SINGING SUPPORT
Singing events raise money to help groups in CBRM
Singing events raise money to help groups in CBRM.
They both have busy careers at the top of their respective fields but several times a year, Dr. Kevin Orrell and pianist Shauna Doolan find the time to organize some of the most popular musical events in the CBRM to raise money for groups needing help.
Their next event will take place at St. Matthew Wesley Church, North Sydney, on November 10 at 7:30 p.m. when they host a Wartime Singalong in Celebration of the Centenary Anniversary of Armistice Day.
“Shauna and I and our friend Brine MacIsaac who has since died - we have done singalongs for community events and fundraisers for what must be 25 years. We did 18 years for the Rotary Club at Christmas and we did spring concerts for school bands that were raising money at Malcolm Munroe,” said Orrell in a recent interview. “We’ve done them for the Savoy - so this is something that we’ve done over the years. The church in North Sydney has had two Christmas singalongs and we did a spring one just last May. It helps to raise money and supports their congregation which is smaller.”
Money raised from the November 10 event will go towards the expenses of the Cape Breton Chorale, of which Orrell is a member, and the Cape Breton Veterans Hospital Comfort Fund. The concert theme will
be the music from the wartime era which Orrell says is popular among seniors and people from the legion. The event will feature performances from The Cape Breton Chorale and solo performances from Ryan Billington and Ruth Ann Morrison.
Tickets are $20 from Cape Breton Chorale members, Bernard LeVert (902-539-7495), Shoppers Drug Mart in North Sydney, Sexton’s Pharmasave in Sydney Mines and St. Matthew Wesley Church Office.
“It’s a casual evening,” says Orrell. “For many people, they enjoy the music. They come, they receive a set of words, we play the songs in medleys so there isn’t a stop-start. It’s fairly energetic and we go through a large number of songs that will generally appeal to a great deal of people. We supply song sheets that everybody who comes will receive at the door and they can follow along. We’ll play the accompaniment and they enjoy the singing.”
Orrell is a busy orthopedic surgeon but he always manages to find some time to indulge in his favourite hobby, playing the piano and singing.
“Everyone has their passions and hobbies - it happens to be a passion of mine.”
It’s also a therapeutic choice. Music is known for its healing benefits and for busy health professionals, it takes away some of the stress of their careers.
“The big discussion over the last several years about doctors
in Canada and particularly in Nova Scotia is the burnout rate and to have hobbies that you enjoy that are completely different from what you do at work are very important. I think that for me, that’s an opportunity to relax and to enjoy things that will keep me working longer.”
Not surprisingly, the medical community in Cape Breton is a musical one with a group of medical professionals who regularly play and sing together and a hospital choir that Doolan directs and is perhaps the only such hospital choir in Canada, adds Orrell.
When asked why the singalong events remain popular, Orrell says there’s no great secret.
“Cape Bretoners are notoriously musical people. And they like to sing.”