FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – On June 5, students in the C. Richard Applegate School chorus will join more than 1,500 students to form one of the largest choirs to have ever performed in the Philadelphia metro area at the American Young Voices (AYV) concert at the Liacouras Center at Temple University, Philadelphia.
Described as “an engaging, multi-faceted, all-inclusive music program,” AYV is designed to blend the worlds of education and performance into one realm. Teachers who participate in AYV spend months preparing their students during their choral or general music classes for the main event, a concert in the city’s arena, according to a press release from the Freehold Township K-8 School District.
At each concert, thousands of students from local schools in grades two through eight come together and sing accompanied by a live band and professional lighting and sound to a packed audience of friends and family members. Between the five arena shows in 2018, nearly 300 schools will be participating, according to the press release.
AYV is a National Association for Music Education (NAfME) approved music program designed to provide and supplement participating schools’ music education curriculum based on the National Core Music Standards. Music is chosen by teachers with the intent of being fun and accessible to students of various age groups, backgrounds and abilities, from classrooms to general music classes to choral ensembles, according to the press release.
Freehold Township music teacher Tammy Femiano said that when her students performed in the concert last year in Newark, “It was such an amazing experience that there was no doubt I would be taking them back for a second year. The students instantly bonded over the experience and not only connected with others in their school’s chorus, but with students from other schools, too, which was an unexpected bonus.”