Tartan's Concert Choir Performs Woman's Original Christmas Song

Tartan High School hosted its Choir Concert Monday night, featuring an original Christmas tune.

Among an variety of Christmas songs, Tartan's Concert Choir performed an original Christmas song at the high school tonight. The song was written by Judith Johnson, a Grant Township resident.

Tracie Hanson, who direct's the concert choir, said she connected with Johnson through the Woodbury Community Orchestra, which has played with Tartan and North High School for 16 years at the school's yearly Masterworks concerts every fall. Johnson is a reitred art and home economics teacher and a pianist. 

Johnson wrote her Christmas song about her younger brother, Casey, who was stationed in Iraq. 

"She was thinking of him and missing him and wanted to write a Christmas song about her feelings. It came to her all at once and she played out the melody and the lyrics just fell into place," Hanson said. "As a gift, her husband had a choral arranger Phil Kadidlo, put the song together with parts for a choir. Then Judith wanted a section of the song to have  Spanish text so a friend helped her find a Spanish teacher that translated a section of the song into Spanish for her over the phone. That’s how the song came to be."

Johnson was in the audience Monday as the Concert Choir performed her song. 

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