People who enjoy singing, whether they are trained or whether they can read music, are welcome to join the Kamsack Community Choir.
The choir’s 2016-17 season is to begin on September 29 and anyone wishing to join is encouraged to show up at Westminster Memorial United Church where the group holds its weekly practices and where the choir’s two major concerts of the season are held.
Formed in 2008, the choir has averaged 18 to 22 singers each year, said Marilyn Marsh, the choir’s pianist.
The number of men singing has increased, she said. “Last year we had four. We always need men.”
Marsh said that if she was making a wish list for the type of voices she’d like in the choir, at the top of that list would be for a bass singer.
“But we’d welcome anyone who loves to sing.”
The choir holds its weekly practices until about six weeks before its first concert, which will be at Christmas, and then practices increase to two for the whole group and another session for the duets, trios and quartets.
The spring concert, held in June, is always held around a theme, she said. Past themes include Around the World, Colours, Country and Gospel, Broadway, and Heaven and Earth.
“At both our concerts, the Christmas one and the spring one, we incorporate other performers into the program.”
In addition to the two major concerts, most members of the choir assemble at the sportsground on Canada Day, sing carols at the annual Moonlight Madness pre-Christmas shopping promotion, and participate in the Kamsack Legion’s Remembrance Day program. They have performed at the Kamsack museum, the Old Dog Run reception, the Heritage Day at the National Doukhobor Heritage Village in Veregin, a Relay for Life fundraiser and at the Kamsack nursing home and Eaglestone Lodge at Christmas.
Choir members were instrumental in raising $34,000 to purchase the grand piano in 2010. The piano is kept at the United Church and is used at the concerts held there.
Susan Bear, the choir’s director, plans the themes and makes the selections for the program, Marsh explained. Money collected at the concerts is used to purchase sheet music and for the tuning and upkeep of the piano.
