Guest Opinion: Enriching Island Life with Song

— from Lynn Baker for the Orcas Choral Society —

Young and old. Professional and amateur. Every week, 58 islanders gather at the Orcas Center to sing their hearts out in the Orcas Choral Society. Some make the trip from Lopez or Crane Island. Why?

“I love to sing,” said Bill Felber, baritone. Now “almost 90,” he long sang professionally with the world-famous Robert Shaw, Roger Wagner, and Norman Luboff chorales.

“I love singing,” said Marilyn Andrews, alto. “I’m not a soloist; I love being in a choir where I don’t have to have my voice heard above everybody else.”

I love to sing,” said Jan Ehrlichman, also an alto. “I get a lot of joy out of making beautiful music, and doing that with a group of wonderful people.”

Orcas Island is rich in artistic talent and expression, and the Choral Society helps build that wealth.

Strengthening our community

More Americans participate regularly in choral groups than in any other art form, according to a recent study by Chorus America. “In working toward a beautiful choral sound, people contribute to an artistic product greater than themselves,” the study says.

Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, says that choral groups help foster America’s democratic culture, because “group performance contributes to the social trust and reciprocity that is the basis of civic engagement.” Chorus America found that choral singers are far more likely to be involved in charity works than the average person and twice as likely as the general public to be major consumers of other arts.

Choral Society members are certainly active citizens. Ehrlichman, for example, has in the last six years served as Choral Society section leader, board member, president and sectional accompanist. She’s also served on the Olga Community Club board, the MAG (Musical Advocacy Group, which increases music funding for Orcas Island public schools), and on a task force for the Orcas Island Community Foundation.

Andrews is active in Orcas’ Episcopal church, the Food Bank and theater productions. She’s also served on the school board, volunteered at the library and been a Brownie leader. She regularly makes quilts for victims of domestic violence.

Having an active choir also helps build the community, literally. “Some people have moved here and chosen Orcas because there is a choir,” Ehrlichman noted.

Entryway to the arts

“For most, choral singing begins in a school chorus,” Chorus America found. “Choral singing provides an extraordinarily accessible entry point for arts exposure, with fewer barriers to participation…than those posed by other art forms,” it says. “Early introduction to the performing arts is a building block for life-long learning. It helps to build social skills, community involvement and enhances academic skills.”

Orcas’ Dr. Jim Litch, not a member of the Choral Society but dad to two growing musicians, agrees. “Music is an expressive action that’s important for human health and well-being and happiness,” Dr. Litch said. “Playing a musical instrument takes years of practice. The voice is an instrument all of us are born with. It’s important to have opportunities for everyone in a community to participate in music, and the Choral Society is one of those opportunities here on Orcas.”

Building the next generation

The Litch family’s two boys, Tashi, 14, and Kaj, 11, sang with the Boy Choir in the Choral Society’s recent concerts of Bach’s Magnificat and B-Minor Mass. “We’re raising them to always have music in their lives,” said mom Rachel Bishop, who co-founded the Orcas Boy Choir.

“It’s fun,” Kaj said. “It’s a lot bigger than my other groups. It’s cool to hear all the parts and instruments working together.” Kaj currently plays with his brother (Brother for Sale), his family (Crow Valley String Band), the Boy Choir, and the Orcas Island High School Strings.

“We’ve had some high school students that have joined the Choral Society because we don’t have a high school choir,” said Orcas Island Elementary music teacher Pamela Wright. “Music is so important for so many reasons. I’m giving them something they can take with them for their whole lives. “

A growing Orcas asset

“We live on a small island but we still have an amazing amount of talent,” Andrews said. “The Choral Society “provides an outstanding entertainment option several times a year.”

Last year, the Choral Society brought a full orchestra and soloists to its major works by J.S. Bach. “It offers our community a very different experience,” Ehrlichman said. “But we’re fundamentally a community group that gives of our own talent. Just like the chamber music festival, we are giving our community the highest quality music that we possibly can, and we’re sharing Orcas with the musicians who come.”

“It’s wonderful to see the quality of the performance that comes from our small community,” Dr. Litch said.

“One of neatest things in Choral Society, some years ago, we did the American premier of the “Celtic Mass for the Sea” by the Canadian composer, Scott McMillan, all about the ocean and the life in it,” Andrews recalled. “Later it was to be done by the Canadian Amateur Musician’s choir in New York. The composer said, ‘There’s this choir on a little island that has already performed it,’ and about 25 of us sang it with 100 people at Carnegie Hall.”

Catherine Pederson founded the Orcas Choral Society in 1978 and directed it until 2010. Roger Sherman, the current director, is a musician, recording engineer and producer. A full-time Orcas resident, he is Associate Organist of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle and hosts “The Organ Loft,” a popular radio program about choral and organ music in the Pacific Northwest.

“I’m grateful that Catherine Pederson and Louellen McCoy had the idea to start Orcas Choral Society,” said Ehrlichman. “They gave this incredible gift to our community. We’ve been really, really fortunate to have Roger direct us.”

The joy of singing

In the end, the value of any community choir comes down to the universal human love of song.

“I’ve always loved music, and singing gets me deeper into the music,” said Stanley Miller, who, like Andrews, has been in the Choral Society since its founding. “I like putting on a concert, hearing the music get better as we rehearse.”

“It provides a place where people who love to sing can sing, and people who love to hear good music can hear it. And it keeps getting better,” Felber concluded.