The joy of singing
Summerside choir still carrying a tune one year after starting
SUMMERSIDE - When Rena Gaudet was a teenager, she sang in a youth folk group on Sunday afternoons.
After practice, she and her friends would stop into Andy’s Downtown Restaurant.
“The best part was going out for fries and gravy. We’d (have) five people and one order of fries and one pop with five straws. We were very poor.”
As for the singing, “we just loved it,” said Gaudet, who who still loves it and is now part of the senior women’s choir, known as the Silvertones.
Bev Cornish came up with the idea for the ensemble, but the choir is a group effort.
“Sometimes they call me the boss, but I’m just bossy,” said Cornish. “There’s a big difference.”
Cornish was at a Red Hat event and noticed a lot of the women were singing along.
“Wow, they can sing,” she thought.
So, when Cornish invited Gaudet to join the new choir, she had no hesitations.
The same could not be said for Debbie Graham.
The retired sheriff loved to sing – alone in her car.
Reluctantly, Graham agreed to join the group.
“Because I love to sing so much.”
Graham joined on one condition: that Cornish “be brutally honest” if she wasn’t a good fit.
“But I kind of blended in
OK,” said Graham.
Nearly a year in, she is still helping the team carry a tune.
Cornish has long been involved with music.
She was in a band in high school, taught dancing and sang in a barbershop chorus.
“I’ve just always had a love of music. So, when I heard these ladies singing along, I thought, ‘We should do that’,” said Cornish. “It was mainly to socialize, and if we made a joyful sound then that was the purpose of the exercise.”
Gaudet lives in a seniors’ complex and noticed some of her neighbours are pretty grumpy.
They’re the residents who never get out, she said.
Graham said it’s important for women in their age group to stay social and active.
“There’s so much seriousness in the world today. The world is a scary place, and I think this is our way of lightening people’s loads and putting a smile on their face.”
Everyone remarked on how much they enjoy the social aspect of the weekly rehearsal. They arrive early to catch up and in between songs they’re all eager to keep chatting.
Gaudet praised Cornish’s leadership and support.
“At the end of the day, she goes home and writes us an email telling us how great we are... so why wouldn’t you keep coming?” Cornish wiped her eyes. “It’s therapy,” said Cornish. “I leave here each week with a full heart.”