Choirs from different places, generations unite

No matter where we're from or how old we are, music can be a common denominator, a uniting force.

This was true for the Charleston Community Choir and the Jackson Middle School Treble Choir, which joined forces for a performance last month.

The Charleston Community Choir began because an arts organization that Kerry Davis, the choir director and Charleston-native-turned-Cape-Girardeau-resident, "required a performance art-oriented project to try and reach a larger audience," according to a recent Southeast Missourian article.

"I knew there was a base of people to draw from, so just like a fool, I thought, 'This won't be a big deal, we'll just do it,'" Davis told reporter Logan Young. "So we did, and that first season was mind-blowing, I think, for all of us. I don't know that I thought it would work so well or that we would have as much participation as we did."

That was five years ago. This year was the first that the Jackson Middle School choir collaborated.

Jackson middle school music teacher and Charleston native Stephanie Myers-Fridley and Davis began speaking about the idea on Facebook. So the two decided to bring the choirs together for a fall concert.

The performance at the United Methodist Church in Charleston was the first traveling performance for most of the Jackson students.

"It was really successful," Myers-Fridley said. "I think both of the choirs that were involved really had a great experience listening to each other and singing music together and it was really well received by the audience."

Besides creating beautiful music, the concert brought two groups, that might not have otherwise gathered, closer together.

"The idea that kids are doing that and not just tweeting and Facebooking and what else it is they do is hopeful to me," Davis said. "I think it just all looks different than what we've known."