Dear Editor,

People have been complaining for sometime of the lack of quality musical performances to attend in the greater Savannah area. Little did they know of probably one of the area’s best kept secrets; the Effingham County High School Chorus and Band.

I attended the Veterans Day concert they performed on Monday night. In today’s (Nov. 15) edition of the Herald there were five pictures and a few brief paragraphs about the performance. It filled up the top half of the page and gave the reader the high points of the concert.

The show began with the Pledge of Allegiance and then the chorus sang “The Star Spangled Banner.” They hadn’t sung but a few lines before I had goose-bumps and tears streaming down my face. I had never before heard our National Anthem sung with such purity as on that night. “Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier” I sang 40 years ago when I was in school, but it couldn't stand up to the hauntingly beautiful rendition the chorus performed.

“The Battle Hymn of the Republic” was performed by the band and the chorus; that night was the first time that they had performed it together. The arrangement was phenomenal, the voices and music perfection. “Gettysburg: The Third Day” was an instrumental masterpiece, something you would find in theaters and concert halls, not high school auditoriums. All of the music performed was amazing; it was not your typical high school fluff, but meaty arrangements played by very talented young men and women. An Armed Forces salute, a medley of each branch’s song, was played and servicemen and women present were asked to stand and were applauded. All of the pieces the band played were well-done and different.

Everyone “dreads” having to come to the school’s concert, come on, you're smiling, you know what I mean. I came because my daughter is in the chorus. I left a believer. I have never heard more beautiful voices in my life; I know how the angels sound. Mr. Wes Perkins and Mr. Joseph Hasty have taken these young men and women, brought out of them a talent, and nurtured it to a degree far surpassing an ordinary high school level. I was never so proud as I was on that night.

So if you’re looking for some quality entertainment, don’t hesitate to come to the next concert performance of the ECHS Chorus and Band.

Rindy Carroll Denmark
Guyton