By Christi Laney
On the eve of its 25th anniversary next year, the Huntsville Children’s Choir is ushering out the old and bringing in the new with the hiring of three new directing staff members earlier this month.
After the former director of 20 years quietly bowed out of the spotlight earlier this year, Andy Hollingsworth and other Huntsville Children’s Choir board members began the search for a new director as well as an assistant director and an accompanist.
“The former director resigned to follow other pursuits,” Hollingsworth said. “A lot of people know she’s been involved in the choir for a long time and it was time for her to move on to something else.”
On Sept. 1, the board selected Katie Goodie, a senior at Sam Houston State University, to be the new director based on recommendations to the board and an interview process.
Alyssa Porter was selected as the new assistant director while Lindsey Harris Jr. was picked to be the new accompanist.
Goodie, who is studying Vocal Education at SHSU, has a resume that includes leading the children’s choir at the First United Methodist Church in Madisonville and teaching private lessons in clarinet, piano and voice.
This year, Goodie is also studying voice under Barabara Corbin, who is a long-time professor in the SHSU School of Music.
In addition to singing, her skill set includes playing the clarinet, flute, piano and handbells.
In her role as the director, Goodie will be in charge of selecting all of the music for the choir, training the children and setting up and conducting performances.
“She pretty much runs the show,” Hollingsworth said.
In her first year with the Huntsville Children’s Choir, Goodie said she hopes to teach her students to enjoy singing and to appreciate all kinds of music.
“I mainly just want to have an enjoyable time for the kids in music,” Goodie said. “I want for them to have a sense of family within the choir so that the kids can feel comfortable singing and that they will just sing their little hearts out.”
While being a member of a choir requires hard work, she said the main goal is for the kids to enjoy being a part of a musical group.
“I want them to see that music can be fun. It’s a blast when you put the work in, but spend time enjoying it.”
With the infusion of new faces and new talent, Hollingsworth said he is excited at the renewed energy brought by the new directors and eager to see how it affects the children in the choir.
“They’re definitely bringing an energy and excitement that we haven’t seen in the choir for a little while,” Hollingsworth said. “That’s a big benefit for the students.”
Hollingsworth said he and the board have big expectations for Goodie and her staff and hope to see a continuation of the positive image that Huntsville Children’s Choir carries throughout the community.
“Part of what we expect is for her to maintain and even build on the good repuation of the Huntsville Children’s Choir,” Hollingsworth said. “As we’ve gotten a new director, we’ve kind of wanted to get the wor d out. The Huntsville Children’s choir is still active, we’ve gotten new directorship and things are going well.”
The Huntsville Children’s Choir is hosting auditions Monday 14 from 4 - 6 p.m. at Alpha Omega Academy for children in the third through sixth grades.
For more information, contact Karla Christian at (936) 661-3167 or by e-mail at hcctreasurer@suddenlink.net.
