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It is customary in the last newsletter of the year, to take a look back at the year, and to do a quick recap. Nine Masses, (eleven if we count the two sung by the Chamber Choir), four Outreach Concerts for Seniors, Nine Lessons, Tenebrae, and an End of Year Concert formed our musical workload for the year. Our visit to Canmore is always an annual highlight - and this year we were blessed with clear blue skies, and mountains covered with white snow. It is always a privilege to sing at the Shrine - chiefly because the building is designed with lots of hard surfaces and with considerable height. This helps to carry the sound throughout the space - and allows for a long reverberation that gives a richer depth to the sound. In some churches, congregations can become easily discouraged, due to the design of the building. People don't like to sing if they cannot hear those around them. At the Shrine, communal singing is enhanced by the building's features - and one of the very positive results of singing in Canmore is that we are often invited to return. Some Canmore Catholics would like us to visit at least once per month! To have a four-part choir in a school where the males balance the females is a great gift - because it allows us to do so much repertoire. Most choirs, whether they be from a school, community or a church suffer from an absence of males. Here at SJCS, we are blessed with both male and female students who are musically literate and extremely skilled. It is indeed a great gift. Finally, singing in a choir can be a transcendent experience - and there aren't many of those in life. The last nine months have been a very fulfilling experience for us all, as the students, and their director, have tried to retreat from selfish concerns, and have tried to pursue harmony in each and every class. Malcolm V. Edwards Comments are closed.
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Malcolm EdwardsMalcolm Edwards was born in Halifax, England and emigrated to Canada in 1967. He is a graduate of Sheffield College of Education (UK), Trinity College of Music, London, the University of Lethbridge, the University of Montana and has done further graduate work at the University of Northern Colorado. He taught music in junior and senior high school for twelve years in southern Alberta before joining the University of Calgary as a Professor of Music Education in 1980. He retired from the university after thirty-one years of service in 2011. In the community he was affiliated with the Youth Singers of Calgary for 21 years directing the Act Three and Senior divisions. In his retirement, he is now employed as an Adjunct Professor of Music at St Mary’s University, as the Artistic Director of the Calgary Men’s Chorus and as the Senior Choir Director at St John’s Choir Schola. He has held leadership positions within the Alberta Choral Federation, the Association of Canadian Choral Communities, served on the Board of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and is active as a choral adjudicator and workshop leader in schools and churches. He is the recipient of two awards from the Provincial Federation – one in recognition of advocacy in arts education and the second in recognition of exemplary service to choral music within the Province of Alberta. In 2004 he received recognition from the national body (ACCC) for twenty-five years of service to the Canadian choral community. Archives
May 2024
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