About Choir

The Helena Middle School Choral Department is an exciting elective offering skills in musicianship, teamwork, communication, leadership, and community. Students should expect to have a variety of performance opportunities, develop vocal abilities, and have a place where they are valued as an individual within a group setting.

The Goal of our Choral Department is to develop independent musicianship, appreciate cultural diversity, establish a program committed to choral excellence, to develop excellent singing habits and to instill a love for singing.

Music is a discipline which requires goal setting, concentration, individual responsibility, group conformity, quick decision making, and thriving under pressure. These are skills that leaders and productive citizens retain as they grow. The Choral Program will teach these skills to our students and guide them in transferring these skills to other areas of their lives. Success in our program leads to success in life. 

Our Concerts

The HMS Choir performs many times throughout the year, but rarely after school. Most of our performances are scheduled during the school day with coordination from our administration and the rest of our faculty.

Four times a year the choir will hold a formal concert to perform repertoire that we have studied in class, and give the students an opportunity to show off all of their fine work. These concerts occur after school. The dates are listed on our calendar. They are the Winter Concert, The Festival Concert, State Festival Performance Assessment, and the Spring Concert.

The performances will occur at Alabaster First Baptist Church, Helena Middle School, and Kingwood Christian Church respectively. Concerts begin at 7pm. Concerts normally last an hour to an hour and a half. I strongly encourage parents to attend their singers' concerts because they want you to be there to support them (though they may not admit it). Parents and family can expect a wide variety of choral literature featuring our students, and you may come dressed casually. The singers have a strict dress code covered in our uniform section of the choral handbook. 

Other Performances

The HMS Choir will perform for a variety of events and in a variety of settings over the course of the year. Many of these performances will be in T-shirt and jeans, and couple will require the formal uniform. These events change from year to year, but this is a pretty close rendition of the performance opportunities choir offers the students outside of the Winter, Festival, and Spring Concerts.

Our Spring Trips

Helena Middle School choir members are ambassadors of our community, our school, our families, and our choir. Over the years the Helena Middle School Choir has used this opportunity to sing and explore at some terrific venues across the country. Our kids have a great time. Everything is taken care of in advance, so the students can have a great trip. In case you're wondering, we LOVE roller coasters in the Choral Department!

What the Student Can Expect

Why Choir?

Be a part of a great program!

The Helena Middle Choral Department is one of the best choral programs around. Our choirs have consistently scored Superior ratings for our 6th, 7th and 8th grade choirs.

Fantastic Trips

The HMS Choir regularly performs in venues like New York City, Disney World and Universal Studios. Trips are optional. 

Extra-curricular activities and Choir ---you can do it!

We understand a lot of our kids are carrying multiple commitments. Choir will not conflict with sports, cheer, etc. 99% of choir is during the school day. We want you to do both.

What can your student expect from being in the 6th grade choir?

In short, a lot… 6th grade Choir singers learn a minimum of 10 choral works over the year, participate in all of our concerts, are eligible for the Spring Trip, Show Choir, Festivals and Competitions, develop competitive sight-reading skills, and lots of vocal training. 

All-State

The Alabama All-State Choir is the highest honor a choral student may receive in the State of Alabama. Students are required to audition alone in front of a judge, and their peers. It is a difficult audition process, and the students auditioning must be superbly prepared. The rewards for this hard work are enormous.

Simply stated, this choir is one of the best in the country. It combines the best choral musicians in our state together to join in song under the direction of the finest choral directors in the country. The singer's experience changes them forever. All-State is the annual ultimate experience for a choral musician from 7th grade through 12 grade. The concerts are amazing. It is an awakening to the depth and beauty of choral music when every participant is talented and committed to excellence. The highlight of the year. Don't miss it.

Join the Choir

Choir is a unique and exceptional elective choice. Singing is a skill that students WILL use for the rest of their life, and there are so many other intangibles that are grown in this wonderful process of group singing.

Make a commitment, make friends, work hard, sound great. 

Contact Mr. Andrews

Let me know who you are, and say "I want to join the choir!"