Time to tap into your inner choral singer

EDITOR’S NOTE: Faith Vis of New Milford, Pa., has been a choral singer since age 7. “I have lived in many places – London, Strasbourg, Rome, the USA – and always managed to find a choral group, in spite of demanding family and professional commitments,” she said recently. “In the 16 years since I moved to the northeast corner of Pennsylvania, in addition to singing regularly with two or three groups, I have always signed up with any ad hoc group seeking singers for a special celebratory event and been simply amazed at the depth of musical interest and talent in the area.” Vis is hoping this article will encourage some of those “special event” singers to move into more regular participation in a local choral ensemble.

If you are one of those people who loves to sing in the shower, and it really sounds pretty good with the sound waves bouncing off the tiles, you also may have a secret wish to sing in a choral group. This is a wish more easily fulfilled than you might think. This area is full of music, and there are groups for every taste, geared to every level of skill. Watch the local press for rehearsal announcements, make a few calls and then ask to sit in once or twice at the group that seems to best suit you.

When To Clap and Why

Just because I work for the Arts Council doesn’t mean I know all there is to know about the arts. In fact, here’s one of my questions: Why oh why can you only applaud at the END of a symphony? Who made the rule against clapping for each movement and why? That’s the thing about the arts. Always something to learn. Help me out here, will you?