2023 North Carolina Elementary Honors Chorus
November 4-5, 2023
Winston-Salem, NC
The Audition Piece
Et Exultavit by Antonio Vivaldi, arr. by Henry Leck
Audition section: Measures 8-17
Sheet music from J.W. Pepper
Audition Samples
Further detailed information on the audition registration process can be found on our Honors Chorus FAQ page.
For future planning
- Audition piece 2024: Sing for Joy! by Handel/arr. Spevacek
- Audition piece 2025: Ombra Mai Fu by Handel/arr. Leck
Our 2023 Honors Chorus guest clinician is Dr. Derrick Fox.
Dr. Fox is the Professor of Choral Music and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Creative Endeavors at Michigan State University and has conducted choirs ranging from elementary to collegiate to community groups.
We are very much looking forward to hearing beautiful music by our youngest singers led by the amazing Dr. Fox!
* PLEASE NOTE!
All plans are subject to change based on CDC and NAfME guidelines at the time of the event.
Greetings From The 2023 NCEHC Chair
Hello, elementary music friends! My name is MaryAnn Foltz, and I will be serving as the NCEHC Chair for 2022-2023. While this is my third year on the NCMEA Board, I have been blessed to send students to the event for over a decade! I have been teaching for 34 years, the last 23 in the Charlotte, NC area. I presently teach TK-4 General Music and am Director of Elementary, Middle and High School Choirs at SouthLake Christian Academy in Huntersville, NC. I originally studied with Dr. Robert Holquist and Dr. Joyce Farwell at Western Carolina University and earned a BA in Vocal Performance and a BEd in Music at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio (’88).
If I can be of any assistance at all, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]!
Our NCEHC co-chair for 2022-2023 is Sarah Gray. Sarah teaches PreK-5th Grade music and drama at Wesleyan Christian Academy in High Point. Ms. Gray earned a B.A. in Music Education at Southern Wesleyan University (‘15) and is currently working towards a Master of School Administration degree through Appalachian State University. She still remembers her time as a student in NC Honors Chorus as some of the best weekends of her life and can’t wait to share the experience with others!
2023 NC Elementary Honors Chorus Conductor
In the Fall of 2023, Dr. Derrick Fox will begin his appointment as Professor of Choral Music and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Creative Endeavors at Michigan State University. Prior to MSU, he was the Director of Choral Activities and Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and Assistant Professor of Choral Music at Ithaca College. Dr. Fox has taught at the middle school, high school and collegiate levels. His conducting experiences have included singers from upper elementary choirs through collegiate and community choirs. Recently, he was awarded the 2021 Bryan R. Johnson Service Award by the Nebraska Music Educators Association and the 2022 University of Nebraska Omaha Award for Distinguished Research/Creative Activity.
Dr. Fox has conducted all-state choirs, led international, national and regional choral concerts/residencies and presented professional development workshops across the United States and internationally. His professional workshops focus on assessment in the choral classroom, building classroom community, rehearsal strategies, choral conducting techniques and shape note singing in the African American community. Dr. Fox has held teaching residencies at the Latvian Academy of Music and Syracuse University and led performance tours through Lithuania and Estonia. His recent engagements include presentations in Idaho, Nebraska, Kansas, New York, South Carolina, North Dakota, Missouri and Florida; as well as conducting the Hawaii All-State Choir, Alabama All-State Choir, New York All-State MS/JH Choir, the Wisconsin Collegiate All-State Choir and the 2019 National ACDA Middle School/Junior High Mixed Honor Choir. He recently traveled to South Africa as a 2019 ACDA International Conductor Exchange Fellow where he led choral workshops and rehearsals in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Potchefstroom.
As a baritone soloist, Dr. Fox has collaborated with various organizations; among them are the Arkansas Symphony, Lansing Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Columbia Chorale, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha Symphonic Chorus, University of Missouri, Michigan State University, Webster University and the Espaço Cultural (Brasilia, Brazil). He can be heard singing selections from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess on the compact disc In This Hid Clearing, available on the Naxos Classical Music label.
As an author, Dr. Fox has written articles for many organizations and was a contributing author in the Hal Leonard/McGraw Hill choral textbook Voices in Concert. His compositions and arrangements are published by Hal Leonard and Brilee Music. His book, Yes You Can: A Band Director’s Guide to Teaching Choirs is published by Carl Fischer. He launched The Derrick Fox Choral Series with Music Spoke to publish works by and about marginalized and minoritized people. He created the Professional Choral Collective (PCC) to collect and create learning activities and teaching strategies for choral music educators around the world to use during the 2020 Coronavirus virus pandemic and beyond. He also partnered with the Country Music Association Foundation to create the Unified Voices for Music Education Initiative which provides learning activities for instrumental and elementary music educators.
Dr. Fox serves on the advisory board for the Sound Spirit, a research lab and publishing initiative promoting collaborative engagement with the songbooks that sound America’s musical landscape. He is also a member of the advisory board for the Choral Singing in America documentary series.