One of Qualicum Beach’s newest choirs has won the attention of the Lieutenant Governor.
The Gardens Choir, made up of The Gardens at Qualicum Beach residents, began last fall. It was one of four singing groups from across the province to win in Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon’s Sing Me a Song contest.
Now, the group is continuing to practise their song, Welcome to Canada, in preparation for a planned visit by the Lieutenant Governor on May 23.
The competition invited schools, community choirs and amateur musical groups to write and perform an original song in celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday.
“I just thought it would be a fun exercise for us to give it a shot,” said Laurel Wright, recreation programmer at the Gardens who formed the choir.
“(The choir) started out pretty small,” she said, “and then this contest came across my desk a couple months ago and we thought we’d give it a try, and the choir has grown greatly.”
Choir member Bob Drew-Brook said he’d give writing the song a try. He wrote the first few lyrics and came up with the melody, while Pat Gouge finished off the words.
“I’ve never been a part of writing a song, so I didn’t quite know what to do,” said Wright.
“But (Drew-Brook) sang it into my iPhone. I recorded him singing it, and I can play the piano, so I plunked it out on my piano and I hand-wrote some music which I haven’t done for many a year and came up with the melody line.”
One of the residents’ sons — an accomplished piano player — wrote an accompaniment for the group, while other members contributed ideas and additions, as well as their voices to the piece.
After months of practising, the Gardens Choir submitted their piece via a YouTube video at the end of March, and were recently told the good news.
“It was the most euphoric day,” said Wright of when she informed the residents they had won the competition’s open category.
“It was so fun to share the news and everyone was so happy and… All the staff has been cheering us on, so yeah, it was very special.”
But the choir’s work is not done.
In addition to winning an honorarium of $1,000, which they plan to donate to the Gardens’ music therapy program, they are preparing to perform their song for Guichon on May 23.
The choir began with six members and has grown to 16 singers. Wright anticipates there could be more new members after all this. As for the future of the choir, she said, “who knows, now. We need more contests to enter.”