A Heavenly Tune
By Heidi Terry - Litchfield - Herald Writer
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hlitchfield@morrisdailyherald.com
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| Members of the City-Wide Community Choir join together for a trio during a dress rehearsal at Reed-Custer High School in Braidwood. The choir will perform three shows this weekend at the school. (Herald photo by Adam Nekola) |
The sound of angels may be the only honest comparison of the 100 member choir that takes the stage each year as the City-Wide Community Choir.
The choir was created from combined churches in Coal City. After the first year the choir grew and included people from Diamond and Braidwood.
Gene Ingle the choir’s director said the choir continued to add members from up to fifty-mile radius.
“It was necessary to move the concerts from a church to local auditoriums to accommodate the increase in size,” said Ingle. “We began rethinking the word community and rather than keeping the choir isolated, it became more inclusive.”
Jean Koerner of Coal City joined the choir five years ago along with some other members of her catholic church choir.
“They seemed to enjoy it so I thought I’d give it a try,” she said. “It was a bit different at first.”
She said in the beginning they sang from sheet music and in the past couple of years they have memorized the songs which she feels is better.
Lynda Scerine also from Coal City said it wasn’t hard to start memorizing but the teaching process was different than what she had been used to.
“He sends out different CDs ahead of time that have our part on them,” she said. “You learn your part before we all come together.”
Both women said the music is different from what they sing in the Catholic and Methodist church choirs they are in respectively.
“The music is different than what I am used to singing,” said Koerner. “It’s very alive and bouncy.”
She said the music is very moving and uplifting and many people will recognize the songs they are singing.
“The audience will become involved with it,” Koerner said. “It’s things you won’t hear in church.”
Scerine said there is something for everyone in this year’s performance.
“Everyone will leave moved in some way and will walk out feeling good,” she said.
She said while her favorite aspect of the choir is getting to perform things she may not otherwise do the friendships she has made is also important.
Ingle said while singing is what initially brings the members together they stay for the feeling of belonging and acceptance.
“We value that we are inclusionary and accepting of all,” he said. “Our focus is to work together to create something good and wholesome for all our communities, friends and families.”
He said they don’t try to change their members but rather embrace and accept them for who they are.
He said the choir ranges in age from early teens to mid-eighties, and are a group who share a love of music.
Ingle said the ultimate dream is to offer branch rehearsal locations led by choir directors who are driven by the same dream of rethinking the world community in the larger sense.
“Each branch site would learn the same selections of music and then come together each year for one major production,” he said.
There is no fee to join the choir and everything needed to keep it going comes from the annual concert and donations according to Ingle.
He said the director, pianists, sound and light technicians are all volunteers.
