For the first time, Charles Henderson Middle School will be hosting a choral Christmas concert.

This is the first year for the CHMS choir to be in full form, and choir director Calvin Scott is excited to showcase their work to the community.

“I want to do something nice for the students,” Scott said. “We wanted to do something different than the normal choral concert, and we just want the community to come out and help us celebrate and kick off Christmas.”

The choir, comprised of seventh and eighth graders, will perform musical selections of multiple genres such as classical, R&B and gospel.

“I wanted to show the diversity of the talents through these selections,” Scott said. “We want to do something that is memorable.”

Scott has been the choral director at CHMS since spring 2014. At the time he was working with he Charles Henderson High School band, and still does.

Scott said that when he came on board last spring, there were around 32 students involved in choir, and now there are 43 choir students.

“This is such a talented group of students,” Scott said. “They are doing great. We have been exploring different types of music and different styles of learning music.”

The CHMS creative writing class has partnered with the choir to create a new experience. Students have written narratives to introduce each piece the choir will perform.

Musicians from Dothan will be providing accompaniment for the choir to give the performance the appropriate atmosphere. The musicians are from Greater Beulah Baptist Church in Dothan, where Scott is the music minister.

“The musicians will give us that feel for the gospel songs and the R&B songs,” Scott said.

So far, the CHMS choir has performed smaller selections at the Troy Nutrition Center and other places, but this will be their first full concert for the community.

“They come in and work so hard,” Scott said. “They have really come a long way. They sound phenomenal, and I’m proud.”

The CHMS Christmas concert, “This Christmas,” will be at 6:30 Tuesday, Dec. 8 in the CHMS cafeteria.

“We want to pack the place out,” Scott said.