Tim Powell gets goose bumps from the pure gusto of his students' singing voices.

"Every time in rehearsal they blow me away with something they do," said the director of the chorale at John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School. "They don't even know what they do, and they do it."

Dr. Powell, 34, was well aware of the caliber of Davidson's talent before taking the teaching position this year. He had seen them perform in Los Angeles and Charlotte.

His predecessor, James Dunaway, had made a name for himself and Davidson, leading the school to be honored twice by the Grammy Foundation.

The chorale is Davidson's top performing group of singers, said Paul Hennessy, the piano teacher who accompanies the group.

He said Dr. Dunaway had set a high bar.

"He was outstanding, and we are fortunate to have another guy who is equally outstanding," Mr. Hennessy said.

Dr. Powell comes to Davidson with his own accolades, including a doctorate in music and a performance at the legendary Carnegie Hall in June.

"I'm still coming off the high from that," he said of performing his original Mass.

The Carnegie performance capped two years of work.

He developed a passion for music at a young age. He began at 9 or 10 with the viola, which earned him a scholarship to Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., where he continued to study the instrument.

He returned to Belmont to take his education toward directing choral groups, earning a master's.

He then earned his doctorate in music from the University of South Carolina.

His experiences include reviving a dying community chorus and conducting college choruses and a youth church choir.

But as a native of the area, he kept an eye out for job openings in and around Augusta.

Dr. Dunaway "turned Davidson into a real world-class program," Dr. Powell said, adding that Davidson's juniors and seniors perform at the level of some of his former college students.

"It puts me more on my game now," Dr. Powell said of his new job. "I can't just coast through."

As soon as he was offered the job, he said he began aggressively preparing for the class, knowing his students would rise to the challenge.

Reach Greg Gelpi at (706) 828-3851 or greg.gelpi@augustachronicle.com.