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LETTER: Choirs return a joyful moment

Editor: I read the Aug. 18 article in the Outlook with enthusiasm regarding the start-up of the Valley Winds Community Choirs after two years of not being able to rehearse in person. Our Directors, Sue Denton and Lee Ann DeCoteau, are to be commended

Editor:

I read the Aug. 18 article in the Outlook with enthusiasm regarding the start-up of the Valley Winds Community Choirs after two years of not being able to rehearse in person. Our Directors, Sue Denton and Lee Ann DeCoteau, are to be commended for their interesting and entertaining way they kept us connected while having fun on our regular Tuesday night rehearsals, albeit on Zoom. It was like going to a community sing-along, except we could only hear ourselves and the directors. Luckily the Directors could not hear us.

I joined Valley Winds mixed choir for the winter term in 2012, having never been in a choir. They did not require an audition, which is a good thing because I would never have made the cut but I am still there. I knew I could read music and I loved to sing. There were only 30 members in the choir at that time.

From 2012-2020, the choir grew to 80 plus people. This presented a new challenge of where to rehearse and where to perform. The Valley Winds Choir, along with two bands, have been performing two concerts a year for the Bow Valley community. We are often asked to participate in unique opportunities such as several Christmas performances in the Rat’s Nest Caves, joining the travelling New Zealand men’s choir, and producing a very special concert “Rainbow in the Rain” to put to bed the 2013 flood.

None of this would have been possible without our very dedicated and patient choir directors. They work tirelessly with us who come with a whole host of skills, not all of them musical. There are a good percentage of members who do not read music and they are given encouragement and tools to learn.

I look forward to the beginning of rehearsals and hope to see familiar faces as well as new members who are coming to experience the fun we have making music as a community for our community. In closing, I have really missed meeting my fellow choir members on the street on the day of rehearsals when they stop me and say with enthusiasm, “see you at choir tonight!"

Anne Forbes,

Canmore

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