Riverton children's choir inspires listeners in many tongues

RIVERTON — It's 4 p.m. Monday afternoon. Children ranging in age from 7-14 are streaming into the basement and one of the upstairs rooms in the LDS meetinghouse on the corner of 12600 South and Redwood Road.

The sound of children singing scales drifts up the stairs as they begin warming up their voices. After 10 minutes, their voices are ready and choir practice officially begins.

Heidi Christensen teaches first. Christensen, along with friends Patrece Johnson and Christine Mickelsen, directs the choir. Today, Christensen is giving the choir members an impromptu Spanish lesson as they begin learning a Spanish lullaby they will sing at their concert.

Fifteen minutes and four lines later, Mickelsen takes the stage. The kids start practicing "The Prayer." Mickelsen explains how at the concert a soloist will be singing, and they will be the echo. Deciding the kids need to hear what it will sound like, she invites Johnson to be the soloist, while Christensen accompanies them and Mickelsen directs the choir. The remainder of the time Johnson takes over, teaching the kids the songs she's in charge of. At 5 p.m., a mass exodus takes place as choir practice ends and the children file out to meet their parents.

Three heads are better than one

Mickelsen, Johnson and Christensen are the creators and directors of the Riverton Children's Choir, which they started six years ago. The three alternate accompanying, directing and singing parts with the children. Over the years their partnership has grown so they have directing down to an art.

"I think that (having three directors) is the only way to go. Patrece and Christine are both so talented and down-to-earth. We're just moms. It's great because when we do three-part harmony, we can each take a part and sing with the kids. They can hear it and start to blend," Christensen said.

Each semester they choose nine songs for the choir to learn. The directors all take three numbers they are in charge of preparing for the concert and they divide up rehearsal time to allow practice time for their songs.

"It would be very hard to replace one of us with just one person," Mickelsen said. "We fill so many roles that we don't step on anyone's toes. It's a great resource to have, as a director, to be able to make assignments and have other capable directors."

Picking the perfect tune

One of the criteria for determining what pieces the choir will sing is the rhythms and harmonies in it, which the directors agree, must be interesting. The children generally like the faster numbers better than slower, but the directors keep slower pieces for a reason.

"We feed them slower pieces to keep their vowels pure and keep them excited," Johnson said.

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