WHERE STUDENTS RESIDE

30% reside in Baltimore City
50% reside in Baltimore County
20% come from the surrounding counties of Harford, Howard, Anne Arundel, Carroll, Prince George, and Montgomery

TYPES OF SCHOOLS OUR STUDENTS ATTEND

40% attend a public school
40% attend a private school
20% homeschool

VENUES AND FESTIVALS INCLUDE

Alice Tully Hall, NYC
American Kodály Institute, Loyola University Maryland
Blair House, Washington D.C.
Carnegie Hall, NYC
Charlestown Chapel, Catonsville
Cultural and Conference Center of Kecskemét, Hungary
Disney World, Florida
The Engineers Club, Baltimore
Gordon Center for Performing Arts, Owings Mills
International Kodály Seminar, Kecskemét, Hungary
Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Baltimore
The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Washington D.C.
Kodály Art Festival, Kecskemét, Hungary
Kraushaar Auditorium, Goucher College
Montréal Choral Festival, Canada
National Basilica, Washington D.C.
Niagara Falls, Canada
Pacific International Choral Festival (picfest), Oregon
Pacific Rim Children’s Chorus Festival, Hawaii
Rhapsody Festival, Europe Tour to Vienna, Salzburg, and Prague
Shriver Hall Concert Series
Vassar College, NY
The White House

COLLABORATORS INCLUDE

Annapolis Opera Company
Bach in Baltimore
Baltimore Choral Arts Society
Baltimore Chamber Orchestra
Baltimore Concert Opera
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Concert Artists of Baltimore
Handel Choir of Baltimore
Opera : Vivente
Ethan Bortnick
Bob Chilcott
David Foster
Stephen Hatfield
Henry Leck
John Lithgow
Bobby McFerrin
Bongani Magatyana
Fernando Malvar-Ruiz
Joshua Pedde
André Rieu
Gabriela Thész
many local professional artists and performance students from local universities

Concert choir and invited members of Lyric choir have the opportunity to go on tour in the summer. The students and their families commit to extra rehearsals early in the summer break—extra time with friends, too—and a wonderful Send Off Concert before travel.

Tour after tour, our students learn far more than the repertoire they perform. They collaborate with other choirs, artists, and organizations. They expand their experience as musicians, as individuals, as human beings.

CCM typically tours every other year, but during COVID, touring was suspended. We look forward to the return of this treasured tradition very soon.

Learn more about the benefits of touring under Experience CCM > Touring.

CCM self-produces two annual performances each year in which all choirs perform.

The Annual Winter Concert is held in early December to mark the end of the first semester. The second semester culminates in the Annual Spring Concert at the end of April or early in May. Part of the Spring Concert is devoted to honoring graduates—those students who have completed the program.

Our annual concerts are held at various Performing Arts Centers and Churches in the area.

Unlike the upper choirs, the Treble Choir only perform in the Holiday and Spring Annual Concerts and typically another community engagement.

The vocal mechanisms of children—especially under the age of nine—are physically fragile and need to be protected. We teach our younger choristers how to sing correctly and how to take care of their voices. They learn how to listen, how to audiate (hear the music in their heads without actually singing it), and many other vital musical skills that they will incorporate and build on once they start performing more and extending their musical studies. When they are ready, they will perform with musical understanding and healthy voices!

First, our high-level performance program requires dependable participation from all members. This is true of a professional ensemble. If two choristers in the same section (Soprano I, etc.) don’t attend a rehearsal, the entire group will be out of balance and the rehearsal (and the rest of the ensemble) suffers.

Second, the educational program at CCM is so effective that classes move at a fast pace. This is the same reason that we generally cannot accept new students' mid-year or beginner students over the age of 10: there’s just no way to catch up. We strive to avoid placing a child in a situation where they are likely to ‘fail’. Indeed, a major component of the Kodály approach is to ensure that every child, in every class, feels successful in their work. Every time a student misses a class, they miss a vital component of their education and run the risk of falling too far behind.

Third, in the midst of this world of disposable cell phones, sound bites, and instant gratification, we believe in valuing commitment, teamwork, dependability and responsibility. We are training tomorrow’s leaders.

Audiation. Hearing music inside your head

Sight singing. Singing music by reading music symbols from the page without someone playing it for you on the piano

Dictation. Hearing music and writing it down on music staff paper

Vocal training. How to shape vowels and consonants, how to produce a good sound, how to sing in tune, how to care for the voice

Theory. Includes solfa hand signs, scales, functional solfège (do re mi), key signatures, intervals, melody, harmony, functional rhythm, modes

History. Major composers, classical and folk styles from the Middle Ages to current

Interpretation. Phrasing, expression, improvising, harmonizing, conducting, arranging and composing

The short answer is: We place a strong emphasis in music education—not just performance.

Research shows that efficient and effective learning occurs with increased frequency of teaching. Your child will learn and apply many advanced concepts with peers similarly prepared to embrace increasingly challenging material in class and on stage. The result is a coherent music education and practice that unlocks the ability to intellectually and artistically engage a musical piece, no matter the genre.

Compare this approach to simply singing in a chorus, learning the music from recordings or relying on stronger singers to lead their section, rehearsing once a week, and learning concepts without context and framing because a specific piece demands it. At CCM, each child studies and learns the language of music, striving to achieve independent music literacy.

BEGINNER 1–3 / TREBLE CHOIR
Wednesdays
Class: 5:30 - 6:30 pm 
Saturdays
Rehearsal: 8:15 - 9:00 am
Class: 9:00 - 10:00 am

INTERMEDIATE 1–3 / LYRIC CHOIR 
Wednesdays
Rehearsal: 5:30 - 6:30 pm
Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm 
Saturdays
Rehearsal: 9:00 - 10:00 am
Class: 10:00 - 11:00 am

SOLFA 1–4/ CONCERT CHOIR
Wednesdays
Rehearsal: 6:30 - 7:30 pm
Class: 7:30 - 8:30 pm 
Saturdays
Rehearsal: 10:15 - 11:45 am
Class: 11:45 am - 12:45 pm

These are the class/rehearsal times for our current season. Times are subject to change.