PAMS Choir Wins $1,000

The Phoenixville Area Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Choir has won $1,000 in the B101 Radio ChristmasChoir Concert. The money will be used to fund choir projects and needs at the school.

The announcement made on the air on B101 Friday followed a day of strident efforts to garner more votes than the other two finalists in the choir competition which was whittled down from nine to just three choirs from schools all over the Delaware Valley.

Despite a herculean effort by PAMS students and the Phoenixville community at large, including a marquee on The Colonial Theater and a sign board at Gateway Pharmacy, the radio station says the Delaware County Christian School Middle School Girls choir came away with the most votes followed by Haverford Middle School and then PAMS.

PAMS Choir Directors Christine Trafford and Amy Darby say the entire process was a great experience for the 224 members of the PAMS 7th & 8th Grade Choir. Trafford and Darby direct four choirs in the school and each group submitted a song for the competition.  It was the 7th and 8th Grade Choir's rendition of Getting in the Mood for Christmas that made the cut and the finals.  

You can hear the song on the B101Radio.com website.  It's a very upbeat take on the Glenn Miller Big Band Classic In the Mood.  "We start planning the music for the season in June or July," Darby tells Phoenixville Patch. "We try to pick stuf that's peppy."  That's because the directors know that high energy in the recording is a key to success. "We tell the kids remember it's on the radio they can't see your joy on stage, so the performance needs to be energetic," Darby says.

This is the fourth year PAMS choirs have entered the competition and the second time a PAMS group has finished "in the money".  The first year of the competition the PAMS 6th Grade Choir ended in the semi-finals but a computer glitch made it impossible to get the exact number of votes.  B101 awarded two schools, including PAMS the $5,000 grand prize but the other competing school that year was given the performance with the Philly Pops.

There are still more good things awaiting the PAMS performers.  The school's Holiday Concert is Thursday December 19 at 7 p.m. when the song will be performed live on stage at the district auditorium on the PAMS campus.  The choir takes part in other competitions too,  including Music in the Parks which combines a statewide music competition with a day of fun at Hershey Park.

Choir co-director Christine Trafford sums up the energy and excitement around the B101 Contest and the music program telling Patch "There's a lot of great and amazing things happening at PAMS right now and throughout the year!"