POHC Welcomes Spring at St. Luke In the Fields, April 15

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.

It was a triple kickoff day! Not only was it The POHC inaugural concert of the Spring season at St. Lukes of the Fields, but our concert was part of the kickoff for Sing New York, and we debuted POHC’s ad hoc accompanist (and singing member), Marv.

We sang in the lovely church of St. Luke in the Fields, on one of the quieter streets in Greenwich Village.  Call time was 3:00pm. POHC Tenor Gary was out front directing us: walk through the little garden to the back entrance, then go on a follow-the-yellow-brick-road adventure around corridors and down stairs to the choir room in the basement, where we did most of our warm-up. The last part of the warm-up was upstairs in the chapel itself, where we were to perform.  

There was a smattering of people in the audience—maybe ten or fifteen—sitting in widely separated seats, most in the back.  They clapped for all the warm-up songs. Then it was 4:00pm, time for the real performance.  Since we were already in formation, we didn’t go offstage and come back on. Steering Committee Co-Chair Larry just announced to the audience that the warm-up was over and the performance would begin, and they would hear the same songs again.  They were cool with that.
 

René’s flute behaved, and Marv accompanied us for our version of The Pretenders' I’ll Stand By You, leaving René free to conduct. The audience was small but enthusiastic. They listened to all the introductions and clapped for all the songs the second time around, too.  I found Larry’s comments about Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water most interesting—how he first heard the song in the late 1960s in South Africa, and the next morning sang what he remembered of the melody to the proprietor of a record store because he didn’t remember the name of the song.  The proprietor knew what song it was and Larry came away with a 33-rpm record.  Years later, Larry was in Trafalgar Square in London when Nelson Mandela came to talk, and they played Bridge Over Troubled Water that day, too.

There was another group performing after we finished, and some of us stayed for that. All in all, despite the small audience, it was an auspicious beginning to our season.

-POHC Alto

POHC Featured on GeNYU Blog

Back in September 2011, POHC commemorated the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 and the 10th Anniversary of the formation of our choir. We participated in several events during the weekend of September 11, 2011, and were featured in various news outlets. There was one article about POHC that was under the radar until now, check it out at GeNYU, and NYU journalism blog covering the beat for Generation Y. Check it out!

Peace of Heart Choir Brings Peace of Mind

POHC Starts 2012 Singing for YAI January 6

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.

It's a great way to start 2012 when you can spend a Friday night with friends at YAI, a network serving people with disabilities and their families. We warmed up in a classroom that had a “NO SINGING ALLOWED” poster on the bulletin board.  (We took a group picture with it, if anyone has the photo, please email it to peaceofheartchoir@yahoo.com.)  Then, POHC Baritone Anthony went into the performance room to introduce the choir.  None of us in the hall heard what he said, but we walked in to enthusiastic applause and waving hands, so it must have been good. 

 

René didn’t say much when he introduced our first number, just that it was Seasons of Love from Rent, but it was enough to evoke cheers from the audience. One young lady in the front row sang the entire song with us. 

 

The YAI young adults are, without a doubt, our most enthusiastic and energetic audience.  They are fully engaged, listening to the songs with concentration, rocking, clapping, and occasionally singing along. After I introduced 7 Principles and said it was in both English and Swahili, one young man said he could count in Swahili and recited the numbers one through ten.  Now it was the choir’s turn to applaud him.

 

The young men and women loved the idea that we were going to sing two songs at the same time: Night of Silence and Silent Night.  We invited them to sing along with the Silent Night part.  When we did the German version, I saw the same young lady in the first row listen for the first sound of every word, then mouth it and copy what we were saying. Some choir members talked to her later, and found that she is interested in auditioning with us. 

 

Ocho Kandalikas proved to be a clap-along, with René revving up the audience–they clapped faster and faster, so we had to sing faster and faster.  Good thing we warmed up with our repetative exercise “the tip of the tongue, the teeth, the lips.”

René had decided not to do Feliz Navidad, because it was too long after Christmas, but one girl kept asking for a Spanish song, and that was the only one we had this season, so we obliged her. Others sang along, and the girl who asked for it was extremely pleased. 

 

It would be an understatement to say that the YAI young adults loved everything we did.  They listened to all the intros and clapped for them. They were up on popular culture, telling us some things we didn’t know. Everything they called out was relevant, including that the founder of Kwanza was Dr. Karenga.  One young man wanted to know if the song Ocho Kandalakis was in Hebrew, and we said it was in Ladino, a mixture of Spanish and Hebrew.

 

As they always do, they invited us to the party afterward.  The refreshments were quite elaborate—rolled sandwiches in tortilla bread, cookies, crudites, chips, drinks...

 

Thanks, YAI.  You give us a real lift. Happy New Year to all!

 

-POHC Alto

POHC Sings at the Women's Mental Health Shelter at the Park Ave Armory, Dec 23

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.

Between the hustle and bustle of Hanukkah and Christmas, POHC members from all around the city gathered on Friday, December 23, to sing at the Women's Mental Health Shelter at the Park Avenue Armory, part of the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House organization. Those of us who found our way into the fortress via the Park Avenue entrance wound up on the third floor. Those who entered through the side door on 67th Street wound up in the basement.  Each group wondered when the others were going to show up.  Thank you to our Communications Coordinator and Baritone member Robert, for finally uniting us.

We warmed up in a side room where some kind elf had left cookies and apple cider for us, along with a thank you note. Then we went into the cafeteria to perform.  There were only a handful of people there, so the woman in charge announced over the PA system that there would be a concert, and a few more women came in.

We opened with Seasons of Love—no introduction, just singing.  One or two women swayed; most just sat with no expression.  The applause was appreciative but mild.  Then a woman called out, “Can I ask a question? Was that from Rent?”  René said it was, and the ice was broken.

Next came Ocho Kandelikas, (Eight Candles, a Hanukkah song in Ladino) introduced by René. One woman sang the counting part with us. Our sound must have traveled to the dormitory rooms off the sides of the long hall outside the cafeteria, because little by little, more women drifted in.

Julie filled in for Megan with Silver Bells, with many audience members now singing along with us. After we finished Night of Silence/Silent Night, another woman called out that her former husband used to be in a choir, and he sang Silent Night during every concert he did.  As we introduced each song, the connection between the audience and the choir grew. They especially loved Alex’s intro to California Dreamin. When we got to the “Gonna shake hands around the world” part of Down By the Riverside, some choir members went into the audience to shake hands while we sang, and all the women extended their hands to us.

Our effect on these women was palpable.  Some faces brightened right away.  Some took three or four songs before they were pulled in.  But by the end of the evening, all had let go of the history they had come into the room with and let themselves become totally involved in the moment.

As we were walking out at the end, I told one woman I saw her singing the German lyrics to Silent Night, and she said she used to live in Hamburg and her husband is from Sicily.  The woman sitting next to her said, “I feel as if you just got started.  I could go on and on.” Another great concert, POHC.  This is what we're all about.

-POHC Alto

POHC Sings at The Times Square, a Common Ground Residence, Dec 21

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.

After a successful Winter Fundraising Concert on Sunday, December 18, POHC got back to business with a Community Concert on Wednesday, December 21. This was our second concert at The Times Square, the nation's largest permanent supportive housing project for low-income and formerly homeless individuals and persons living with HIV/AIDS, operated by Common Ground.

After warming up in a tiny basement room where we left the door open and serenaded the people in the computer room next door, we went up to the spacious fifteenth floor ballroom to sing to more than 100 residents at their holiday party.  The MC for the evening, complete with clip board and Santa hat, told us there was a small band on before us, and he didn’t want any break in the entertainment—we were to go on the minute the band ended.

We walked in while they were playing their last number, an instrumental rendition of Jingle Bells, so we provided an impromptu vocal accompaniment, threading our way through people finishing their dinners as we sang our way to the front.  By the end of the song, we were already in formation.  There couldn’t have been a more seamless transition from one act to the next.

From our first number, Seasons of Love, we had their attention.  When René introduced Ocho Kandelikas (Eight Candles, a Hanukkah song in Ladino) he said we would get faster and faster with the addition of each candle. One man shouted, “Go for it!”  Indeed, every time we came to the "uno-dos-tres" line, there was a woman singing it right along with us.

The audience was polite during the opening measures of Silver Bells, not realizing what song it was until we got to the “City sidewalks, Busy sidewalks” familiar melody, and then they applauded--even though it was the beginning of the song.

All the song introductions got applause.  They were especially rapt when Judith explained the Kwanzaa song, Seven Principles, and they sang along with many, including Silent Night and Let There Be Peace On Earth.

As we were making our exit, doing a reverse threading through the tables, many audience members thanked us personally.  One man said, “Thank you.  I mean really, thank you so much!”  Another gave high-fives to those of us who walked past his table. Go POHC! 

-POHC Alto

'Twas the Week of the Concert: POHC Pre-Show Bustling

December marks the end of Peace of Heart Choir's fall rehearsal and Community Concert season, culminating in the Winter Fundraising Concert on Sunday, December 18. The concert's theme is "Season of Love" and will feature more than a dozen songs celebrating winter holidays and sentiments of love and peace. As an all-volunteer choir, the week before the big show requires all members to participate in preparations beyond their regular musical rehearsals. 

Spreading the Word 

Early in the season, members create, print, and distribute flyers, but much of the later outreach happens online. The POHC Facebook page admins have been sharing music video teasers of songs in this season's repertoire: California Dreamin by The Mamas & The Papas; Seasons of Love from the Broadway musical Rent; and The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting....) sung by Nat King Cole.  

"I've invited every one of my Facebook friends," shared Robert Hornsby, a POHC Baritone and Communications Coordinator. "Even if they can't make it, it's good to hear from them." It is also good to hear from friends and alumni of POHC. Shakti, a former POHC Alto, posted "Turn it out y'all! xoxo" on the Facebook page and Jane, a former POHC Soprano and Steering Committee Chair posted, "[Seasons of Love] brings me back! Break a leg! xx."

Logistics

Behind the scenes, POHC members make use of their many non-singing talents. Writers and editors finalize and print the program. Marv, a POHC Bass and Assistant Treasurer, facilitates last-minute ticket sales. Wilfred, a POHC Tenor and composer of a new song, Peace of Heart Choir, debuting on Sunday, directs a rehearsal of members who will be introducing songs during the performance. Board members gather supplies for the intermission bake sale. Every member must do their part at home, from selecting a performance uniform to putting their music in performance order. And POHC Steering Committee Chair and Bass Larry Hurst reminds members of one last detail in a pre-concert email: "Have a good nights sleep Saturday!!!"

Community Concerts 

One goal of Sunday's concert is to raise the money necessary to further the POHC's mission of promoting peace, healing and community through music. The free Community Concerts are where POHC really shines, so what better way to spend a pre-concert afternoon than doing what they do best? POHC members will head to Manhattan's Lower East Side to perform for and visit with residents and staff at Barrier Free Living, an accessible residence and community center.

The Music

POHC Musical Facilitator Robert René Galván has been tirelessly rehearsing with the group every Thursday, at additional sectional rehearsals during weeknights, and at a long Sunday rehearsal in November. POHC Soprano Patricia Young, currently a non-singing member, visited the long November rehearsal and was "really impressed" by what she heard. "It was really more than just the sound that was impressive. It was a feeling. The Choir performed Seasons of Love for me and I was blown away. Honestly, that's not a favorite song of mine--I've never seen Rent so I really only know the song from played-out commercials--but the expression of emotion was so sincere, so real, it invigorated the song with new life."

After months of rehearsals, POHC members have their own favorite songs from the season's repertoire. "My favorite songs this season are Wongolo and Amani," shared Nancy Gross, POHC Soprano. "I love the fact that Wongolo is such a complex piece with its change of time signatures and the exquisite harmony." Another fan of the Haitian folk song Wongolo is POHC Baritone Barry Weiss. "When I hear perfect harmony, balanced moving tones, and a sense of really communicating the words of the song...I get  a rush of exhilaration that makes me bask in our collected momentary triumph...Wongolo is the song that does it most for me this season."

Support POHC in celebrating a "Season of Love" tomorrow and find a new favorite song that will do it for you this season.  

Get Your Tickets to Celebrate a "Season of Love" with POHC on 12/18

Give the gift of music to yourself, your friends, your family and to New Yorkers in need. Join the Peace of Heart Choir this Sunday, December 18 at our Winter 2011 Fundraising Concert. 

Season of Love with the Peace of Heart Choir

Sunday, December 18

3:00pm-5:00pm

Ida K. Lang Recital Hall, Room 424

Entrance on East 69th Street between Lexington and Park

Tickets:

$18 from a POHC member before 12/16

$19 online 

$20 at the door

Get out of the cold and warm your heart with music celebrating peace, love, warmth, light and winter holidays like Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa. Hear music in Swahili, Spanish, Ladino, Haitian Creole, German and English. 

All proceeds support POHC's free concerts series for area shelters, hospitals and service providers and non-profit groups. We thank you for your support and look forward to seeing you on Sunday.