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Join SongWave 2008 The British Columbia Boys Choir celebrates 40 years of teaching boys to sing in 2008. In the past year under the direction of Artistic Director Tony Araujo and Associate Conductor Edette Wilks - over 120 boys from 60 schools and 9 Greater Vancouver communities have participated in our Choir’s Music Education Programs. The BCBC has an exciting year ahead with concerts in Europe, the United States and British Columbia. SongWave – a boys honour choir was created last year to allow boys that love to sing an opportunity to do so in an environment where it is all boys and singing is a cool thing today! As part of the Choir’s 40th Anniversary celebrations, we are pleased to present SongWave 2008 from October – December 2008. Commitment required by ALL SongWave singers: Participant Requirements: please read these carefully.
Boys nominated for the SongWave 2008 Honour Choir must attend Wednesday rehearsals from 5-6 p.m. from October 22 - December 21, 2008 to participate.
Performances:
Registration Forms can be completed online or you can print off and mail with Registration Fee of $40 (Visa, Mastercard cheque accepted – cheques payable to BC Boys Choir). Deadline for Registration & Nominations: Friday September 19, 2008 or until all spots are filled. SongWave 2008 - Registration & Nomination Forms Singing in the rain It’s a stormy afternoon on Ambleside Beach. In the distance cars arc across the Lions Gate Bridge, their headlights like little shooting stars in the dark afternoon. Just up from the shore, 120 members of the British Columbia Boys Choir stand shivering along a set of risers, their backs to Stanley Park and the container ships hulking past. The boys give a unanimous cry of mixed indignation and delight as the wind fills their rain ponchos like a symphony of blue parachutes. Their conductor and artistic director, Tony Araujo, dressed smartly in a black pinstripe suit, seems unfazed by the weather. He paces through the wet sand in his shiny dress shoes. “In ten years you’ll say to all your friends, we sang on Ambleside Beach in the freezing cold. It was – it was – who cares! It was so fun we had a good time!” The boys, aged seven to 21, all appear to be smiling, although a few of those grins could be frozen grimaces. The younger boys in the front rows will sing the higher parts of the harmonies, while the broad, adult-looking ones in the back represent the tenors and the basses. And today it seems nothing makes for a more exciting outdoor Christmas concert than the threat of high winds. Some of the younger boys have been rehearsing their parts in small groups while filing into position on the risers. The gusts of wind obscure their soft, tentative undertones of Jesus Christ the Apple Tree. They shift excitedly, their poncho hoods pulled tightly up around their faces. As Araujo leads the group through a series of warmups, 100-or-so parents, siblings and passers-by hop about from foot to foot on the cold beach. One parent shivers past, his cell phone squashed between his ear and his shoulder. “It’s practically a blizzard!” he says, “A year ago this (Dec. 15 and 16) was the windstorm at Stanley Park. It’s like the anniversary!” The boys have been preparing for this day since early September, when the British Columbia Boys Choir, usually about 35 kids strong, invited 60 Lower Mainland schools to nominate boys to join the choir for its Christmas Songwave tour. What they got was 90 new recruits, most of them quite young, some with experience reading music, playing violin or piano. A few of the boys had about as much musical background as singing the national anthem at hockey games (they can even sing O Canada at their audition, if need be). The only stipulation was that they had to carry a tune. That’s the point of the British Columbia Boys Choir, explains Executive Director Margot C. Holmes, not just to provide a super-saturated niche experience, but to encourage the boys to be well-rounded. Lifelong friendships are what Holmes hopes the choir can provide the boys, plus important self-esteem building experiences. And yes, even “character building” experiences like this one. Holmes has been with the group for 14 years, and, as many of the parents attest, she has a way with the boys, calming their nerves and holding their attention when most people would be overwhelmed by a fidgeting army of high-energy kids crammed onto a set of risers on a cold afternoon. “Just expect it to rain!” she started telling them in September in preparation for this Dec. 16 concert. “Just go for it! Don’t be disappointed. Embrace it.” Holmes handles the logistics and organizational elements of the group while Araujo handles all things musical. He lives and breathes choral singing. A teacher at Saint Patrick regional secondary school in Vancouver, he holds degrees and diplomas in English literature, Pastoral Studies and music. He even has a doctorate in psychology. “But my life is choir,” he says with a grin as the boys laugh and wriggle in the risers behind him. A particularly violent gust of wind threatens to carry away the canopy set up for the choir’s accompanying electric pianist. A music stand topples and some sheet music hits the sand. Araujo turns to face the choir. “Okay guys,” he smiles, his voice projecting across the beach. “Here we go!” Swarms of curious seagulls swoop and circle in the wind currents above the choir. Shivering puppies get scooped up into the arms of their guardians. With gusto, the boys sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Joy to the World, Hark the Harold Angels Sing and other Christmas classics. The audience swells from about 100 to more than 300 and rain-slickered passers-by along the trail join the throng in delight. In no time at all, the concert is over: almost 90 minutes in the cold, scattered rain, but the crowd sings enthusiastically along and the boys are smiling and belting it out: their voices rising into the seagull-filled wind currents above. This summer, the boys celebrate the 40th anniversary of the British Columbia Boys Choir with trips to Holland, Italy and France. A few of the older tenors still talk about their trip to China: they tasted chicken heads, saw the Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors, plus they got to hang with the British Columbia Girls Choir. All in all, it was a great experience, they say. The boys file off the risers, meeting with their proud parents and making a beeline for their cars in the rain. They’ve certainly lived up to West Van Mayor Pamela Goldsmith-Jones’ opening statement at the concert: “I don’t think there’s anything as magical as the voices of young people... you’ve obviously got what it takes to be here on a wet West Coast afternoon!” 120 Boys to perform in SongWave 2007 from 9 Greater Vancouver communities and 60 schools! The British Columbia Boys Choir presents SongWave 2007 with 120 boys singing together for the first time from nine Greater Vancouver communities and 60 schools. Tony Araujo, Artistic Director of the British Columbia Boys Choir invited school music teachers to nominate boys from their school that had excelled in music to be part of the SongWave 2007 Boys Honour Choir. Teachers responded and the SongWave Choir began practicing together in September. There will be 120 boys ages 8-20 on stage for two public performances: SongWave on the Beach on Sunday December 16 at 3:30 p.m. - A free Carol sing-along outside on Ambleside Beach in West Vancouver (12th at the Beach) and Christmas SongWave will take place on Tuesday December 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (6265 Crescent Road at UBC, Vancouver). Tickets: $22- $15. Ticketmaster: 604-280-3311 www.ticketmaster.ca Info: 1-888-909-8282 www.bcboyschoir.org WHY SongWave 2007? – It is an opportunity for boys that love to sing to come and sing with other boys that enjoy music. In the British Columbia Boys Choir singing is respected by all singers – everyone is cool! The SongWave Choir has had such a great response that the Choir will continue in January 2008 in celebration of the British Columbia Boys Choir’s 40th Anniversary Season. COMMUNITY & EDUCATION: The SongWave Boys Honour Choir will present an Education Matinee Show for 600 students on Tuesday December 18 at the Chan Centre. This is an opportunity for the boys to sing for their peers. SongWave Members include boys from the following schools: in Burnaby: Buckingham, Burnaby Central, Cariboo Heights, Cariboo Hill, Gilmore, Marlborough, Montecito Elementary, Moscrop, Parkcrest, Stoney Creek; in Coquitlam: Our Lady of Fatima; in Langley: R.E. Mountain Secondary; in North Vancouver: Balmoral, Blueridge, Carisbrooke, Carson Graham, Cove Cliff, Lions Gate Christian Academy, St. Pius X, Sutherland, Windsor, Sherwood Park, St. Thomas Aquinas; in Pitt Meadows Greybrook Academy; in Port Coquitlam: Castle Park; in Surrey: AHP Matthew, AJ McLellan, Cloverdale Catholic, Erma Stephenson, Hyland, Lena Shaw, North Surrey Secondary; in Vancouver: Blessed Sacrament, Dr. George Weir, Fraser Academy, Kitsilano Secondary, Lord Tennyson, Mount Pleasant, Point Grey, Sir Richard McBride, St. Andrews, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Patrick’s, Vancouver College, West Point Grey Academy, Westside Preparatory, Windermere Secondary and in West Vancouver: Caulfield, Chartwell, Collingwood School, Gleneagles, Irwin Park, Mulgrave School, Rockridge, Sentinel, West Bay, West Vancouver Secondary.
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