youth choir
Kol NoVa, the Jewish Youth Choir of Northern Virginia, is open to all children in grades 2-7 who love to sing contemporary Jewish music
Our fun, spirited rehearsals are held about 3 Sundays per month at Congregation Olam Tikvah, 3800 Glenbrook Rd, Fairfax from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. and are conducted by Carol, the group’s founding director.
Kol NoVa is a non-audition community youth choir; its members come from all over Northern Virginia. Kol NoVa members are wonderful kids!
Our 2007-08 performances included a Chanukah event at the Pentagon, a Chanukah sing-along at the Hebrew Home, a Washington-area Jewish choral concert at the Strathmore Concert Hall, a Habitat-for-Humanity "Building on Faith" concert and two Greenspring Village Friday evening services. Kol NoVa families ended the year with mini-golf and frozen custard.
Children are welcome to try out a rehearsal before deciding whether to join. They really are fun! Just let Carol know to expect you. Tuition is $85/semester. Semester 1 is September-January. Semester 2 is February-May. Pro-rated tuition is possible for those who join late. Children may register for only one semester, but the learning is cumulative and essentially everyone sticks with it the whole year. In fact, most of our members return year after year after year... Choir members are provided with a personalized music binder, a Kol NoVa t-shirt and are loaned a performance vest. Our singers look forward to moving up from one size to the next!
The 2008-09 schedule will be posted later this summer. We rehearse each Sunday that's not a school/Federal/religious holiday, which averages about 3 times a month, from mid-September through late May.
The letter that follows comes from the father of a Kol NoVa member. It helps explain what makes membership in Kol NoVa something that can have both an immediate and a lasting impact on our young singers.
Please give your child an opportunity to be part of our choir!
Dear Carol,
We are so pleased that our daughter is in your Kol NoVa Youth Choir.
I was thinking about what you do, as part of our raising a Jewish daughter. In an era of unprecedented peace, freedom and prosperity and at a time of decreasing synagogue memberships and increasing intermarriage, how do we get our children to make Judaism a positive choice? This is one of the problems documented in studies and books such as "Getting Our Groove Back" by Scott Shay.
I believe you have a major part of the answer. Your choir is fun. Our daughter chose to skip a Girl Scout meeting to sing with the choir at your preschool seder which was packed with children and their families and where the enthusiasm, spirit, and fun were obvious.
When I come home from work during the week, our daughter is singing along with the youth choir practice CD while playing in the living room. Another Kol NoVa parent and I were discussing how much her daughter is learning through the choir. When her daughter was asked to name the Hebrew months in order, her daughter's hand went up immediately. She knew, because that's one of Miss Carol's songs.
It's the Mary Poppins theory. "In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. Find the fun, and snap, the job's a game.... A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, in a most delightful way."
I think you may have one of the answers. If children are exposed very early in their lives and learn that Judaism is a lifelong pursuit filled with song, joy, stories, and fun, then these problems will take care of themselves. At that point, people will have to squeeze in time for a soccer game or shopping after their choir and Hebrew school are over rather than the other way around. Judaism is a very positive religion and way of life. And if children learn that early enough, then it's something they will enjoy choosing to do for the rest of their lives.
Keep up your great work.
Stuart (Weiss)
Para-rabbi and Kol NoVa dad