing something to bring people together. Church choirs and community choirs were almost a thing of the past at that point. We were really worried that it wouldn\u2019t be pulled off because COVID showed back up. But we started in August 2021. We had about 55 members in the first group. We\u2019ve grown 15% this year, and we are just shy of 70 [members], I believe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n UNTAPPED TALENT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Smith said that since the group\u2019s beginning, it has unearthed a wealth of local talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think the beautiful thing about the whole group is that there are so many talented people in this area,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt\u2019s not been touched outside of high school, or if they did it in college… and there\u2019s not a single… and I mean this respectfully\u2014but there\u2019s not a single person in the group that cannot sing. And I\u2019d say probably 90% of them can read music. So there\u2019s just a lot of good talent in that area that we have not tapped into.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n S<\/em>mith and the group believed there was a musical necessity that was not yet met in Franklin County. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[The group] is a mission in a lot of ways,\u201d explained Smith. \u201cYou know, we\u2019re trying to put something back in the community. There\u2019s this whole conception in our world that arts of any kind are failing, and we certainly don\u2019t want to let that happen… I saw the way that we\u2019ve rallied [around Hunter Girl]\u2014and any big event like that in Winchester, and I feel there\u2019s a need and a hunger for group music in the county.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The choir includes members from ages 16 to 90, with a variety of denominations represented to even those who don\u2019t attend church. Smith said it\u2019s all about coming together and being a family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur number one goal is not necessarily to be a church group,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, we\u2019re faith-based; however, we\u2019ve created a family. There have been longtime friendships rekindled through this group; people that went to high school together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n MAKING A NAME FOR THEMSELVES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n During their short time together, the group has already made a name for themselves and has just recorded a single, which is currently streaming on digital media platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe recorded a single with a Gaither Homecoming artist and another artist by the name of Rebekah Speer, which is now streaming. We also shot a music video for it with us in the background of that. We are also scheduled to record 11 or 12 songs with well-known musical engineer Tommy Cooper. That album will be available to the public once it\u2019s completed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The choir is getting ready for their annual Christmas concert that is set for 7 p.m. on Dec. 10, at the First United Methodist Church in Winchester. The concert is open to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It will be the premiere event for the choir. They have worked diligently over the last few months to ensure a most memorable concert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the future, Smith said he hopes to see the choir grow and be able to minister more in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnless something happens, I expect we will grow [by] 5 to 10 people every year,\u201d he said. \u201cI would like to see us get to 100 members. We\u2019re not going to go year-round; it loses its novelty, and people will get burnt out. But I would like to see it get to 100 people, and where we will have to be at the high school. I think one thing that sets us apart is that we are singing things beyond Christmas and trying to use those things to minister. It seems like we are the best-kept secret in the county. We\u2019re not in it for the glory, but we just want it to go as far as it can.\u201d GN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Post-COVID, the Winchester Civic Choir is now 65 members strong and looking to bring the joy of music to the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1286,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-1278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-december"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_0816-1-1-1-768x1024.jpeg\")
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