Countless schools have eliminated vocal music -- a gap that the Detroit Children's Choir is starting to fill in Detroit.
"If children don't have things like singing in their lives, if they're just existing, we're going to pay for that in the future," choir director Carol Schoch said.
Schoch, 60, of Farmington Hills led the group she founded through its sixth annual spring concert Saturday, calling it a chance for more than 150 children -- ages 8 to 14, and 90% of them Detroiters -- to inspire themselves as much as the audience. About 1,000 people gathered for the free event at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, on the city's west side.
Singing a repertoire that included songs in Italian, Latin and Swahili, the choir -- actually a combined chorus of nine choirs -- sang with sweet and, at times, syncopated gusto.
