Chorale adds health staff choir, drop-in singing
Singing group seeing sign-up "explosion" since post-pandemic return
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A Moncton choir says it is adding a youth choir, health staff choir, and drop-in singing after seeing an “explosion” of new registrations following its return after the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Melody Dobson, artistic director for the Greater Moncton Chorale, said they did not meet between March 2020 and fall of 2022 because of provincial restrictions for gatherings and singing.
Upon their return at first the attendance was lower, but last fall they had the highest sign-up numbers in their history. Now, the choir has over 100 members.
“We were running out of space in our rehearsal venue,” she said. “Maybe it’s time to start thinking a little bigger.”
Dobson said it got her team thinking of growing the choir’s services for different demographics.
They launched a youth choir called Voices Rising, which has over 50 singers. She noted there is often a lack of choral options for young students in school, and church choirs are also on the decline.
“What is the next generation going to do? Are they going to miss out?” said Dobson, adding choral music offers social and wellness benefits.
The Voices Rising group performed during the Greater Moncton Chorale’s Christmas performance with a live brass quintet, violins and percussion from Sistema.
Another addition to the chorale is a choir made up of health workers and medical students from The Moncton Hospital. The idea was spearheaded by Dr. Lisa Searle, a family and palliative medicine physician who participated in the Music in Medicine program at Dalhousie University.
She felt that a similar project at the Moncton hospital could help promote wellness for health-care workers, and improve relationships among co-workers.
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“It’s harder to snap at a colleague for waking you in the middle of the night when she sings alto with you in the choir,” Searle said in a news release.
Dobson said registration for the health staff choir opened on Thursday. She noted stress is high among health-care workers, and the staffing shortages and pandemic took a toll. Singing could be a way for staff to release tension.
“There’s always been a strong connection between music and medicine,” she said.
The plan is to hold a weekly rehearsal, and eventually perform for patients and the community.
For people who aren’t interested in joining a choir but still enjoy singing, the chorale is hosting drop-in singing nights.
Dobson said similar events are trending in other cities like Toronto and Halifax where people show up to a venue and are taught a piece of music accompanied by a live band.
“Not everybody has the time or the vocal confidence to join a choir on a regular basis,” she said. “Why should they be deprived of singing with other people.”
The chorale’s first drop-in singing night is Feb. 3 at the Centennial Rotary Park Lodge from 7:30-9 p.m. The cost is $10.
The AJs, an acoustic cover band featuring Riverview mayor Andrew LeBlanc, Jill and Jeremy Quiring, will be leading participants through a warm up and a three-part harmony of a popular rock/pop/folk song.
When Dobson was asked why more people were showing interest in the chorale, she said it most likely had to do with a desire for in-person singing, which got stifled during the pandemic. Some singing groups and musicians did online performances during COVID-19, but she said it is not the same as a live event.
The chorale’s first Christmas performance in 2022 after their hiatus was an emotional time.
“I almost cried when I got up there,” she said. “You could feel the joy in everyone as well.”
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