Co-Lin’s Dr. Bobby Helms to Premiere Original Work at Carnegie Hall This Spring

By Bob Arnold

Carnegie Hall in New York City is a long way from a farm in Cordele, Georgia.  There’s the distance in miles, of course, but for Dr. Bobby G. Helms, the Director of Choral Activities and Theater at Co-Lin since 2019, Carnegie Hall is also a mark of a long journey in music and theater that started at Bay Spring Baptist Church in nearby Arabia, Georgia, has brought him to Wesson and will take him to the famed New York City venue this spring.

On May 25 at Carnegie Hall, Helms will direct the world premiere of To Truly Love, a 25-minute work for choir, soloists and orchestra that will be performed by his Co-Lin choir, the Jackson-based Mississippi Boys Choir, for which he is also the artistic director, and other choirs from Presbyterian Christian School at Hattiesburg, Mississippi, First Baptist Church of Tyler, Texas, and New York City.

Born in 1972, Helms was fated to live a musical life in a farm family that quite literally was their small church’s music program.  His father directed the church choir.  His mother played the piano there and his aunt played the organ for the congregation.

Tennis, golf and 4-H activities competed for Helms’ attention growing up, but the church choir and high school band won out in his life after the farm chores and activities, which focused on raising cows and pigs and showing steers in livestock shows during his years in the fourth through twelfth grades.

“Actually, music has been critical to my life, even helping me overcome personal problems,” Helms explains.  “I stuttered as a child, and music trained me to think ahead before speaking words because you always need to look a measure beyond where you are on the music sheet as you play an instrument or sing.”

After graduating from Crisp County (Georgia) High School in 1990, Helms earned a BS in Music Education at Valdosta (Georgia) State University in 1995 and started his career teaching choir, band, general music and theater at Middle Schools for eight years at Donaldson, Georgia, and Cordele, Georgia.

From 2005 to 2006 after completing Master’s Degree programs in Music Education and Choral Conducting at Valdosta State and Georgia Southern, he taught choral conducting and vocal music and served as the opera chorus master at Valdosta State.  From 2006 to 2007, he did course work at the University of South Carolina and then taught music at Warner Robins (Georgia) Elementary School for six years, and earned an Education Specialist Degree in Vocal Music at Auburn.

In 2013, Helms started a new life in Mississippi to study for a Doctor of Musical Arts and Choral Conducting Degree at Southern Mississippi University in Hattiesburg, returning after his course work to Austell, Georgia, where he taught Middle School while caring for his ailing father.   In 2017, he taught at Warner Robins High School, but returned to Mississippi permanently the following year to direct the choir and work on his Doctoral dissertation at Southern Mississippi and finally land at Co-Lin for the last half decade.

Since coming to Wesson to direct the Co-Lin choir, Helms has expanded the scope of his teaching to encompass theater – a program that includes classes in drama production, theater appreciation, acting, directing, stage craft, diction and stage makeup.  Helms is also working on another MA – in theater education – at Mississippi University for Women (the “W”) to equip him for the task. 

“I try to teach two theater courses each semester,” says Helms.  “We have a summer theater program for children and, and our productions have included Chicago-teens, Lion King-junior, Grease-high school, Beetle Juice-junior and Anastasia-youth edition.  Since 2022, our productions for the community have also included Steel Magnolias, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Little Shop of Horrors, Hairspray and Clue the Musical.  For suicide prevention and awareness, we will be producing Dear Evan Hansen.”

Helms is a National Collegiate Choral Organization board member and was a quarter finalist for the Music Educator Grammy Award.

While Helms’ work life is now in Wesson, he resides in Brookhaven.

What are your hobbies?

I am a soccer fan.  I like fishing and playing golf.  I am the pianist at Spring Ridge United Methodist Church at Terry.

Are you a reader?

I read Shakespeare.  I also read motivational books so I can help my students achieve success.

You are a musician professionally, of course.  But how about spare time music?

It surprises my students when they visit in my office and meet me wearing my ear phones.  I’m an eclectic music listener, but I am particularly into artists from the 1980s and 1990s – Metallica, Nervana, Journey.

If you were so lucky, how would you spend your lottery winnings?

I wouldn’t retire.  That’s for sure.  I’d probably establish music scholarships.

How would you change the world?

Learning and practicing music can make you better at anything.  So I would make sure everyone had a basic elementary education in music.