'Voices of a New Day' celebrates 10 years of music

MOSES LAKE - For the past decade, the "Voices of a New Day" children's choir has been busy supplying the Basin with music.

Choir Director Carrie Welty started the group in the fall of 2004 with 25 kids. By 2006, the choir had grown to about 40 kids.

Welty said she estimates more than 300 kids have sang in the choir over the years.

Their first-ever performance was a November concert at the Moses Lake High School, she said. The choir also performed that first year in December at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints nativity and at the Hearthstone Inn.

Welty said the choir still holds a Christmas concert each year, as well as a concert in March and in May.

"Voices of a New Day" also performs at various community events each year, including the Moses Lake Spring Festival.

Welty said this year will be the tenth year the choir has performed at the Spring Festival. They also sang at the Moses Lake museum's Christmas party last November and they will sing at the Relay for Life opening ceremony this year.

"We're really like a community choir," she said. "A lot of people ask if it's a church choir but we pull kids from all the schools and they all have different backgrounds and experiences."

The choir is open to kids in grades kindergarten through eighth-grade. Welty said the idea is to introduce kids to choir before they enter high school.

"I was thinking if we get them excited about choir when they're younger, then they would go on to do it in high school and beyond," she said.

Welty said she has watched a lot of her kids move from "Voices of a New Day" to the high school choir. A number of them have even gone on to study music in college, she said.

"It's fun to see those kids move up," she commented.

Welty said the choir usually donates proceeds from their concert ticket sales to the high school choral boosters group. Welty said it's a good program to support because many "Voices of a New Day" members will likely end up joining choir when they get to high school.

"It has just been a wonderful partnership to have," said Welty.

The high school has been supportive of the children's choir since they started, allowing them to use their facilities for concerts and occasionally letting the kids sing with the high school choir.

The Moses Lake community has also been supportive of the choir over the years, said Welty. She and her husband moved to the area a little over 10 years ago.

"We just absolutely love this community, they've been our biggest supporters," she said.

Welty said the best part of directing the choir over the past decade has been getting to watch kids' confidence levels grow as they go through the program.

"It's fun to see them grow in their confidence, they come in and they're nervous but after a while they're trying out for duets and solos," she said. "So watching that and knowing I played a small part in that and seeing somebody grab on and get excited about music has been amazing."

Welty said they will have a little reception after their May 13 concert to celebrate the group's 10-year anniversary. She said all choir alumni are invited to come to the concert, which takes place at 7 p.m. that day at the high school theater.

Tickets are $2 for that performance, but choir alumni can get in for free, said Welty.

For those who miss the May concert, "Voices of a New Day" will also be performing at the annual Moses Lake Spring Festival. The choir takes the stage at 2 p.m. on May 24.