POHC Sings at Ronald McDonald House, 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. 

On my way to the Ronald McDonald House building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, I noticed a guy with a nice hat carrying a drum. Could it be POHC Musical Facilitator, René? I sped up a little and said "Hello there!" He turned around with a serious look, but realized it was me, Wilfred!

We chatted until we got to the security desk where we had to use a registry computer to sign in (a bit confusing, but security helped us out). We thought we were all clear, but then Tenor Anthony, arrived and brought our temporary picture IDs that we had left downstairs with security..

The rest of the group arrived and we were a few minutes late starting our warm up. After we finished, we waited for more audience to show up, so we took a little rest until it was time to start the actual show. The audience was quite packed and then we were ready to begin.

Baritone Larry opened the show with his welcome speech as well as introduction of the song, Siyahamba. We followed with Jingle Bell Rock. Soprano Cheryl was in the group for this performance so we sang Hafinjan and started with her solo. Of course she was great, no question. We also sung Down By The Riverside while several members headed toward the audience shaking hands during the "I'm gonna shakes hands..." lyrics. Deck The Halls was next and we recevied a nice applause from the audience. We moved on to Imagine,  then This Land Is Your Land (only a few audience members sang along), and Peace Salaam Shalom. We had enough altos to sing 50 Kilowatt Tree, A La Nanita and Little Bitty Pretty One (the last song with with Alex, Nancy and myself singing solos). We all rocked the house! Then we finalized the performance with Give Us Hope and  our theme song, Let There Be Peace On Earth, with Larry and René doing the closing speeches. The audience really enjoyed the performance with one audience member sharing her positive thoughts on the performance after the show. Afterwards, everyone left very happy. Happy Holidays to all!

-Wilfred, Tenor Section Leader

POHC Visits Rivington House, Dec 18

 

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 Tuesday, December 18, POHC visited Rivington House on Manhattan's Lower East Side. After showing our photo IDs to security and receiving our bright red visitor stickers, we were instructed to press PH in the elevator. This brought us to the pent house on the fifth floor.  It consisted of two large rooms, one with chairs set up in rows and a grand piano covered with a red Christmas cloth, the other with physical therapy tables complete with pillows.  We stored our coats and bags near the PT tables, and Tenor Anthony’s mom put out the pizza-with-everything she had brought for us. 

 

Back in the first room we did our warm-ups as a few staff members made final adjustments to the chair arrangement and someone on the loud speaker announced a Hearts & Voices concert (meaning us) in the pent house. The residents--some using wheelchairs, others using canes, some walking without assistive devices--dribbled in as we were still running through a few bars of each song, deciding what to sing.  They took their seats and watched intently, so we explained that this was just the rehearsal.  It was fine with them—they seemed to like this taste of what was to come. One guy shouted out that he remembered us from last year. 

 

Five minutes later, we began the real performance.  As always, Siyahamba got us off to a rousing start. This audience loved everything we did.  They clapped.  They sang along.  When we got to the line "gonna-shake-hands-around-the-world" from Down By the Riverside, and were making our way through the audience, a woman said “Happy Holidays” to me while I was singing and shaking her hand.  René gave the audience instructions on how to join us for Little Bitty Pretty One, and they followed him to the letter, even to the softer and softer fade-out at the end.  When he gave the final cut-off, they did so exactly on time! Tenor Wilfred and Soprano Gwen did a great job on the solos--without microphones. 

 

Lily (former choir member, and the one who was the contact for this gig) slipped into the back of the audience while we were singing the third or fourth number.  So when we got to the closing song, Let There Be Peace On Earth, I invited her up to sing it with us.  A woman in the front row thought I was inviting her up, and she came to stand next to the altos. This woman hardly smiled throughout the concert, but clapped and sang along from her seat. Now, standing in front with us and facing the audience, she still didn’t smile, but she knew all the words and kept her eye on René and did everything she was supposed to do as a member of the choir. René caught her eye to let her know he knew she was up there and that he was including her.  After the applause, while we were still standing before the audience, she went back to her seat. Though she didn’t say anything, we could tell that this had given her a lot of pleasure. A nice reminder of how our mission to bring music to those in need includes allowing their voices (and hearts) to join with ours.

 

-POHC Alto

Singing After Sandy: POHC Visits Kings Hotel, November 24

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. In this edition, we have write-ups from two POHC Tenors.

Several weeks ago, just as we were all re-emerging from our homes after the Superstorm Sandy, one of the earliest members of the Peace of Heart Choir suggested that an additional outreach performance should be added in support of the hurricane recovery effort. Our schedule was already more than full, but the idea was so wonderfully in concert with our original Choir mission post-9/11 that it was clearly worth pursuing. Three weeks, and about two dozen phone calls later, after an attempt to sing at the Park Slope Armory storm shelter was foiled by its closure, we gathered at the Kings Hotel, deep in the heart of East New York, on a breezy Saturday afternoon, just two days after Thanksgiving.

The Kings Hotel sits on a lonely industrial stretch of Atlantic Avenue, deep in the heart of Brooklyn. An elevated portion of the avenue runs overhead down the middle of the street. It's a plain brick building, next to what looked like a recycling center for collected cans and bottles. Julia, a very polished blond volunteer at the shelter, greeted us in the lobby with her small dog.

We headed downstairs, through a maze of small rooms in the basement being used as social areas where people could sit, talk, play cards, and read. A dozen or more smokers congregated outside on the side of the building. The dining hall in the basement was a simple but decent-sized room. We cleared out the center of the room for the choir, so we were surrounded by chairs and tables on three sides.

During the early part of the warm-up, there were a few minutes of trepidation for Alto Pearl and Soprano Cheryl as they were the only people in their sections. But in the end, we had a full complement of about a dozen singers, with every part covered.

We sang for perhaps 30 older folks. Clearly, they'd been through a lot the last few weeks and were tired. Many were wearing their coats. These were mostly residents from Belle Harbor Manor and one or two other assisted living facilities in the Rockaways, who'd been moved to the Kings Hotel when the Armory was closed.

We began with Siyahamba, which is undoubtedly one of the best opening numbers we've done. It welcomes the audience wonderfully, and catches their attention.

René got the whole audience trained up to join us as we sang backup on Little Bitty Pretty One, which was fantastic. So glad we simplified the arrangement. It's a great sing-along opportunity, and Tenor Alex did a nice job on the solo.

The audience was clearly appreciative, but fairly quietly throughout, applauding each song, but not getting overly excited. Still, as at most Peace of Heart Choir performances, there were a few people who were clearly more touched by the music than others.

One older women, with no visible teeth, was singing along and smiling through most of the show. Afterwards, she complimented Cheryl on her voice. She was there with her friend. She'd lost her walker, her clothes, and almost everything else in the flood, and didn't even know what was left behind to salvage at this point. But she was happy to be alive and well, and had truly enjoyed the concert.

Another Kings Hotel resident, a middle-aged man wearing a beret and several layers of clothes, began singing and dancing along for a song or two. Before the show, he had been combing through his music for things he might join us on. Looked like he had a lot of Sinatra-era classics. He said he was performing with his group there on Sunday.

A black man with large glasses, who'd been sitting very quietly as we talked with others after the show, asked when we might see them again, and hoped that we could at least make it out to The Rockaways to sing for them again. At this point, I don't think they're sure if the facility they were living in will reopen, or when. But we'll check, and perhaps try to make the trek out there in a coming season.

After the performance we met Caron, a shelter volunteer who'd helped set up the show. She'd come straight from a bar mitzvah in Park Slope, but caught most of our performance. She was so happy we'd made it. Apparently when this group was at the Park Slope Armory they had a virtual parade of performers coming through. But few have made the trek to East  New York.

Overall, a lovely performance. We offered our sympathy, our music and the solace it can provide, and offered of ourselves.

-POHC Tenor

POHC Performs at Kings Hotel for displaced residents taking shelter after Superstorm Sandy, November 24

This is Wilfred telling you about today's outreach. I had a bit of confusion getting to the area of Brooklyn, since the street where Kings Hotel is located is a V-shape. As I was trying to get to Atlantic Ave, I somehow went the wrong way. Luckily, I got back to where I suppose to be and finally reached the building. I was about an hour early waiting for others, and as they arrived, I found out they had also been confused by the street. The lobby area was a bit small for our group, so we went downstairs to the lunchroom, to rehearse.

We set up the chairs, did our warm ups and rehearsed several songs. The audience there was crowded, and we waited until it was time to perform.

My fellow tenor, Gary, started the choir introduction and we started the song with Siyahamba. We followed with Peace Salaam Shalom and Od Yavo. During Od Yavo, we tried to get people to clap but people didn't seem interested in joining in that way. Maybe because they weren't familiar with the song. They did applaud at the end of the song, then we moved on to This Land Is Your Land.

Now here's my favorite part. When we sang the next song, Down By the Riverside, I noticed one audience member put on his glasses, and soon after he was dancing and snapping his fingers, singing the song with us. It must have been his favorite song of the day. We also did our Christmas lullaby, A La Nanita Nana, then Little Bitty Pretty One, and Alex alone was the soloist for this song. Then we sang Hafinjan and Cheryl was the soloist . We finished up with Light One Candle, then Imagine,  and Give Us Hope. Gary made a closing performance speech and introduced our theme song, Let There Be Peace on Earth.  I did the solo on this one and yes I'll admit, I missed Deb singing the female voice of the solo with me. The audience sure did leave us with a nice applause, and we were ready to find our way back to the subway.

-Wilfred, POHC Tenor

Queens Library Promotes POHC December Performances

Queens Library will host two POHC community concerts in December. Check out the custom flyer Queens Library created to promote the POHC. Very nice! We hope you'll join us on Saturday, December 1 at 3pm at the Central Library Auditorium, and on Saturday, December 22 at 3pm at the Jackson Heights branch.

POHC Performs at the Women's Mental Health Shelter at the Park Avenue Armory, November 17

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 sunny and brisk this past Saturday, as I was approaching the Park Avenue Armory Women's Mental Health Shelter for POHC's latest concert. I'm used travelling to the shelter now, since I've performed there before with POHC. I saw some fellow POHC members entering the building. After a short elevator ride we made it to the third floor where we set out coats and bags in the pantry. From there, I could overhear René leading the Choir in voice warm ups in the cafeteria across the hall, where we were also to perform our concert.


Some of the shelter residents arrived in the cafeteria while rested our voices after the warm-ups. Soon, we were ready to perform. We started with Siyahamba, which we sang very well. The audience really liked it. Then we sang Peace Salaam Shalom. We tried to get the audience to participate they didn't know the words; I think they liked the song anyways. Our third song was Od Yavo. We did get the audience to clap along with this song. Then came Down By The Riverside and several choir members went down to the audience shaking hands when a catchy lyrics "I'm gonna shake hands around the world..." started.

Next was Little Bitty Pretty One with yours truly singing solo along with my fellow Tenor, Alex. Then we did This Land was your Land. We usually have the audience singing with us, but the lyrics were not passed around, so the audience didn't sing it as much. They seemed to enjoy it regardless. We moved on to Imagine, then Hafinjan with Soprano Cheryl doing the solo. She has one great voice there. 

Toward the end we sang our Channukah song, Light One Candle, then a 9/11 commemorative song, Give Us Hope. We closed with our theme song, Let There Be Peace of Earth, with Soprano Deb and myself singing the solos. The audience loved us, and they thanked us for the performance we did for them, which was wonderful.

As we approach Thanksgiving this week, I would like to wish everyone a wonderful, and Happy Thanksgiving. I'm am very thankful for being with POHC!!!

-Wilfred, Tenor Section Leader

POHC Performs at Jewish Community Center, November 3

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 the Saturday after superstorm Sandy disrupted the East Coast, the Manhattan Jewish Community Center hosted POHC for a concert as part of their Saturday R&R program. The JCC lobby was packed near capacity.  Mothers and fathers sitting on chairs, bouncing their knees up and down in time to our singing because their hands weren’t free to clap—they were holding on to the children on their laps.  More adults were standing behind and in between them. In the back, other people were sorting donations of clothing and assorted items for people severely affected by the storm.  On the side, still other people were clustered around the snack and beverage table.  The place was humming with the noise of a crowded restaurant where you have to shout to talk to your table-mates.

Into this din marched the SATB members of the POHC.  We took our places and waited for some quiet so René could introduce the Choir.  When the quiet didn’t come, we decided to just sing.  Our opening number, Siyahamba, couldn’t have been better-chosen. Now we had their attention!

I can’t say that they were totally quiet for the rest of the concert.  I can say that all of them in the front were paying attention, especially the wide-eyed children.  So were most of them in the back. And when we got to Od Yavo, I saw some of the people sorting items on the donation table singing with us while they worked.  (At one point, in the middle of a song, a man came up and whispered something in René’s ear.  When the song finished, René faced the audience and said, “I’m told to announce that three more teenagers are needed in the sorting area.”) 

This was sabbath at the JCC, where peace is supposed to reign and no work is to be done.  No work means no appliances, which means René was not allowed to play his piano, which means our entire concert was a capella (unless you count René’s pitch pipe).  For the Choir—at least for me—this was an unexpected treat. René was 100% conductor, his gestures and facial expressions letting us know exactly how to shape the sound.  And we did give forth a really fine sound, the controlled chaos around us notwithstanding. 

Contrast today with our concerts at the hospice, where we go into a patient’s room, gather around his or her bed, and sing to one person.  Each is satisfying in a different way.

-POHC Alto

POHC Sings for St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Psychiatric Unit, Oct 14

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 a beautiful fall Sunday, the Peace of Heart Choir visited St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital in Morningside Heights, near Columbia University. The lone staff member eating lunch in the first floor cafeteria said she didn’t mind our warming up within feet of her table, so we made ourselves at home. Then we went upstairs to the day-room of the psychiatric unit. 

 

POHC members rehearse in the lunch room at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, October 2012.

 

As always, our pre-concert arrangements interested the audience—the re-arranging of chairs, the moving of the piano, René’s tickling the keys and pronouncing it a "fine specimen."

 

Then René introduced the choir, and Gary introduced the South African hymn, Siyahamba, inviting the audience to determine whether this was in Zulu or Africaans.  René started his drumbeat, and we were off. No one weighed in on the language question at the end of the song, but they were obviously engaged. Starting with the next song, John Lennon's Imagine, we invited them to sing along with any of our numbers.  No one did, except for the actual sing-alongs, Down by the Riverside and This Land is Your Land.  But many clapped along or swayed, and all seemed interested in the introductions.

 

A few patients walked in and out during our performance, but there was a core who stayed for all eight songs. And though we were a bit sparse on some parts, POHC is nothing if not adaptable. A soprano joined the altos, a first soprano sang second, and, for our Spanish song, Nanita, René sang with the basses.  

 

At the end of the concert, we mingled with the audience, all of whom thanked us for coming and said they enjoyed it.  One of the nurses told me she like the a capella songs best, because there was more of a connection with the audience.  She also said she loved the songs with the drums.  Another staff member asked us to come back for Thanksgiving and Christmas; our Steering Committee Co-Chair, and tenor, Gary talked to her about scheduling for next year. 

 

Before we went our separate ways, we gathered in the street under the St. Luke’s sign, and on of our newer sopranos, Noella, posed us with our black folders in our left hands and took our picture for the website.

 

Post-performance smiles at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital.

-POHC Alto