By Sara Bisker, Provided by the Troy Daily News

On Sunday, more than 100 area elementary students from 16 Miami County schools will meet their guest conductor for the first time and perform in concert for friends, family and music enthusiasts.

The All County Elementary Sing choir (ACES) consists of about six students from either the fourth or fifth grades in each Miami County school, said Piqua City Schools organizer for the event, Susie Harris. Harris, a fourth grade teacher, has been helping her students learn songs from “Get America Singing ... Again” to prepare for the concert.

The songbook was supplied to all Miami County schools by the Melody Men of Miami and Shelby counties, who also will be present for Sunday’s concert, Harris said. Songs for the 45-minute concert will be from the songbook, which focuses on traditional American music such as “This Land is Your Land” and “America the Beautiful.”

Harris encourages the community to support this mass choir event. “Performances like this are important to keep the arts alive, to keep the people together,” she said.

Originally, this idea of a mass choir among county schools began with a vision Dale McKinney had about three years ago. McKinney, a baritone Melody Men member, said he approached his chapter in September 2001 with a desire to bring more attention to music in area classrooms. The chapter members liked his grassroots ideas and McKinney was given permission to move forward with the project. “I proposed to (school administrators) that if all of the county schools were using these books it would lend itself to some point in time putting a mass sing for
students together.

“Teachers thought to get it off the ground we needed to put some boundary around it. Instead of (working with) 6,000 students, we ought to try something smaller,” he said. The result was to have school teachers choose the students to perform in the concert. The teachers work with those students to learn the melody lines of songs from “Get America Singing ... Again.” Although no specific criteria has been set for how ACES singers are chosen, McKinney said he suspects teachers look for students who possess a special interest in music, have a strong willingness to participate and who are musically gifted.

“I can tell you this, one of the most inspiring things with this whole event is the individual effort of the teachers in these schools,” McKinney said. Even more impressive, McKinney said, is what happens when the students and the Melody Men, along with this year’s guest conductor, Bruce Swank, meet for the first time on Sunday — just two hours prior to the concert. “As of 2 o’clock on Sunday afternoon those students belong to (Swank),” he said.

First, ACES will combine and go through material with Swank, a teacher in the Northmont School District and a Troy resident. Then, the Melody Men will join the students.

The actual concert will contain songs performed by just the students, just the Melody Men and combinations of the two choirs, McKinney said. “It is the high point of my year to sing with those students,” he said. The program has received financial assistance from the Troy Foundation, Miami County Foundation, Tipp City Foundation, and Wal-Mart. It is sponsored by the Melody Men of Miami and Shelby counties along with elementary music teachers
of Miami County.

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