Welcome to the 

Middle Creek High School

Chorus Web Site

And we have fun, too!

Choir Membership

Being a member of the popular Middle Creek Choral Department is a great way to find your niche and group of friends in high school and learn lots of important things along the way.  Most choir members are pursuing the college/university pathway in their course of study selections.  Members learn lots of great music but they also learn lots of important life long skills. These skills include things like teamwork, dependability, responsibility, leadership, honesty, commitment, organizational skills and punctuality.  Members know what it means to count on each other, make good decisions, and to be self-disciplined.  Being choir member ignites students’ self-confidence!  

We need you to come sing with us

The History Of The Choir

The Beginning

Middle Creek High School opened its door to the first student body of 700 in August of 2002.  The mission of the MCHS Choral Department, to “Promote musical discovery and Character Education” is centered squarely in the center of the school’s mission.  Middle Creek High School’s mission is “to create a child-centered community for the purpose of engaging students in personalized acts of discovery so that they prosper in an ever-changing society”.  In 2002 the Choral Department began with a bang!  The first ever MCHS Choir of seventy voices set a high standard for future groups to follow.  The historic first ever concert on October 10, 2002 was something special.  John Williams, Middle Creek’s principal, remembers the event like this.

            “Let a picture be a thousand words.  On the stage at 7:30 P.M. on October 10, 2002, the very first Middle Creek High School choir performed to an audience of 400 – all men dressed in black tuxedos with red bowties and all women dressed in black formal gowns.  The director expected excellence.  The music made some parents weep.  The children thought they were at Carnegie Hall.  And the principal left the audience with a sense of a unified school, committed to truth, beauty, and knowledge – all crystallized in the beautiful music of children aged in ranges from thirteen to fifteen years old”.

The choirs went on to produce outstanding Holiday and Spring concerts in December and May and received high ratings at their first ever NCMEA state competition in March at Meredith College.  The choirs celebrated the year in May at the Choral Banquet sponsored by the MCHS Choral Boosters Club, Inc. and the Choral Council.  It was truly and awesome first year.  So many students and parents jump-started this program.  Our future looks bright.  Go Singing Mustangs!!!!!!!!!

The Second and Third year ...

After a successful beginning in 2003-03, the second and third year produced choirs of 100 and 130 voices respectively.  Many founders (original students from the 2002 beginning group) remained on the rosters while new students poured into the program.  Not only did our numbers grown significantly, but so did the difficulty of our repertoire and the quality of our singing.  Our mottos, “Excellence is our Standard, Not our Goal” and “Professionalism is an Attitude” prefaced everything we attempted to do.  All groups presented Fall, Holiday, and Spring concerts both years.  Sixty students performed in New York City at Saint John the Divine Cathedral and toured NYC for several days. Many choral students participated in the annual spring musical.  In 2004 we produced Grease and in 2005 The Music Man.  The choirs attended the North Carolina Music Educator’s Association State Music Contest Festival each year.  In the sightsinging and performance categories, the scores continued to rise as did the difficulty level of the music performed.  In year two, the Choral Ensemble and Women’s Chorale were just a couple of points from “superior” ratings at Festival while receiving “superior” and “excellent” ratings in sightsinging.  Finally, in year three, both groups (CE grade VI, WC grade IV) earned performance“superiors” at Festival.  This score represents a terrific yardstick for growth.  In addition to festival participation, the Choral Ensemble (in 2004) and “Eight is Enough” barbershop quartet (in 2005) were selected to participate in the Pieces of Gold gala sponsored by the Wake County Education Partnership. In February of 2005, barbershop quartets Perfect Fourth (female) and The Emanons (male) took first place in their divisions in the Triangle Area Barbershop Quartet Championships.  The department graduated seventeen seniors.  Many of these students helped jumpstart the MCHS Choral Department.  They will be sorely missed.  The department enjoyed a successful recruiting season in the spring of 2005 as we prepared for the future…2005/06.

The Fourth Year. The current year 2005-2006

At the beginning of the school year the choir rosters reach 155 students.  The program has doubled in size in just 3 short years. This growth is attributed to the strong character traits of students who make up the choirs, to the high standards the students have set for themselves, to the discovery of the thrill of performance, to the growing reputation of the choir and of the MCHS Fine Arts Department, and to strong faculty and administrative support of the Arts at MCHS.

The students returned to school only to learn that the Choral Ensemble had been invited to sing at the North Carolina Music Educator’s Association State Convention in Winston Salem on November 14, 2005.  The MCHS Choral Ensemble was one of two high school groups from our state invited to perform.  Performing at the State Convention is considered one of the more prestigious choral music performances in our state.  The students began working immediately on eight songs representing different styles from different periods.  The rehearsal schedule was long and intense.  Four guest clinicians worked with choir along the way. The long hours of perfecting the music proved to be worth it. The students presented their program of music (written program and recordings in the NCMEA link) to 400 music educators receiving a standing ovation at the conclusion of the concert.  Mr. Gilliam, MCHS’s choir director, stated, “This is one of our finest moments.  This choir was awesome today.  Our community is so proud of this group of students”.  Principal Williams labeled the students “artists” as he later recalled the experience of attending this exciting event. 

The choirs have presented outstanding Fall and Holiday concerts to date as well as community and school recruiting performances.  Recently, “Fortune” and “The Rolling Tones” barbershop quartets placed 2^nd and 3^rd respectively in the Triangle Area Barbershop Competition.  All choirs a currently preparing for NCMEA State Festival to be held March 6 at Meredith College.  Many choir students are also working on the spring musical, Into The Woods, to be presented March 2^nd, 3^rd, & 4^th at 8 PM in the school Auditorium.  Tickets at $10 and can be purchased at the door.  The choir students will present our third annual Dinner & A Show Variety Show on Thursday, April 13^th.  A lasagna dinner will be served at 6:30 PM and the Show will follow at 8:00 PM.  This is always a favorite of the choir students.  

 Recently it was announced that Dr. Kenney Potter, a music professor at Wingate University, has been commissioned by the MCHS Choral Boosters, Inc. to write a song for the MCHS Choirs to be performed by selected choral students at the May 25th 7:30 PM Choral Concert. This song is being written as a tribute to the founding students who have been responsible for the tremendous growth of this new school’s choral department. 

Opportunities:

The Goal

The goal of the MCHS Choral Department is to build a comprehensive choral arts program for interested students through in-depth music study and character education exploration.    Students will study music from a variety of periods and genres and learn to sing in multiple parts.  Students will learn vocal techniques, fundamentals of group singing, and how to read music.  Some or all of the choirs will compete at the North Carolina Music Educators Association State Choral Festival.  The overall choral experience will be performance oriented.  Instruction is offered at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels.  No experience is necessary in order for students to become involved.  Students will have the opportunity to participate in small ensembles.  Character Education exploration consists of the pursuit of life-long skills and character traits such as integrity, responsibility, teamwork, dependability, punctuality, commitment, and honesty.

The Choral Department Mottos are:

“Excellence is our Standard, Not our goal”

and

“Professionalism is an Attitude"

The Teacher, Michael Gilliam

            Michael Gilliam is a career choral music teacher in the Wake County Public School System.  2005-2006 marks his twenty-eighth year in the classroom.

            A native of Burlington, North Carolina, Mr. Gilliam graduated from Hugh M. Cummings High School in 1973.  He received his Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Elon College in 1978.

            Wake County Public School System teaching posts include East Millbrook Junior High, North Garner Junior High, Garner Senior High School, and Middle Creek High School.

            Interested in starting and building new choral programs and helping students become well rounded through the Arts and Character Education, Mr. Gilliam has built successful choral programs wherever he has taught.  Students under his direction have consistently earned high ratings at NCMEA Choral Festivals and contests.  He has worked as a guest clinician at several county choral festivals and has directed and produced over twenty-five Broadway musicals at the high school level.  His choral groups have performed in the United Nations, The Saint Patrick’s & Saint John’s the Divine Cathedrals in New York City, the United States Capitol and National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and have sung in Williamsburg, VA and Nashville, TN. The choirs perform regularly in the Wake County area.  On November 14, 2005, the MCHS Choral Ensemble performed at the North Carolina Music Educator’s Association State Music Conference in Winston Salem, NC.  The choir is honored to have been selected to perform at this prestigious event.  The MCHS Choral Department has enjoyed extraordinary growth in just four years.

Michael Gilliam was voted the Middle Creek High School 2004 Teacher of the Year and selected as a top-twenty finalist for 2004 Wake County Teacher of the Year.  Other awards include Garner Senior High School Teacher of the Year, the Garner Jaycee’s Outstanding Young Educator Award, The 2002 Shepp Wasdell Teaching Excellence Award, and a Wake County Education Foundation Teacher Excellence Award nomination.  The Michael E. Gilliam Choral Music Scholarship was established in his honor in 2002 to be given to a deserving college-bound Garner Senior High School Fine Arts senior.  He is currently the MCHS Fine Arts Manager and serves on the school’s Leadership Team.

It is a pleasure to provide this website and information for you. If there are problems with or questions about this site please click here for  my email address

Last updated 11/25/2006

A. Booker