UTC Choral Ensembles Page

The University of Tennessee

at Chattanooga

Choral Ensembles

Welcome to the UTC Choral Ensembles page. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and its private college predecessors, The University of Chattanooga, Grant University and Chattanooga University, all had the arts and music at the core of college life. In fact, one of the first seven professors hired at the original Chattanooga University in 1886 was a music professor. Choruses from this university have been active in the Chattanooga area community, the United States and have literally traveled throughout the world performing concerts in locations that include Russia, England, and Australia among others.

The UTC Department of Music currently has five choruses that are all open to enrollment to students from all majors. Four of the five choruses meet in the fall and spring semesters and one, the Summer Chorale, meets only in the summer semester.

The Chattanooga Singers was formed in 1969, soon after the University of Chattanooga merged with the University of Tennessee system and became UTC. This group has performed extensively throughout the world. Literature for the Chattanooga Singers includes standard choral literature for concert choir and also includes major works performed with orchestra.There is no audition for admission to Chattanooga Singers but there is a voice check to make sure the students are singing in the correct section for their voice. The Chattanooga Singers currently rehearse on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:05 until 1:30 primarily in Patten Chapel adjacent to Hooper hall. There is one 40 minute sectional rehearsal per week scheduled beginning a few weeks into the semester and is arranged around the students’ schedules. Any student wishing to join Chattanooga Singers may do so by registering for MUS 020-001 for undergraduate credit or MUS 500-020 for graduate credit. The course is repeatable and receives one hour credit. The Chattanooga Singers is directed by the UTC Director of Choral Activities, Dr. J. Kevin Ford.

It would be incorrect to say that the UTC Men's Chorus is a new ensemble. The current group was reformed by its current director, the internationally known Professor Roland Carter, the Ruth Homberg Professor of American Music. The University of Chattanooga had a Men’s Chorus for many years and in fact one of the earliest existing recordings of a chorus on this campus is of the 1938 Orpheus Club. Prior to its disbanding the group was directed by well remembered professor E. G. Rushworth. The Men’s Chorus is open to all male UTC students regardless of major and performs a wide variety of music written for men. The mission also includes learning how to sing in a chorus to begin or to improve skills in reading music. The UTC Men’s Chorus (MUS 027-001) rehearses on Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:00 until 11:50 in Cadek 200, receives one credit hour and is repeatable.

A chorus with a short history on campus is the relatively new UTC Women's Chorale. This chorus, open to all female students with no audition necessary is directed by the Head of the UTC Music Department, Dr. Lee Harris. The purpose of the chorus is to provide an opportunity for women to make music written specifically for women’s voices only and to learn more about singing in a choir and to develop or continue to develop their skills in reading music. The UTC Women’s Chorale (MUS 026-001) rehearses on Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:00 until 11:50 in Patten Chapel and receives one credit hour and is repeatable.

The oldest existing chorus and the most select chorus at UTC is the Chamber Singers. The Chamber Singers were formed in 1968 as the then University of Chattanooga Chorus had to be renamed to fit the universities new identity. The result was the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Chamber Singers. The Chamber Singers is an auditioned chorus whose enrollment is kept intentionally low. Their main mission is to perform mixed choral literature of the highest caliber for chamber chorus ranging from formal pieces from antiquity, to major works fitting a small chorus to contemporary compositions at times even including vocal jazz. The exact number of the membership shifts from year to year depending on the requirements of the literature selected for that year. Students wishing to audition for Chamber Singers (MUS 022-001 for undergraduates and MUS 500-022 for graduate students) perform a short (five minute) audition in which they sing “My Country ‘tis of Thee” or some similar song, their range is checked and short ear training and sight singing examples are sung. The auditions take place on the first day of the academic year usually with call-backs on the second day of the semester and at the end of the fall term for the rare occasion when there is an opening mid-year. The Chamber Singers are the main touring group for the university and they rehearse four days per week: Monday and Wednesday from 12:00 until 12:50 and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:50 until 12:05. They are directed by UTC’s Director of Choral Activities Dr. J. Kevin Ford.

In the Summer term of 2004 a new chorus was started with the idea to combine UTC undergraduate and graduate students with active non-university singers in the Chattanooga area community. This chorus provides an ensemble for the Music Masters students who are teachers and find it difficult to participate in an ensemble during the fall and spring terms and it also gives Chattanooga area singers an advanced ensemble to participate in during the summer months when most of the civic choruses are taking time off. Membership in the UTC Summer Chorale include members of the Chattanooga Bach Choir, Chattanooga Choral Arts, the Chattanooga Symphony Chorus and may area church choirs along with UTC and Cadek Conservatory faculty and students. The mixture of the younger singers with more mature voices produces an ensemble with power that is capable of performing works that might not be as feasible with only younger voices. The chorus focuses on usually one major work with organ and other smaller works depending on the year.

The Summer Chorale follows a schedule that is more along the lines of a professional choral schedule with fewer rehearsals per week to begin with but as the 8 week run progresses rehearsals become more frequent as the chorus works more and more on artistry and less on basics. There is no audition for admission to Summer Chorale. Students may register for credit but community members may join at no cost. All that is asked is a commitment and faithfulness to the group and the willingness to follow a rehearsal schedule and prepare some of the basics of notes, rhythms and language prior to rehearsals. The director for summer chorale (MUS 201-001 for undergraduates and MUS 500-001 for graduate students) is UTC’s Director of Choral Activities, Dr. J. Kevin Ford. The organist is David Friberg, organist for Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church for former chair of the music department at Covenant College and former organist for the Pentagon in Washington D. C.

Feel free to contact any of the directors if you have any questions or if you would like to arrange an audition for Chamber Singers.	UTC Department of Music Fine Arts Building room 308 email Department of Music phone: 423-425-4601 fax: 423-425-4603 http://www.utc.edu/music
UTC Choral Activities email Choral Activities phone: 423-425-5243 http://www.utc.edu/Kevin-Ford/choralensembles.htm	Dr. J. Kevin Ford, U.C. Foundation Assistant Professor, Director of Choral Activities, conductor of UTC Chamber Singers UTC Chattanooga Singers, UTC Summer Chorale: email Dr. Ford phone: 423-425-5243 http://www.utc.edu/Kevin-Ford
Dr. Lee Harris, Head UTC Department of Music, Director of UTC Women’s Chorale: phone: 423-425-4601 email Dr. Harris	Professor Roland Carter, Ruth S. Holmberg Professor of Music, Director of UTC Men’s Chorus, phone: 423-425-4609 email Professor Carter

Updated 7/24/05 Kevin Ford