Students with the East Ridge Middle School choir walk up to the second floor before performing during the annual Christmas at the Courthouse celebration at the Hamilton County Courthouse on Friday, Dec. 4, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn.After the introductions, after the classic holiday jingles like “Let it Snow” and “Winter Wonderland,” after the parents snapped pictures and took video and pointed out their children, Lea Jolley stood from the piano.
“This next song is a French carol,” the choral director at East Ridge Middle School announced to 50 or so clerks and bystanders gathered on the second floor of the Hamilton County Courthouse.
“We’re doing it in honor of the French citizens, especially in Paris, that have been going through so much lately,” Jolley continued. “Of course, we’ve been going through so much lately, too.”
Then she sat down, placed her fingers on the keys, and launched into the opening bars of “Bring a Torch,” a hymn about the nativity scene of Jesus Christ. The children, about 30 stacked in three rows, began to softly sing:
“It is wrong when the child is sleeping, it is wrong to talk so loud.”
Friday’s performance offered a window of light after a dark week of violence across the nation.
The middle school and high school choirs performed during “Christmas at the Courthouse,” an annual celebration that honors the work of Hamilton County judges, clerks and record keepers.
“East Ridge High School and Middle School, what a wonderful job they did today,” said Hamilton County Circuit Court Clerk Larry Henry. “It really warmed our hearts.”
Nadine Fortson grinned while her 13-year-old son, Dennis, sang in the front row, his hands wedged into his pockets, a Santa hat perched on his head like the rest of the children.
“He loves singing,” Fortson said, adding it was her son’s first performance with the middle school choir.
During the high school performance, Robert Wilson filmed his 17-year-old daughter, Prescious, as she stood in front of her peers, belting a solo a capella cover of “Carol of the Bells.”
Wilson, 67, said his daughter has been singing “since she was 2 years old.”
On Friday, he wore an Army jacket to the show and said he played baritone horn in a U.S. Army band for seven years during his stints in the Vietnam and Desert Storm conflicts.
Prescious’ voice, which rang above her peers in soaring octaves, “runs in the family,” he said with a grin.
Contact staff writer Zack Peterson at zpeterson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow @zackpeterson918.