By Stephanie Burt Hillyard
KAGAWONG—It may not have looked like much outside, but on November 28, inside the Kagawong Park Centre members of the Manitoulin Community Choir, led by Jane Best, were warming up their vocal chords for yet another memorable concert.
The Manitoulin Community Choir has performed together for the last nine-and-a-half years under the guidance of songwriter and musician Jane Best, with pianist Joan Eichner. “It’s a wonderful help that my mom is playing piano for us and I don’t have to do both directing and playing as I did when the choir began,” said Ms. Best. Covering a wide range of genres, pop to folk, country to hymns and classical to jazz, the choir has delighted its audience year after year with its eclectic mix of music and songs. This year’s fall concert, Song and Cider 2015, was no exception.
Jumping in with both feet, the choir performed ‘Wondrous Cool, Thou Woodland Quiet,’ a piece written by Johannes Brahms and made popular by the VonTrapp family. Moving closer to home, the choir performed a variety of Canadian pieces, including Cape Breton Lullabye, which challenged the women of the choir to sing a small piece in Gaelic; ‘Beauty All Around Us,’ which meshed together both hymn words and a Navajo poem, with music by British Columbia composer Larry Nickel and ‘Here’s to Song,’ by East-coast songwriter Alistair MacGillivray.
While the songs are chosen long before the performance date, some take on new meaning during practice. ‘After the Music,’ which celebrates happier memories of Paris, gave an emotional moment to the concert when the choir took a moment to pause to remember the recent shootings in Paris.
Picking up speed (and energy) Peter Gordon surprised the audience with a train whistle during the Royal Hudson, a lively song (and one of the choir’s favourites!) about a famous Canadian West-coast train. Helping draw the first set to a close was the folksong ‘When the Ice Worms Nest Again,’ a popular favourite of many Islanders.
After a brief intermission with some sweet cookie treats and cider, the choir launched into its second set, with a rendition of McCartney’s Blackbird and a solo by John Robertson. More solos followed, as Chuc and Linda Willson sung a romantic duet during ‘At Last.’
Adding a little extra to some pieces were flautist Robert Kirk, violinist Kyleen Robertson and jack-of-all-trades Paul Best. Mr. Kirk added a beautiful harmony to ‘Cross the Wide Missouri’ and ‘Shepherd Psalm,’ while Ms. Robertson got everyone’s feet tapping during the men’s rendition of ‘Thank God I’m a Country Boy.’ Mr. Best added the sound of a bouzouki (a mandolin-like instrument that originates from Greece) to the song, as well the bongos to ‘Take Time in Life,’ a Liberian folksong.
Rounding out the concert was ‘You Raise Me Up,’ the hit song made popular by Josh Groban and ‘Here’s to Song,’ with solos by Janelle Addison and Susan Garlock.
“I enjoy directing this choir because the people come together to enjoy singing,” stated Ms. Best. “We are not primarily concert-driven. We enjoy our rehearsals, singing makes us feel good and there’s something special about singing in a group that lifts our mood and energizes us. There are all sorts of stats from research that show singing is good for you, but we didn’t really need to be told that. We might try a song and find it is not going well, or even that we don’t want to sing it, and we can drop it, but usually we begin songs and discover something beautiful or something fun and musically the songs always improve as we get to know them better.”
The advent of 2016 will mark the choir’s tenth year and birthday celebrations are in the works, with 10 favourite songs from previous concerts mixed together with new tunes. Ms. Best says the program isn’t set in stone yet, but there are a few she’s excited about, including the ‘Mary Ellen Carter,’ ‘Northwest Passage’ and ‘We Rise Again.’
Anyone interested in joining the choir should contact Jane Best at 705-282-2821. Rehearsals are Tuesdays at 7:15 pm at C.C. McLean public School in Gore Bay starting January 12, with the concert scheduled for April 30 at the Kagawong Park Centre.
