Monday, October 24, 2011
16th Annual Northwest Georgia Choral Festival

Shorter University is excited to host the 16th Annual Northwest Georgia Choral Festival for high school students (grades 9-12) and elementary and middle school students (grades 4-6) and their directors. Students will spend the day in chorale clinics and rehearsals with festival clinicians and work toward an evening concert in Shorter's Winthrop-King Centre at 7 pm.

The public is invited to attend the final concert featuring the festival choirs and the Shorter Chorale.

All festival registration forms are online.

High School Choir Registration form
Children's Choir Registration form


Cost per students- $40.00  


Cost includes: workshop admittance, music, catered lunch, snacks throughout the day, 2 tickets to the evening concert, and an opportunity to rehearse and perform with Shorter Chorale (mixed choir). Dinner is not included in the registration fee.

Dr. Martha Shaw
Mixed Choir Director (High School students)

Dr. Martha Shaw, Lester Harbin Chair of Conducting, is Professor of Music and the Director of Choral Activities at Shorter University. In 2008, she was honored with the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and Scholarship. A specialist in vocal pedagogy for all ages, she is active as a clinician and guest conductor throughout the United States. Her fifteen years of experience as a public school music specialist contribute significantly to her work at Shorter, where she teaches conducting, ear-training and sight-singing and music methods classes as well as conducts the Shorter Chorale.

Dr. Shaw is the founding director of the Spivey Hall Children’s Choir. Under her direction, the choir has been featured in performances for state, regional, and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and on NPR’s Performance Today and From the Top. She received the Bachelor of Music Education degree from Shorter College and the Master of Science degree in Music Education from the University of Tennessee, where she studied with Donald Neuen. Prior to joining the faculty at Shorter in 1999, Dr. Shaw studied with Larry Wyatt at the University of South Carolina, where she was a member of the faculty and earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting.

Registration Fee & Requirements

$40 per student (for high school or elementary choir participants). Cost includes: workshop admittance, music, catered lunch, snacks throughout the day, 2 tickets to the evening concert, and an opportunity to rehearse and perform with Shorter Chorale (mixed choir). Dinner is not included in the registration fee. Registration forms must  be accompanied by full payment. Forms sent without payment will not be considered for registration until payment arrives. Registration forms are processed in the order they are received until the festival choirs are full. Registration fees are non-refundable.

Festival Schedule For High School Choirs

8:00 - 8:30 AM

Check-in at Minor Fine Arts Building  

8:45 AM - Noon

Rehearsal

12 Noon - 1:30 PM

Lunch break

1:30 - 4:30 PM

Rehearsal with Shorter Chorale

4:30 - 6:15 PM

Dinner Break

6:30

Warm Up

7:00 PM

Concert

Festival Schedule For Children's Choirs

8:00 - 8:30 AM

Check-in at Winthrop-King Center  

8:45 AM - Noon

Rehearsal

12 Noon - 1:30 PM

Lunch break

1:30 - 3:30 PM

Rehearsal

3:30 - 6:15 PM

Dinner Break

6:30 PM

Warm Up

7:00 PM

Concert

Conductors' Luncheon

Choral directors are invited to a complimentary luncheon at Magretta Hall in downtown Rome from noon until 1:00pm. We offer one complimentary luncheon per group, however, additional tickets are available for purchase at $20 per ticket. (See section on registration form).

If you have any questions please contact Festival Coordinator Nickie Nicholson at  nnicholson@shorter.edu.