If you've got a song in your heart the Eclectica Community Choir and the 100 Mile House Community Band want you.
Both organizations began their fall seasons last week and are looking to recruit new members to add to their ranks. They welcome singers and musicians of any experience level to join them before the month's end.
"It's good for your health and your emotional and mental health as well. It's just a lot of fun and a way you can gain all the benefits of singing together," Margot Shaw, the choral director for Eclecitica, said. "It's a fabulous thing to get involved in and I encourage everyone to give it a shot and try it out."
Shaw said this year she and the other choir directors are excited because they have received funding from the South Cariboo Community Enhancement Foundation to send one of their choir members to a conducting workshop with the BC Choral Federation. This means they now have four people on the conducting team which has expanded their capabilities and the kind of experience they can offer people who join.
Their first meeting was on Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 100 Mile United Church with registration running until the end of September. Shaw said anyone interested in singing just has to come to one of their practices on Sept. 18 or Sept. 25 starting at 6:30 p.m. and pay $35 a term. This will help pay for both the music and the choir's membership in the BC Choral Federation.
"If somebody is out of town or something they can just contact me. We are nothing if not flexible," Shaw said. "We have people who can help you if you've never been part of a choir and aren't sure what part you would be singing. If you just want to come for the night, get some music and see how it feels for you, you can always do that as well."
Eric Grummisch, the president of the 100 Mile House Community Band steering committee, said they're likewise welcoming new members this month. He noted the band has been in existence since 2007 and are a typical community band who play concert band instruments and traditional concert music.
"We also play pop music, movie themes, songs by the Beatles and other musicians, jazz and Christmas music," Grummisch said. "Each year we play a number of different concerts."
Grummisch said the band performs about a half dozen times a year including at official concerts, local markets, Fischer Place, Carefree Manor and anywhere else they're asked.
Right now the band consists of around a dozen members, which gives them enough people to cover each major instrument and give them the sound they need. However, the more instruments they get the better their sound will be which is why they're always looking for new members.
"We need enough instrumentation for proper harmony so that's one of our struggles, sustaining that number and having it grow," Grummisch said, noting they've been filling in some of the gaps with a keyboard played by David Hooper, the band's musical director.
"Typically in a band, you would have several seats for each instrument. Two or four flutes and similar for clarinets, trumpets etcetera. Right now with the instruments we do have we have only one seat for each, other than for the alto-saxophones."
Grummisch reiterated that experience is not an issue, noting one of the band alto-sax players had never played his instrument before joining the band last year. He noted that many people will play instruments in high school before setting them aside and that the community band is a perfect way to rekindle that passion for music.
"People can join us by contacting me at 250-706-5076 or Dave Hooper at 778-485-5560," Grummisch said. "I would say it's a very rewarding experience and a team activity. It is an outlet for your creative juices and acts, surprisingly enough, as a stress relief. It clears your mind and you're thinking of nothing else but the music you're playing."
There is a $50 membership fee to be a member of the band, though Grummisch said the band has resolved not to let that stop anyone who lacks the means to pay that. They practice every Tuesday evening from September to June a 7 p.m. at Christ the King Lutheran Church.
Shaw said Ecelectica is hoping to do a few more public performances this year, in addition to their usual Christmas and spring concerts, singing during the Remembrance Day Celebration and at local senior homes. They also have ambitions to bring Williams Lake's Parade of Choirs down from the lakecity to 100 Mile House in the spring.
"Last year we got together with Quintet Plus to do a mini Parade of Choir and we would like to find a way to bring that to 100 Mile House and invite some other choirs. Ashcroft has an amazing choir, Williams Lake has a choir or two and Quesnel has a choir so we could like to do another Parade of Choirs," Shaw said. "It's still in the planning stages, but it's certainly something we're looking forward to doing in the spring term."
