We have a day for giving thanks. We have two for getting deals. Now, we have #GivingTuesday, a global day dedicated to giving back. On Tuesday, November 29th, 2016 charities, families, businesses, community centers and students around the world will come together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give.

This year Choral Arts Link(CAL) will partake in #GivingTuesday with the goal of expanding our programs and accommodating more students. CAL was created to preserve a tradition and discipline of choral development by providing children the opportunity to develop leadership skills, to enhance their education and to grow artistically and professionally.  Many great things have happened with CAL including The MET Singers. The MET Singers, with the help of an all-volunteer faculty is an extraordinary honor choir that showcases the wealth of talent and opportunity that public education can offer children.

MET Academy is the educational program of CAL which offers innovative choral and integrated arts initiatives. WritingWorks! is a program created under the MET Academy Umbrella to produce new, high-quality choral compositions, beginning with Tennessee composers, for performances inclusive of a cappella presentations and acoustic instrumental accompaniments. Drum Major for Justice is a two-part co-commission initiative based on the speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., titled, the Drum Major Instinct. Composers for this two-year project are Dr. Paul T. Kwami and Dr. Cedric Dent. The 2015 composition by Dr. Kwami, The Drummer, was premiered by MET Singers and the Nashville Symphony Chorus, March 8th. It was conducted by Kelly Corcoran in the Sing into Spring concert in Schermerhorn Symphony Center. The composition for 2016, by Dr. Dent was titled, I Hear the Drum, and premiered January 17th by MET Singers (aka Celebration Youth Chorus) and the Celebration Chorus, with Nashville Symphony and conductor, Kelly Corcoran at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

MET Choral Camp is a summer singing retreat where students learn choral expressions, sight reading, and experience vocal mentoring and Orff instrumentation. CAL offers students two weeks of extraordinary choral training and performance in partnership with the National Museum of African American Music. The participants of the camp have the opportunity to continue in the fall through MET Singers and perform with the MET Singers and the Nashville Symphony. With the decline of equitable music education options in the local education system, CAL has offered choral arts and integrated learning to any student for 18 years. CAL partners with Music Makes Us of MNPS, NMAAM, BHS as a music education network to proliferate equitable opportunities for ALL children.

Give the Gift of Singing to Choral Arts Link and help bring joy and peace through music to the next generation.