I LOVE to sing! ????
I graduated from the Community Choir Leadership Program (CCLT) in 2008. This program was led by Denis Donnelly and Siobhan Robinsong who brilliantly directed the Gettin’ Higher Choir in Victoria for many years. Our Ubuntu Choirs are considered ‘Little Sister’ choirs to the Gettin’ Higher Choir.
I started my Sing For Pure Joy! Choir on Quadra Island (where I have lived for 44 years) sixteen years ago. We gather from 1:00 – 2:30 on Monday afternoons in the Main Hall at the Quadra Community Centre. My daughter, Kate, has been co-directing this Song Circle with me for many years now.
I am starting a group at the SENIORS CENTRE in CAMPBELL RIVER beginning on Wednesday, January 17th, 2024. We will gather from 3:00 – 4:30.
On Thursday afternoons I take a ferry cruise across the Discovery Passage and lead a group at EVERGREEN SENIORS HOME in CAMPBELL RIVER. it is such a joy to share some of the ‘songs of yore’ with the seniors who remember the lively tunes of their youth. They are also teaching me so many songs! This is dear to my heart! We also sprinkle in a few songs from our SFPJ repertoire.
Perhaps now, more than ever, being part of a caring community to regularly experience life together through singing, movement and laughter is imperative to our well-being. Singing is our birthright and a wonderful way to lift our spirits, especially during these times. Singing is a universal language that brings us together.
I led a Children’s Song Circle on Quadra Island beginning in 2008 that started out, surprisingly, with 7 boys aged from 7 – 13. Then some young girls joined us and that totally changed the dynamics of the group! Delightfully so! Later on I had Moms and Babes join us. Grandmas and Grandpa too! It was quite an eclectic group!
In November 2017, I started a Threshold Choir (Pure Joy Threshold Singers) on Quadra Island and Campbell River. The tag line for these choirs is ‘Kindness Made Audible.’ These choirs are the brainchild of Kate Munger… to sing at the bedsides of people who are passing or those who are having difficulty with life. There are sites on the internet (thresholdchoir.org) where you can read about the wonderful work that Kate has inspired.
There are now 160 Threshold Choirs around the world. There are 15 choirs across Canada. We currently sing at Yucalta Lodge, a 95 room private care facility. We are ‘Wandering Minstrels’ and sing ro the residents in the different open areas of this facility. We sing at bedside by request.
I sing with Campbell River Singers, a 60 – 90 voice choir that meets weekly on Monday evenings. I also sang with Quadra Singers, beginning in the late 90’s that rehearses weekly on Thursday evenings. My daughter, Kate, directed this choir for several years. I sang with Island Soul Choir, led by Brian Tate and Karla Mundy. Island Soul Choir researched in Lantzville. I was overjoyed to go on a choir tour to Cuba and New Orleans with this amazing choir. The above are all performance choirs.
In 2020, Kate and I started a Singin’ Babes on Zoom. We recorded 16 episodes with her young son, Lion James, who is now 3 1/2 years old. We sang songs suitable for Moms & Grandmas to sing with their wee ones.
As you can see…I really LOVE to sing! ????
“ The majority of music in the world comes from the oral tradition and all songs are taught in the traditional method of call and response. This is the most accessible and effective way for the majority of people to learn and retain songs in the longer term.” (National Voice Practitioners)
We are not a paper-trained choir. No written music is used. We are not a performance choir. We occasionally engage in S.W.A.T.S (Sing When Asked To) and S.W.I.T.S (Sing When Inspired To.)
We raise our voices in glorious song with heart-felt melodies, soulful gospel songs and spirituals, meditative chants, robust rounds, and luscious layered songs in three and four part harmony. We have developed quite an extensive repertoire over the years. We sing songs from the sublime to the ridiculous! And we have so much fun!
There is so much research in the media now that show the health benefits of singing in a group. In Stacy Horn’s book, Imperfect Harmony: How Singing With Others Changes Your Life… she states that, “group singing is cheaper than therapy, healthier than drinking and certainly more fun than working out.”
And there is a whole neurochemistry to singing. There is evidence now that one of the hormones we generate when we sing oxytocin…the feel good hormone. I could go on and on…
The WINTER/SPRING TERM begins on QUADRA ISLAND on MONDAY, JANUARY 8th from 1:00 – 2:30.
Sing with our seniors at EVERGREEN SENIORS HOME on THURSDAY afternoons beginning on JANUARY 11th from 3:00 – 4:00.
CAMPBELL RIVER at the CAMPBELL RIVER SENIOR CENTRE on WEDNESDAY afternoons beginning on JANUARY 17th from 3:00 – 4:30.
For more information call MARY DENNISON at (250) 285-3764 or cell (250) 202-1003 or singforpurejoy@gmail.com
