Congratulations to the Westminster Academy High School Choir for receiving a Superior rating in both performance and site reading The West Tennessee Vocal Music Educators Association (WTVMEA) regional choral festival!
The festival is hosted by WTVMEA every spring so that high school choirs can perform for college professors of choral music, and receive constructive criticism and ratings. The Westminster High School Choir performed on Thursday, March 9, and received a Superior rating in performance, and a Superior rating in sight-reading.
The choir sang “Daemon Irrepit Callidus,” by Gyorgy Orban. It is an ancient Latin poem that says, “The Demon sneaks expertly, tempting the honorable heart; He sets forth trickery amidst praise, song and dance. However amiably the Demon acts, it is still worth less than the heart of Jesus.”
The musical setting is a very fast, minor key, 20th century avant-garde style.

In contrast, the choir also sang John Rutter’s “A Gaelic Blessing.” It is legato, in a major key, and in
English.
“Deep peace of the running wave to you, deep peace of the flowing air to you,
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you, Deep peace of the shining stars to you,
Deep peace of the gentle night to you, moon and stars pour their light on you,
Deep peace of Christ, the Light of the World to you.”

After the performance in the Germantown Presbyterian Church’s sanctuary, the choir was led to the
chapel where they were presented with an 8 measure original piece created for sight-reading. They
were given a minute to study it, look for patterns, rhythms, and determine the solfege syllable that
corresponds to each note (do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti). Each section (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) has their own
part to sing. They are not allowed to receive any help from the director. The sight-reading judge counts
off 4 beats, and they all begin singing the unknown piece based on their knowledge of solfege and pitch
relationships.
Congratulations choir members on performing well under pressure, and receiving Superiors!

You can watch their performance of “Daemon Irrepit Callidus” below. Enjoy!