Pershing Middle School Choir

The Mr. J. era has come to an end… The last five years have been full of so much love and wonderful music. Room 413 has seen our tears and our laughter, and there were more good days than not. Hold on to the happy memories, forget anything Mr. J. ever said during concert week, and remember that you were part of something so special! I will miss this place and its people but looking forward to new adventures with former Pandas at HSPVA! Stay tuned for the link to our spring show and an announcement about your new director. Mr. J. signing off! ✌🏾

So grateful that all six choirs were able to stop by Room 413 on the last day of this truly bizarre school year. Resiliency and flexibility were the names of the game, and everyone deserves a pat on the back for pushing through. Enjoy your summer, do NOT think about school, and recharge for the fall when we will all have to relearn what normal feels like. No matter where you go or what you do, keep singing!

After five years as Director of Choirs at Pershing Middle School, I will be joining the vocal department at Houston ISD’s Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA). This was not an easy decision, but “If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough!” This is an exciting opportunity to work with student musicians from all over the city of Houston! I look forward to seeing many former Pandas and maintaining that connection in the years to come. Even with this news, please remember that school isn’t over yet, and we still have music to make. Let’s do this, Pandas! ❤️Mr. J!

Congratulations to our Varsity Tenor/Bass Chorale for representing the entire choral department at this year’s UIL Concert & Sight Reading Evaluation and bringing home some hardware! You sang with focus and poise and read your faces off! This has been a challenging school year, and you worked diligently to earn this SWEEPSTAKES! Way to go, Pandas! @ Pershing Middle School

It’s almost showtime! Our TMEA concert will debut to the state of Texas earlier in the day but will be accessible over the weekend to friends and family at 4:15. Please share, watch, and comment via the link below!

Performance Link: https://youtu.be/pRMLT_jCq94

✨TMEA IN 2 DAYS✨

Our concert concludes with Jacob Narverud’s “Be the Change” with a chorus that sings, “fighting out loud for peace, for justice, for hope, for love, for change.” This piece serves as the framework of our TMEA concert with each song embodying a word of the chorus.

“A new beginning for a world stained by hate; hope for all the human race.” May it be so.

✨TMEA IN 2 DAYS✨

Our fourth piece, “Ukuthula”, is an African prayer for peace. The song originated in churches in the townships of pre-democratic South Africa. In the Zulu text led by soloist Victoria M., “Ukuthula” (we find peace), “Usindiso” (we are saved), and “Ukunqoba” (we will conquer).

It has been said that those who sing pray twice. Through this song, we lift our petition for peace to the heavens. 🙏🏾

✨TMEA IN 3 DAYS✨

Our commissioned piece, “Stardust”, was written by Spelman grad and Atlanta-based composer, B.E. Boykin. Using a poem penned by Pershing’s own creative writing teacher and fellow Spelman grad, Brittny Ray Crowell, Ms. Boykin’s setting of “Stardust” is an earnest offering that pulls from Virgina Hamilton’s collection of folktales “The People Could Fly”. In a story passed down through generations, we learn that African people once had wings to fly, but enslavement took away their magic. By saying the words “Kum buba yali, k*m buba tambe”, the enslaved people were able to fly to freedom.

In Dr. Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, he describes negative peace as the “absence of tension” and positive peace as the “presence of justice.” It is our hope that “Stardust” fills a void, not only in the choral canon, but in the hearts of all who hear it and might be stirred to call for justice in America... not only for Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, but for all the people of color taken from this world before their time and without concern for their humanity.

✨TMEA IN 4 DAYS✨

Our concert begins with “Music Down In My Soul” by New Orleans composer Moses Hogan. The spiritual’s ethereal opening moments underscore the hope we find from six simple words: “There must be a God somewhere.” Section leader Victoria M. alongside Carolina P. triumphantly march the choir to the heavens during the call and response.

Our second piece, Mark Miller’s “I Choose Love”, begins with a solo performed by second soprano section leader Caroline P. This piece was written in response to the shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, and the text eloquently reminds us that even in the midst of pain, we can still choose love. Amen and amen.

The week we’ve been waiting for is finally here! 🙌🏾 Our Treble Chorale will perform on Saturday, February 13 by invitation of the Texas Music Educators Association! Treble Chorale is the first Houston Independent School District middle school choir to receive a TMEA performance invitation since 1983. Stay tuned for details about our online watching party so you can enjoy this spectacular concert!

Great rehearsal in the foyer today, Tenor/Bass Chorale!!! We’re getting ready to slay virtual UIL!!! 🐼🎶