Boston
Singers' Resource News Bulletin, December - 2005
SENIOR MUSIC OPPORTUNITIES by Joseph Stroup. In
a world that is increasingly youth-focused we can sometimes think that,
after a certain point in our lives, there won’t be any more chances
to make great music. But we’ve found evidence that there is a real musical life after 65.
A directory of opportunities for seniors is listed following the article.
If you have information you would like to add to the directory, please
email: info@bostonsingersresource.org
Some of our BSR
subscribers have been making and studying music for only a few years.
Others have careers that are in their second and third decades. And
it’s probably safe to say that, with a little luck, we’ll
all be singing and/or making music for a long time.
There are many in the Boston and eastern New England area who have,
in fact, found ways to keep their performing edge sharp well into their
senior years. They participate in organizations and help to put on productions
that are in high demand locally, in Massachusetts, and even internationally.
Two such groups have been making great music for a long time now and
we want to bring them to your attention.
With names like the Golden Tones and the Young@Heart Chorus, there’s
no mistaking these people for other than what they are; men and women
‘of a certain age’. But whether they have always been in the
arts or have come to it later in life, you have to acknowledge that
age doesn’t diminish the enthusiasm, energy, and striving for excellence
that they bring to their music.
The Golden Tones, from Wayland, Massachusetts, was formed in 1988 as
a sing-along group at the Wayland Senior Center. Under the direction
of founder and artistic director Maddie Sifantus they have evolved into
a chorus of sixty, performing over sixty shows a year in Boston and
metro-west. In addition to appearances at nursing homes and senior clubs
and residences, their intergenerational work at churches, schools, and
community events is something they especially enjoy. Earlier this year
they did a concert for the women incarcerated in Framingham Women's
Prison. Ms Sifantus called this particular event “most rewarding,
with them singing along with us at the end, and us teaching them songs
and them teaching us songs.”
A quick look at their website,
www.goldentones.org, reveals a performance schedule that we might
all hope for. The roster for just this month includes:
December 7 - Wellesley Hills Women’s Club
December 9 - Park Avenue Nursing and Rehablitation, Arlington
December 11 - The Rivers School, Wayland
December 13 - St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Wayland
December 15 - Ecumenical Service at Summerville at Farm Pond, Framingham
December 16 - The Sisters of St. Anne, Marlborough
December 23 - Wayland Nursing and Rehab, Cochituate
The purpose of the Golden Tones is to maintain and administer a senior
citizen chorus to improve the quality of life for chorus members and
the others through art and song: building community among chorus members
and bringing community to the others. It is the hope of Ms Sifantus
to enable folks to keep "singing through their lives", which
was the title of her 1997 Masters thesis, (she holds a BS and a MA from
Lesley University with a specialization in Elder Studies.) and she fully
endorses the West African Proverb, "If you can walk, you can dance;
if you can talk, you can sing."
A typical thirty to sixty minute show includes choral numbers, solos,
duets, skits, recitations, mimes, and dancing. As you might expect,
the music is drawn mainly from the popular repertoire of the first half
of the last century. But with each new season there are new programs
and, with them, the introduction of newer and contemporary material.
In celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of the Golden Tones in 1993,
they commissioned a work by composer and pianist Stephen James, who
has taught theory and composition at Amherst College, Boston University,
and the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. The work, entitled
‘To Everything there is a Season’, will be repeated at their
Rivers School performance on December 11.
Director Sifantus, who is also an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister,
is a founding member of TVS (The Vocal Section) which performs in nightclubs
and in recording studios. Her work can be heard on the soundtracks of
"Dick Tracy" and "The Secret of Roan Inish", and
on many other recordings. For her, the Golden Tones is something of
a family affair. Her mother, Lina MacNeill, a concert pianist and piano
teacher, has been with the chorus since its founding as their full-time
accompanist. Her father, who will turn 99 in February, still sings solos.
The Young@Heart Chorus is truly something completely different. The
music they present is not what you would expect of a chorus of senior
citizens. Take a moment to listen to the MP3 clips on their website,
www.youngatheartchorus.com/story.html,
and you’ll quickly realize why. The repertoire of the Young@Heart
Chorus includes music of David Byrne and the Talking Heads, of Bob Dylan,
Led Zeppelin and the Bee Gees.
The current age-range of the 25-member group is between 73 and 92. Although
it was originally started as a way to break up the tedium at a low-income
meal site for the elderly it has now become a by-audition-only group
with applicants from all over New England. The chorus is based in Northhampton,
Massachusetts, and has been featured on National Public Radio’s
“Morning Edition” and on WBUR’s “Here and Now”
because they are such a great story.
The performances are more than just singing. They take music and put
it together with dramatic costumes, scenery and dance movements, and
are accompanied by five or more musicians who are quite a bit younger
than most of them. They have incorporated slides and video into their
80 minute shows. The "script" is the songs' lyrics rather
than a typical theater narrative.
They have performed in Europe, Australia, Canada and Hawaii, playing
to sold-out houses. The group just got back from a two week run at the
Lyric Hammersmith Theater in London with their new show "Road to
Nowhere". In a review of this show, the Mail-on-Sunday newspaper
says, “Cheerful, compelling and gently subversive, this is the
most moving gig of the year. In their hands, words you know by heart
suddenly take on different meanings. ‘Lose your dreams and you
may lose your mind’ (Ruby Tuesday) is twice as poignant when sung
by Eileen Hall, who is 92.”
This is all pretty impressive for a group with medical histories that
include pacemakers, heart attacks and hip replacements. They take three
wheelchairs on tour for long walks between airport gates and for getting
around town.
Their director, Bob Cilman, is also the Program Director of the Northampton
Arts Council and, at 52, is a youngster compared to his chorus members.
About this work he says, “I've always been asked about the significance
of this work with old people. To explain what it is, I first have to
make clear what it isn't. The Chorus was never intended to be a social
service to aid the elderly. Instead, it’s all about making interesting
art. The Chorus gives a fresh look to Rock and Roll. Chorus members
have discovered that there is something interesting about the music
they begged their kids to turn off. For those of us who were brought
up with the music, it's amazing how much it becomes transformed when
it's sung by older people.”
In some important ways these two groups aren’t any different from
the opera companies and classical choruses that we admire or belong
to. They bring conviction and passion to the music they choose to perform.
Add to that the wisdom of years of experience and you have a recipe
for truly wonderful and fun music making.
MUSIC OPPORTUNITIES FOR SENIORS (If you have information you would like to add to this directory, please email info@BostonSingersResource.org
The Golden Tones
41 Cochituate Road
Wayland, MA 01778
Phone: 508.358.7091
Fax: 508.358.1684
Email: msifantus@aol.com
Website: http://www.goldentones.org
Young @ Heart
Chorus
240 Main St., Memorial Hall, Room 5
Northampton, MA 01060 USA
Phone: (413) 587-1300
Fax: (413) 587-1303
Email: info@youngatheartchorus.com
Website: http://www.youngatheartchorus.com
MUSE - Gift of
Song for shut in elders program
P.O. 650126
West Newton, MA 02465
Phone: (413) 222-5000
Email: info@museinc.org
Website: http://www.musicinc.org