Seventh-grader to solo with Sacred Music Chorale
It takes guts for a 12-year-old boy to sing as a soloist for an adult choir, but Jackson Hern has proven he has more than guts. He has chutzpah. He’s singing the solo in Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms,” which requires learning to sing in Hebrew.
“It’s kind of hard singing in a different language if you don’t speak it,” Jackson said.
Jackson will be performing with the Northwest Sacred Music Chorale next weekend. The adult community choir is in its sixth season and generally relies on Spokane recruits if they need youth singers for special occasions, said executive director Gaynell Coppess. When they chose Bernstein’s piece this year, she was bound and determined to find a local boy to sing the solo part.
“I put out fliers in every single school,” she said.
Few boys stepped up, and even fewer could hit the high notes required, but Jackson’s voice stood out.
“It’s a young voice, so it has that clarity, a kind of pure, bell-like quality,” Coppess said.
For the audition, Jackson struggled with the rolling “r” and the harsh “h” of the Hebrew language. Coppess encouraged him and gave him every opportunity to succeed.
“She said I could just say ‘la, la, la,’ and see if I could hit the notes,” Jackson said.
Coppess said she always believed the talent was here locally, and it was just a matter of finding it. Jackson has proven her right and she believes that audiences are in for a treat listening to him.
Jackson will perform a three-minute solo in the 20-minute piece. Bernstein stated when he wrote the music that the solo may be sung by a countertenor or a boy soprano, but never by a woman. The song is meant to reinforce the meaning of a passage from the Hebrew Bible’s “Psalm of David” and is to be sung as if it is by the boy David himself.
“I kept practicing over and over again to get the words,” Jackson said.
He listened to a CD to learn the sounds and attended weekly choir rehearsals. The choir members range in age from 20 to 70 and have been very supportive, Jackson said.
“When I get there they all start clapping,” he said.
Jackson is in seventh grade at the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy and came about this singing opportunity as a bit of a fluke. His mother, Tami, said he chose choir as an elective this year because he thought it would be easy. The Herns believe in the importance of studying music and require their children to pick an instrument each year. Taking choir fulfilled Jackson’s obligation.
“We really didn’t know he had a talent,” Tami said. “They keep telling us how talented he is and we’re really surprised.”
Jackson’s school quartet received a superior rating in a recent competition among regional schools. He also sang for a Lake City Playhouse musical and performed the National Anthem at the Northwest Gymfest.
Along with singing and playing piano, Jackson enjoys riding four-wheelers with his father, Jack. He is a Boy Scout and is active in his church.
Jackson knows that his voice will change with time, but said that his experience with the adult choir has taught him that singing is for every age group.
“I think I’ll keep going on in choir and sing my entire life,” he said.