The Music Room at Whistler Secondary School on Friday, January 20th was the setting for not one but two singing workshops with clinician Edette Gagne. In the afternoon, members of the Whistler Chorus and the Intermediate Choir worked with Edette followed by an evening workshop for members of the Whistler Singers and other interested adult singers in the community. Both workshops were well attended and extremely successful. Exploring how our voices and bodies work and using tools such as corks and chopsticks left everyone with a better appreciation and understanding of how to sing. From monkey sounds to the final performance of the African song Ipharadisi, participants focused on sound production and certainly we could all see the difference by the end of each workshop! Intermediate choir members Cain, Charlotte and Aislinn talked about ‘throwing the frisbee’, ‘singing with fish lips’ and thinking about the top of your head as ‘silly putty’. For most of the workshops, pictures were not permitted – 20 singers with corks in their mouths or their tongues hanging over chopsticks are not pretty sights! However, a good time was had by all and the choirs hope to host similar workshops in the future. Thanks go to the Whistler Arts Council who provided funding for these workshops. Upcoming events for the Whistler Chorus, Whistler Children’s Chorus and Whistler Singers include the Howe Sound Music Festival on Friday, April 13th.
Intermediate choir and Chorus members participate in a workshop with Edette Gagne