Youth Chorale Celebrates 25 Years Of Growing Singers
The Rockbridge Youth Chorale (RYC) is gearing up for its fall concert as it celebrates 25 years of bringing music to children in the Rockbridge community.
On Tuesday, Nov. 18, the RYC’s children’s and youth choirs’ 32 singers are joining together to perform a selection of pieces ranging from a gospel-style composition to an upbeat song sung in English and Swahili. The concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Grace Episcopal Church.
RYC’s 25 Year History
RYC was founded in 2000 after the community realized a need for more music in our children’s formation and education. The idea for a youth choir was proposed to the then newly formed fundraising organization, the Friends of the Rockbridge Choral Society. Friends held its first meeting in 1999, becoming the fundraising arm of the Rockbridge Choral Society and forming the RYC. Friends gave grants through Fine Arts in Rockbridge (FAIR) to fund the RYC’s mission of providing students exposure and opportunity in choral music.
Melanie Griffis, the first conductor and organizer of the RYC, was one of the leading voices in the effort to start the youth choir.
“There are all kinds of reasons, from brain development, to reading skills, to math skills, to social skills, that it’s really important to teach music,” Griffis said. “I’m so happy that the board of the Choral Society and the Friends also felt it was a priority. I think we really filled a gap.”
Now a member of the Rockbridge Choral Society board, she said that while she was not a trained music teacher, she had teacher instincts and a deep passion for music. “I did it because I wanted my children to sing and I wanted their friends to sing; so, we jumped in,” she said. “It was like a leap of faith.”
Rockbridge Chorus Artistic Director William McCorkle said that the idea for a local youth choir can be traced back to Mary Monroe Penick, music teacher, church musician and artistic muse, who devoted her life to advocating for a stronger music presence in the Rockbridge area.
“She is the root of the children’s work and that commitment to music education and bringing music education into the community,” McCorkle said.
Since Griffis first conducted the RYC 25 years ago, several others have led the choirs. Laura DeMaria, Daniel Brinson and Nate Pence followed Griffis respectively. But no RYC conductor has led the group for as long as current artistic director Lacey Lynch, now in her 17th year.
Griffis said she loved conducting but that Lacey has elevated the program with her choral expertise. “Lacey came along, and it just bloomed,” Griffis said. “The level of music and performance has increased because she’s an experienced teacher and choral conductor.”
Public School Outreach From the very beginning of the RYC, Griffis wanted the chorus to interact with public schools.
“I’m really proud that we had the foresight back in the late ‘90s that music wasn’t as prevalent in the local schools,” she said. Acting on that need, Griffis instituted an RYC “Spring tour,” visiting elementary and middle schools, offering performances and exposing the students to different types of music, such as opera. “I guarantee that a number of those kids remember that being their first opera experience,” she said. “I still get chills about it because it was really a remarkable experience.”
As curriculum has changed within the local schools and liability rules have evolved, Griffis said that the RYC cannot do the same outreach that it used to. But the organization has continued its commitment to providing high quality choral experiences for younger singers. “We do the real deal,” Lynch said. “There’s cute songs and things like that, but they also sing in multiple languages, multiple genres and multiple styles.”
Lynch, who is a public school music teacher and conductor of one of the choirs and Washington and Lee University, said that one of the RYC’s biggest priorities is making music education available to all students, regardless of their financial situation. Scholarships are available to interested students.
“Offering something that’s affordable is really important,” Lynch said. “We don’t audition our singers. We welcome everybody.” Although outreach in the public schools is not possible to the same extent it was 25 years ago, the RYC has continued to look for ways to educate and involve the community in the youth chorale.
Student Intern Program One of those ways was through the creation of the youth chorale internship program that allows students at Washington and Lee University, Virginia Military Institute and Southern Virginia University to gain experience conducting and teaching young musicians. Lynch started the program. “In addition to what she’s teaching children about singing, we’re partnering with the music programs at the universities and helping to train future music teachers and conductors,” Griffis said.
Lynch said the interns learn valuable skills about teaching and music education by working with the RYC. “It’s been wonderful because it helps to bring in future people who are looking at choral conducting or music education as a career,” Lynch said. “It gives them some real life experience that’s not necessarily a school setting but a community choir setting.”
Past RYC intern and kids music director Annie Thomas, who graduated from W&L in 2024, said the internship program solidified her desire to pursue a career in music.
“I am now in graduate school for choral conducting, and the opportunity to work with the RYC kids was instrumental in helping me realize that this was my path,” Thomas said, adding that the RYC provided her with hands-on teaching experiences that brought out her creativity and reminded her to sing with joy.
“While my academic studies taught me the musical concepts, the RYC taught me how to break these concepts down to the basics and present them in engaging ways,” she said. “I draw on my RYC teaching strategies every day. More importantly, though, I draw on the joy of singing together that was so present in RYC spaces.”
Adelaide Loving ’25, also a W&L graduate and former RYC intern, shared the same gratitude for the opportunity to intern with the RYC.
“RYC was a highlight of my musical experience in college,” Loving said. “Tuesday nights I always looked forward to stepping outside of my college bubble, connecting with local students and making music.”
Former intern Caleb Peña ’21 said after working with the students in the RYC, he has never looked back.
“They were always open to my feedback, deeply involved in the music and an absolute joy to work with,” Peña said. “After my first full year with the RYC, I was reassured that I made the right decision about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
25 Years of Memories Over the years, Griffis said the RYC has created some of the best silly, sweet and inspiring memories for herself and the kids.
“There were fabulous musical moments, there were fabulous educational moments and hilarity ensued,” Griffis said. “I think it’s the best experience I could have wanted there to be for the kids.”
Even when faced with challenges from Covid, Lynch said the RYC found ways to continue providing a space for children to sing together.
“Each week, we hauled keyboards, poly spots, a 10foot level to mark distancing, hand sanitizer, masks and everything we needed to be able to continue singing together, masked and ten feet apart,” Lynch said. “Even when the temperatures were frigid or rain fell, the singers kept showing up.”
Sophie O’Mahony, who used to sing in the RYC, said one of her fondest memories singing with the RYC was performing under the Nelson Street Bridge during the pandemic.
“The experience felt powerful,” O’Mahony said. “It taught me that no matter what is happening in the world, no one can take our voices away. It reminded me that the arts are important no matter what is going on in life.”
Reflecting on the past 25 years, Griffis said the RYC has been one of the highlights of her life. “I just can’t believe it,” she said. “Looking at what I’ve been involved with in my life, other than having my daughters and grandchildren, this is the best thing.”
Lynch said she is excited to continue teaching music to children in the Rockbridge community, introducing them to as many different forms of music as possible.
“I think it’s really important to give kids as much exposure to music and the joy of singing as possible; so, that hopefully, they’ll continue to do it in some way, shape or form their whole lives,” Lynch said.
Editor’s note: Shay Bowman is a junior at Washington and Lee, majoring in journalism. She is assisting the Rockbridge Choral Society in the creation of feature articles highlighting the organization’s half-century of music making.]
MELANIE GRIFFIS directs the Rockbridge Youth Chorale and Rockbridge Chorus singers in a 2003 Christmasbenefit concert for Project Horizon.
THE HARRISON brothers, pictured in this RYC concert, were among many set of siblings who “grew up” singing in the Youth Chorale over the years.
ROCKBRIDGE Youth Chorale Artistic Director Lacey Lynch rehearses Youth Choir singers for a performance with choruses at Washington and Lee University.
