Forty feet of pavement separated the masked children’s choir and their fans on Franklin Street.
On the command of Columbus Indiana Children’s Choir Artistic Director Ruth Dwyer, the polo-clad teens lowered their face coverings to sing a piece composed over 400 years ago.
While the tune, Michael Praetorius’ Jubilate Deo, lasted just 30 seconds before masks went back on, the power of the moment will stay in the minds and hearts of those in attendance for a lifetime.
“You could tell that everyone felt at home once again,” Dwyer said. “It was just extraordinary.”
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The CICC celebrated its 2020 eighth grade — and ninth grade leadership — graduates June 13 outside the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic offices.
Typically, graduations take place during a choral camp in May. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CICC had to come up with a creative alternative.
Sitting in lawn chairs outside the music center, graduates were recognized by a parade of decorated cars. Cars contained graduate families, other choir families, area friends and supporters of the children’s choir, choir alumni, CIP board members, and CICC/Indianapolis Children’s Choir staff.
Recordings of the choir’s favorite songs were also played and students received 19-20 year pins, certificates, and other awards.
CICC is a collaboration between the ICC and CIP. This year, the CICC celebrated its 24th season. The program consists of three choirs: Preparatory Choir for first- through third-graders, Descant Choir for beginning and intermediate level singers (fourth through seventh grade), and Concert Choir for advanced musicians (grades four through nine).
Generally, the program has 110 singers with 12 to 18 graduates each season. Members hail from seven different counties, Dwyer said.
Many of the choir students and their families become close through practices, performances, and travel involved with CICC. The choir has traveled as far as Carnegie Hall in New York City and to parts of Central Europe.
Graduation is typically the culmination of five to six years with the program.
“It was different, but it was a good different,” Catherine Miller, 15, said. “People put a lot of effort into their cars. A lot of people showed up. I was just amazed. The program means a lot to me.
“Our family, since we discovered (CICC), has been really into it. My little brother, Jackson, is in it now. We’ve been to a lot of places that we never would’ve been to if it wasn’t for this choir.”
Incoming Columbus North sophomore Molly Hotek, like Miller, was a leader this year. Hotek said that the CICC is a close-knit community.
“All of these older kids knew who I was. I remember, when I was little, it was the coolest thing,” she said. “They all know you personally. Your job as a leader is to get to know the kids, to know their names and what they like to do so that you can be one family that not only works together but sings together and sounds wonderful doing it.”
Erica Song, a recent Columbus North graduate heading to Brown University, felt such a deep connection to the program she did her senior project with the choir. Song arranged a Chinese folk song into a four-part harmony for the CICC before COVID-19 ended the project early.
“Choir is one of those things that really helped me open to other people and try new things,” Song said. “Mrs. (Jill) Friedersdorf, the concert choir accompanist, and my peers were so encouraging. They did such a good job of making you feel confident. I think choir is just a great community of people. Choir is super important to me. I’m very thankful I have these people in my life.”
Dwyer, who is also the associate director and director of education for the ICC, feels a special connection to the Columbus community.
“The program in Columbus is sort of my baby,” Dwyer admitted. “I had already been working in Indianapolis for several years and David Bowden and Mary Clark and the Snively family pursued me for two or three years to come down. I taught in Seymour for 14 years and then came up to Indianapolis, so it was like coming home again.
“Columbus is its own world. It’s a very special place. With the architecture and sense of community and diversity. It’s a remarkable place in America.”
Canceling the graduations was never an option in Dwyer’s eyes. She said that there is about 150 years of combined life that has been put into the CICC by the 2020 graduates.
“It’s just so important that they have a sense of continuity,” Dwyer said of holding a graduation. “We strive as an organization to create a safe space, an honorable space, a space of learning. We try to teach high standards of ethics towards others, and how to be good citizens and leaders.
“You need to say to them ‘there’s hope.’ Without hope, there is only desperation. You can’t change the world if you’re always feeling desperate. You have to feel hope to change society and change the world.”
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The 2020 Columbus Indiana Children’s Choir
Eighth-graders
Garrett Eubanks
Gavin Foley
Anna Henrichsen
Vanessa Holloway
Elijah Jones
Amelia Maddox
Hannah Michel
Alayna Peters
Mary Schwering
Jacob Stansbury
Ninth grade Leadership
Whitley Fields
Molly Hotek
Darren Li
Catherine Miller
Choir Artistic Director: Ruth Dwyer
Concert Choir Accompanist: Jill Friedersdorf
CICC Assistant Director: Melissa Garcia
Concert Choir Coordinator: Shannan Fields
Concert Performance Coordinator: Debbie Peters
Concert Special Events Coordinator: Elizabeth Miller
Concert Choir Baritone Coach: Nicholas Kohne
Columbus Indiana Philharmonic/CICC Coordinator: Deb Eikenbary
CICC High School Senior Intern: Erica Song
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