Jo Jo McCoy
Letter From the Director
I love music and my desire is to use music as a common bond to glorify God & create friendships. Through the development of these friendships and bonds, we are able to use teamwork to achieve goals and overcome challenges, on and off the stage. Music has served as a beautiful platform in which we have been blessed with the opportunity to stand before crowds and display our talents/gifts with the world in a way that glorifies God.
A choir is a group of people who may start out as strangers but end up becoming a close-knit family. I am so proud that so many of my singers can see what is truly important about choir: family, friendships, & community.
It’s been suggested that singing is one of the ways in which we build social cohesion when there isn’t enough time to establish one-to-one connections between everyone in a group. We are physical and social creatures. It’s why we still go to theaters to watch movies, concerts to listen to music, ballparks to see a game and restaurants to grab a bite. We don’t believe bucket lists of the future will be filled with lonely online activities. We look forward to experiencing new restaurants and resorts, plazas and parks, markets and mall, stadiums, a good music. Of course, active and social living within communities is something that will always be a necessity, yet, many of the younger generations are keeping themselves from being a part of the community. Technology and the internet make it much easier for us to know what is going on in the world in a split second, but that ease of access is often what separates us from the community. That is why I am so grateful to be able to work with such a lively community that partakes in the arts and focuses so much on community extracurricular like music and dance.
I love music! I love chorus music because the dimensions of the sounds produced from human voices — especially children’s voices — is a gift that all who hear could agree is the most pleasant, joyful sound. How many times have we heard little kids giggle and in turn felt the spike of happiness? Whether it be your child singing their first ABCs — even if they aren’t in tune – is the purest sound that makes you smile. Personally, this is how I feel when I work with the choir, and I am willing to do my part and invest in our next generation to help children music be included in this community that I so love and adore!
I thank God for my early musical background, having been a part of a children’s choir since I was 8 years old. To this day, I still remain close friends with my childhood connections that I met through this community choir that I attend in the 80s. Today you may see their efforts to support us as they are coming all the way from Australia, Canada and Hong Kong just to partake and support us in this yearend concert. My own Nightingales members have established some 10-year long friendships (having met when I first formed the Angel Children’s Choir in Newark!!!). The most amazing part is that to this day, they are still singing and performing together. Some of them have already become adults and began working, and some of them are in college. Yet, they still maintain the close friendships inside and outside of the Nightingales. Every week when they come to practice, it’s like they are back to the family nest. We do have that kind of family love growing within! And we all strive for a better tomorrow using our sense of team work to create music and uplift each other through the positive messages of our songs. I just thank God for this special gift of choir work that I’ve been so blessed to carry and get to continue to carry for these more many years to come.
Thank you & everyone who participated with the Tri City Nightingale program during the 2018-2019 school year. Thank you Newark Mayor Alan Nagy for your support since the first day we formed this organization. Thank you Madsen Builders company for all the financial support you’ve given, helping create so many choirs in the past 5 years in and out many local schools and churches. Lastly, thank you to all the parents who have supported their children in this musical endeavor, especially to those who have come back for multiple seasons. Without all of your involvement, none of this would be possible!
May music continue to praise the most High. May music bridge the gap for meaningful bonding. May music continue to last in each child’s heart and become as integral in their wonderful childhood memories as it has in mine. May music live in you!
Blessing!
Ms. Jo Jo
Tri-City Nightingales 