Kirkwood Children's Chorale Turns 20

Twenty years after founding the Kirkwood Children’s Chorale to train schoolchildren in the do-re-mi’s, it still warms Mimi Steele’s heart to hear their voices blend in harmony.

“I just love the ‘a-ha’ moment when they know they sound good and they know they’ve got it right,” Steele said. “I just love being able to lead them to the realization that they can sing well.”

Steele was an elementary school music teacher when she teamed up with the children’s music director at her church to give talented Kirkwood area children a unique choral experience.

“What we realized was that many children in public schools were getting a really good basis and exposure to folk songs and popular stuff but not to any of the works of the masters,” Steele said. And on the flip side, she said, children singing only in church choirs were getting exposure to sacred Christian music but not more popularized tunes.

“So we wanted to have a place where children could sing music from all the genres,” she said.

And so the Kirkwood Children’s Chorale was born. Founded in 1992 with a single choir made up of 50 students, KCC now boasts four choirs and 137 students from second through eighth grades, representing 56 schools and 22 zip codes. Thousands of area students have lifted their voices together in song at KCC over the past 20 years.

Supported mostly by tuition, the choirs practice weekly at of Kirkwood. Steele said that being a part of KCC not only teaches children vocal skills and music theory but also concentration, self control and discipline.

Steele, 63, retired last year after 40 years in elementary music education, the last 24 at in Kirkwood. But she remains active in KCC; this year she directs the Carolers, an introductory choir for the youngest singers.

Students can move up from the Carolers to audition for the Choraliers, which Steele co-directs, then the Cambiata Singers and finally, the Concert Choir. Through the years the Concert Choir has traveled nationally and internationally and won awards in state, national and international competitions.

In addition to Steele, a staff of about a dozen paid music professionals, including directors, accompanists and assistants, leads the choirs.

Steele figures she puts in 35 hours a week on KCC – but to her it’s not work, it’s a blessing - especially when she helps a child who loves to sing learn how to blend his voice with others.

“I love hearing them say, ‘Oh, I love this song,’ or ‘This is so pretty,’” she said.

Love of singing brought Stephanie Strevey, 13, a seventh-grader at , to KCC three years ago. She said she learned a lot about reading and performing music but the best part was making new friends.

“I really like to be able to hang out with my friends and do what I love,” said Strevey, a member of Concert Choir.

KCC choirs have sung the national anthem and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at Busch Stadium. They have and during the Nutcracker at the Fox.

They’ve also sung with the St. Louis Holiday Brass Ensemble, the St. Louis Philharmonic and the St. Louis Civic Orchestra. This summer the choir will travel to Italy to sing at a children’s music festival.

The KCC spring concert, “Celebrating 20 Years of Singing,” will feature all four choirs and is open to the public. The concert is at 3 p.m., March 11, at First Evangelical Free Church at 1375 Carman Road, Manchester. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children.

A benefit dinner and auction will be at 6 p.m. April 28 at . Tickets are $50. Go to the KCC website for more information.