White Spruce City Chorus Boot Camp a Success

Our Prince George Chorus has seen some changes over the last several years and the chorus declined to 9 members. Under the Directorship of Danita Braun, we tackled revitalization. For recruitment, this fall we hosted our Ladies A Cappella Boot Camp on three consecutive Tuesday nights.  Danita was fresh back from hiking the West Coast Trail, so she set up her tent and myriads of family hiking boots as part of the decorating.  From the beginning there was a sense of excitement and energy. Each new lady was paired up with a "seasoned" lady in a buddy system. With a package with their own brightly coloured folder and music, the visitors all had opportunities to find which part they fit into. Laughter and fun was found throughout the rehearsal room.

It was so uplifting to have all those extra voices in the room filling up our risers, filling up the room with beautiful harmony. Thanks to 3 former directors;  Jeanette Hawkensen, Jill Bishop, and Kathy Pereira and to alumni  Marilyn Johnson, Maureen Dick, and Maureen Morgan, who came to help out. We had 21 visitors over the 3 weeks. 

Some highlights from the first night:

·      The Value of music

·      The seasoned ladies sang some of our songs for the newbies

·      Physical warm ups and why we do it

·      Teaching on Posture, Air, and Resonance

·      Working on some songs

Highlights from the second night:

·      Talk about Chorus Values and the Reasons we Sing

·      Explaining Tension, Harmony and Listening

·      Mickey Mouse tag

·      Quartet demonstrations

·      Circling up to sing Can You Feel the Love

Highlights from the third night:

·      Crazy physical warm ups with Kathy

·      Things that contribute to Unit Sound

·      Fun with Choreography

·      Mickey Mouse Club demonstrations

·      Finished with Circling up to How We Sang Today

Since Bootcamp, 11 ladies have passed auditions. It was a very special time and all the hard work of advertising and spreading the word, preparing and welcoming paid off for an amazing time and a huge boost to our chorus. The Chorus continues on in an atmosphere of building: building harmony, community and fun.

Jennifer Hrankowski, White Spruce City Chorus