A local choir director is hoping more participants will enjoy the healing power of music during the winter session of Powell River’s One Voices Choir.
Choir director Julia Adam said she has seen the positive effects singing has had on choir members and seeks to create a safe place for people of all musical abilities to come and share in song.
“We are all deeply moved by music,” said Adam. “One Voices Choir is first rooted in the philosophy that we can all sing.”
One Voices is part of an international network of inclusive, non-auditioned choirs known as Ubuntu Choirs Network.
With 60 singers participating in the choir last fall, Adam said she has witnessed the choir’s healing influence, particularly on those working through grief and loss.
“We create an environment where people can just let it all out through song,” she said. “Music feels incredible in our souls [because] we are born to be musical beings.”
Although Adams has always participated in choirs, she said working with One Voices has inspired her to seek accreditation as a music therapist from Capilano University in North Vancouver.
“Music has always been a part of my life,” said Adams. “I get so much more from it than I put in.”
The choir has been involved in the community, raising money to help those with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, as well as singing at the recent Global Climate March.
“We do not use sheet music,” she said. “We sing songs that draw on oral tradition that are about freedom and rising up.”
Music planned for this winter includes the blues song “None of Us Are Free If One of Us Is in Chains” and music by Canadian jazz singer Coco Love Alcorn.
“However many want to come and join, it’s important that people are there because they want to enjoy it,” said Adam.
One Voices Choir meets Wednesdays from 7 to 8:30 pm at Cranberry Community Hall. The 12-week winter choir session begins Wednesday, January 6, with an orientation session at 6:30 pm.
