For over fifteen years, the Jacksonville Children’s Chorus has filled a position of increasing leadership in children’s music education in Northeast Florida. The current program has been well received by the educational and cultural community, and more than 1,400 children have benefited from the program.

Music education is a fundamental element of the mission of the Jacksonville Children’s Chorus. As funding constraints continue to grow in our public school system, arts education. The Chorus is working diligently to fill the void that exists when children have limited access to quality music programs. There is a growing awareness of the importance of music to a child’s overall education experience. Numerous brain science studies have illustrated the link between early music education intervention and increased cognitive skills, including reading readiness and spatial reasoning skills. Besides studies that show that students who have benefited from music education score higher on standardized tests, others illustrate the relationship between chorus participation and an increase in social skills and community participation. In short, music helps kids learn, socialize and participate in activities that benefit the community.

The Jacksonville Children’s Chorus has created a number of programs aimed at meeting the music education, social and cultural needs in the community. Annually, The Jacksonville Children’s Chorus collaborates with a wide variety of cultural, social and educational organizations in order to enhance the learning experience for Chorus singers and other area children and to provide the community with greater cultural offerings.

The Performance Choir Program
The Chorus’s core performance choirs are targeted at musically talented children ages seven to eighteen. These talented children reap the benefits of a strong musical education, learn mutual respect and teamwork in am organized choral setting made up of children from a variety of racial, religious, geographic and socioeconomic backgrounds. They perform at a variety of cultural and civic venues and enrich the cultural landscape of the First Coast.

The Annual First Coast Honors Choir Festival
The festival targets talented 4th and 5th grade children –nominated by their own music educators—who are not already involved with The Jacksonville Children’s Chorus to create the Honors Choir. Over two hundred young singers come together for a day as a Chorus, working under the instruction of a guest conductor and clinician. The day is filled with fun and music and culminates in a concert for friends, families and members of the community. Additionally, a seminar is led by the guest clinician for the benefit of area music educators.

First Voices: The Preschool Music Program
Since it is well recognized that music education benefits young children’s cognitive development, the Chorus has provided preschool music programs for at-risk children ages’ birth to five years old. Through a generous grant from The Wachovia Foundation, The Jacksonville Children’s Chorus was able to provide eight weekly age-appropriate music and movement classes to young children at the I.M. Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless and at the Children’s Commission’s Don Brewer Center for Learning and Professional Development.