You might notice a few more hymns in the Bel Air Community Chorus’s 2012 -13 repertoire. That’s because new director Jerrold Tidwell has devoted his career to organ and sacred music.
By day, Jerrold is the full-time Director of Music and Liturgy at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Baltimore’s Mt. Washington neighborhood. On Tuesday nights, he is front and center at Bel Air Community Chorus rehearsals.
The arrangement suits the chorus just fine. The 50-member group, which has performed much sacred music in the past, is always ready to take on new challenges. Jerrold can stretch his wings and get a change of pace with the chorus’s rich experience with pop, show tunes, and contemporary music.
He admires this chorus’s work ethic. “It takes a lot of work to be a chorus member,” he says. He gives a nod to what’s required: regular attendance, working together in a group, studying new music and listening to rehearsal CDs at home.
It all converges, he says, in a quality musical performance for audiences. “Our goal is not just to sing notes, but to make music come off the page.”
No matter if you are a soprano, alto, tenor or bass, the Bel Air Community Chorus welcomes new members all year. The age range of the chorus is from 16 – 70+. Rehearsals take place at the First Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, corner of Main and Broadway, on Tuesday evenings from 7- 9 p.m.
