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We are close to the end of our year - and a review of the past eight months might be in order. First, I think I can state quite objectively, that this has been the best Senior Choir since the school began. This is mainly because we have considerable vocal strength in each section of the choir. In terms of numbers, we have 59 females and 30 males, and it is these males who give the overall sound a foundation and an architecture that is crucial for a four-part choir. Most mixed choirs have a serious shortage of men. We don't, and that is simply a function of our school philosophy which decrees that every student will be in a choir. I realize that some male students wish that it were not so - but even those 'reluctant singers' make a contribution.
On April 20, we assembled in Assumption Church for a recording session arranged and directed by Sean Blair. In the space of two hours, we recorded ten pieces from our repertoire - both sacred and secular. We did most of them with one 'take' - and this is an unusual occurrence when recording. Normally, one has to do several repetitions for each piece in order to find one that shows the ensemble at its best. Neither were we bothered by motor-bikes racing past the church, or a helicopter flying over us -both things that have happened on a previous recording. Music education (choral or instrumental), in its truest sense, is education for empowerment. Musical empowerment happens when a group connects with, and transcends the skeleton of those black notes on that white page. It occurs whenever the ensemble as a whole performs better than the sum total of its individual members - and it happens when a conductor is able, by whatever means, to push students past the limits of their own expectations. It is my hope then that this new recording shows some of those attributes - and that it also serves as a gift and a memento of time spent in the Senior Choir. Malcolm V. Edwards
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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
April 2026
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