POHC Sings at Roosevelt Hospital on Friday 6/8

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert.

On Friday, June 8, POHC congregated in an alcove of the lobby at Roosevelt Hospital on the West Side of Manhattan. After the whole group arrived, we headed to the Volunteer Services office, where we warmed up before going to the Inpatient Psychiatric Unit to perform. With the help of the staff, we moved the very interesting piano (painted all over with flowers and supported by two paperback books, one under each front leg) to where we wanted it.  Then Rene tested it by playing various classical snippets, to the amusement of the patients who were there early and watched the set-up procedure.  The staff arranged chairs in rows, we arranged ourselves behind the piano, and the rest of the patients came in.

We opened with Peace, Salaam, Shalom and followed with Higher and Higher, after which a woman called out, “Didn’t Jackie Wilson sing that?” (yes!), and so a dialogue was started between the audience and the Choir that went beyond our introductions, all of which they listened to with interest.

We did the first sing-along early on—This Land Is Your Land—and everyone participated, either by singing or clapping.  When it was over, someone shouted, “Yay, Woody!”

René’s bamboo flute introduction to the Cherokee Morning Song has been a hit with all our audiences so far, and this one was no exception. When we finished the piece, one of the patients asked what the words of the song meant.  Rene told him: “I am of the great spirit.” (Another version of the translation is thought to mean "our hearts and spirits are strong.")  The patient said that the main lyrics, “We n’ de ya ho,” sounded like “When they are whole.”  He seemed pleased when we told him that was a wonderful observation.

Guantanamera was another hit, with clapping and singing not only by the patients, but by the staff who were standing in the doorway. And when we finished the fade-out ending
of Vela, someone said, “That’s gorgeous!” After, we closed with Let There Be Peace, we did the second sing-along, Down By the Riverside, and when that was over, we got a standing ovation from the patients!

They were a wonderful audience, each listening in his or her own way, and we all came away feeling good about having sung there.

-POHC Alto

Welcome June! YAI Hosts POHC for Friday Night Fun

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert.

Coming to YAI is like coming home. We love them, they love us, and the attraction never dims. This is POHC Baritone Anthony’s turf, and as always, he introduced us on Friday, June 1. We were lined up in the hall, books in our left hands, and couldn’t hear what he said, but we did hear the result: resounding applause as we entered and took our places up front.

As soon as the cheers died down after our opening number, Bridge Over Troubled Water, a girl in the front row shouted out for a Spanish song, because that was her heritage.  René told her one was coming later.

When Barry introduced the Hungarian Rhapsody, someone knew that the third “B” name in famous composers was Brahms.  One of the choir members yelled out something about listening to the words, and sure enough, while we were in the middle of it, a girl in the second row was Ba-ba-Ba-ba-ing along with us, shaking her body in time to the music.  She got tripped up when we changed tempo, but picked it up again immediately.

Audiences of all ages love René’s demonstration of his bamboo flute and the pentatonic scale, and this one was no exception.  Maybe because these young adults pay such close attention and seem so interested, René told more of the story than he usually does.  And so the choir learned something today, too—that Rene baked the bamboo in his oven to dry it out. It’s quite a long flute, and this choir member wondered how big his oven was.

POHC Conductor and Music Facilitator Robert René Galván plays his bamboo flute.

One young man in the back suggested a few songs the choir could sing. René said they were possibilities and we would consider them, but we couldn’t do them today because we hadn’t rehearsed them. That same young man said he knew another classical song and hummed a long lick from it, which we couldn’t exactly place, but Rene said it sounded
like Dvořák. The man shook his head yes and looked pleased.

They loved our two sing-along songs, This Land Is Your Land and Down By the Riverside.  And what better measure of our closeness to these energetic, fully-present young adults than their knowing our routine. As Larry was introducing our closing number, before he even said the title, a young man up front said, “Let There Be Peace on Earth.”

As usual, there was a party afterward, to which the choir members were invited.  Good food, music and dancing, and high spirits. We will definitely be back!

-POHC Alto