It’s a cold, snowy Tuesday evening, but nearly 30 youngsters have made their way to the warmth of a Libertyville church’s activity room.
They showed up as they do weekly throughout the school year to attend practice of the Red Rose Children’s Choir. The choir began its second season last fall and already is attracting notice under the direction of Sharon Augsburger and Jacque Negus, longtime friends and music teachers.
Not affiliated with any church or school, the choir simply uses space at Holy Cross Lutheran Church for practice sessions, a location central enough to draw children from throughout Lake County to the new outlet for singing.
Robert Bowker, an Evanston-based composer who has worked with some members of the group, said the youngsters’ performance skills and discipline were apparent from the first rehearsal. “They had it (the music) under their belts from the moment they walked in the door,” he said. “You breathe a sigh of relief because they’ve learned the proper notes, it’s in time and it’s sung well. . . . I can’t tell you how pleased I was to work with such a well run organization. They just did an outstanding job.” For the last two Christmas seasons about 30 members of the choir sang music Bowker created for Holiday Productions’ version of “A Christmas Carol.”
The choir also has won a gig of national significance. Dr. Robert Breit, medical director of the MR Institute of Lake County in Gurnee, heard the choir perform as part of a local benefit for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis last November. He and others were so impressed that they asked the group back to perform this June for about 600 people who will be attending the hospital’s annual convention in Chicago.
“They were so good, we invited them to perform again so that they could share their talents with even more people,” he said, adding that there is significance in having children perform to benefit a children’s hospital. “I’m sure a lot of the kids are learning very early in their lives a sense of giving and a sense of volunteerism that is hard to teach kids.”
A total of 90 children are involved in the choir, divided into three groups. The youngest batch of children, the kinder choir, is reserved for 2nd and 3rd graders. Older children are involved in the concert choir, and the master singers group is reserved for older children who audition. Generally, members of the master singers spend at least a year in the concert choir before auditioning for the more elite master singers.
Children are welcome to continue with the choir once they reach high school, but most leave after they finish junior high school. By that time, the boys’ voices have deepened so they can no longer sing in the treble choir.
Annual tuition fees for the choir range from $375 for master singers, $350 for concert choir members and $325 for members of the kinder choir. Some scholarships are available.
The children usually put on at least two concerts a year for family and friends. They have also lent their voices to other benefits, such as for the Central Baptist Children’s Home, and are available to perform at private functions, such as weddings.
“It’s good singers who get together and put their voices to good use,” said Barrett Monie, 13, of Libertyville, when he was asked to describe the choir.
The group is not designed merely for boys and girls who may one day perform on the professional stage, Augsburger said. During auditions, which are deliberately low-key, “I basically am looking for a child who enjoys singing and who has a basic pitch, and we take them from there,” Augsburger said after a recent practice session.
“What we want to know is if the kids really want to sing,” Negus added. “These kids really want to do this. They work hard, and they are tenacious. You need to practice this, just like you practice anything else.”
Augsburger and Negus have known each other since they were roommates in college at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. Each has children in the choir, and both women teach music on their own. Augsburger, of Libertyville, teaches music to schoolchildren in Wilmette, while Inverness resident Negus teaches privately in Palatine.
One parent sees them as a good team. “They balance each other out,” said Amy Younts, mother of 12-year-old Caroline. “They both love kids–you have to to take a group of kids and have them perform like they do.”
Negus and Augsburger work together to select what pieces the choir members will perform. They tend to shy away from pop tunes, in favor of a more traditional repertoire of children’s works, Negus explained.
“It essentially depends on what kind of concert we’re looking toward. We do classic, traditional children’s literature. Every once in a while, we will add something . . . a little more contemporary, like a Broadway piece,” Negus said.
“We work really hard to select music that is of really high quality, and we do a lot of music that is based on poetry,” Augsburger said. “It needs to be something that will stick with them for a long time, so the texts are important.”
The kids learn a variety of types of songs, according to Augsburger. The kinder choir may begin by working on common rounds and partner songs, and the older singers progress to four-part pieces, which may have jazz or gospel overtones.
“Our goals are to help the child musically and to stretch them,” Augsburger explained. “Music is so very vital for the academic life of a child and their abilities.”
Parents said the choir is giving their children more than just an opportunity to perform; it also fills a gap some say exists in schools, where music classes are not always emphasized.
“They sing American folk music, songs in different languages,” Younts said. “A lot of it is literature-based and poetry-based. They are learning quite a lot.”
Terri Uyttebroeck of Mundelein signed up her son, Ryan Dawson, for choir as a way to get the 11-year-old “interested in something other than sports,” she recalled with a laugh.
She has seen a change in her son since he has been involved in choir. “It’s made him more confident,” she said. “He’s not at all afraid to perform.”
“It’s a blast,” Ryan, a 5th grader, said of his experiences with Red Rose. “We make jokes a lot. . . . It’s just fun to sing.”
Like a number of other children in the Red Rose Children’s Choir, Ryan was a part of another children’s choir in Northfield, which Augsburger and Negus also were affiliated with before forming the Lake County-based choir.
A significant core of the kids hail from Libertyville, but others travel from Buffalo Grove, Barrington and Waukegan to attend practices.
“It’s fun being with other people and making new friends” who attend different schools, said Sun Kyung Park, 10, of Buffalo Grove.
Augsburger and Negus thought long and hard about a name for the choir, Augsburger recalled. Their eventual choice reflects a pleasant memory from their own school days.
“One of our favorite pieces from college was `Go Lovely Rose,’ ” Augsburger said. “It’s a symbol of caring: Roses grow into beautiful things, so it just seemed like a nice symbol for us.” Roses are presented to those who have helped out the choir during concerts, she added.
Parents play an active role in the group, according to Negus. “We do like to think of this as a family-oriented endeavor,” Negus said. “We have a lot of parent involvement, so it feels like a family.”
Some of the choir members will travel to England this summer, and others will head to Iowa in May to perform at music festivals. These are not competitions, Negus pointed out.
Though not ruling out entering the children in competitions in the future, Negus said that type of event has not been a priority. “We just really feel that the festivals are the types of things that help them grow,” Negus said. “Sometimes the competitiveness is not as good for them.”
Negus said she and Augsburger “anticipate more of these type of adventures” in coming years.
One parent, Norma Sachs of Vernon Hills, said the England trip will be “a chance of a lifetime” for her daughter, Anne, 13. “It seems to be an unusual experience for grade school children,” she said.
Nevertheless, the trips aren’t free. In addition to parents having to foot some of the bill, choir members must pitch in to help raise money for the touring fund by selling gift baskets and wrapping paper.
The Europe trip will include concerts in Canterbury and London as well as visits to tourist spots such as Windsor Castle and the Tower of London.
Anne Sachs sees the choir as a good training ground.
“I want to be a professional singer; that’s all I think about. This is the way to start. This takes dedication. We put a lot into this. This is a privilege to be in master singers.”
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For information about the Red Rose Children’s Choir and performances, phone 847-247-4333.
