This article is from page 23 of the 2007-03-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 23 JPG
THE roads and byways of east Clare have been humming with the rich sound of singing over the last few months as a group of interested peo- ple have established a new commu- nity choir in Scaruf.
The inspiration for the group came after a visit from Archie Simpson of the Lismorahaun Singers last year which saw the north Clare based voice teacher offer a singing work- shop for the locals.
So popular was the work-shop that another workshop was organised
with Kate Daly, also from the Lis- morahaun Singers.
“We really like it and a couple of us came together with the idea of start- ing a singing group of our own,’ said Carla Bauer, one of the organisers.
‘In October we organised a second workshop, this time with Kate Daly. It was so popular, about 25 or 30 people turned up and after that we have been continuing the group on our own steam.
“We call it a choir but at the mo- ment it is more like a singing group really. We are hoping to one day to erow to become a choir.”
Carla is currently studying a mas- ters degree in Community Music in UL while her co-organiser Cather- ine Patience is a professional voice coach.
“We have a good mixture of people – there are a few teenagers as well as a mixture of men and women. We really try to stay open to everything that the members want to do,” con- tinued Carla.
“We enjoy examining different styles and different songs and every idea that is put forward is very wel- come. Overall though, it’s isn’t so much like a church choir, so far any-
way. It is more lively like a Baptist choir or something like that.”
Carla is currently hosting a series of six workshops with the group through her University of Limerick fo) actos
“We are going to experiment a bit during the workshops,” said Carla. “We will try a few different vocal exercises and see how we get on. We also want to introduce differ- ent rhythms and some instruments. Hopefully at the end of it we will come up with something original.”
Anyone interested in learning more can contact Carla at 061 – 921633.