Elginburg PS choir and Emily Fennell light up Fairmount Home

May 22, 2014

There is nothing like the sound of young singers to put a smile on your face. That was the case for residents at the Fairmount home in Glenburnie, who were treated to a performance by the Elginburg Public School Choir on May 14.

Melissa Clyde, who is one of two recreation planners employed at the home, said that intergenerational programming is one way to get youngsters together with residents at the home. In this case it was the school who contacted Clyde's associate Katie Johnson, asking if they could come and perform for the residents.

The choir, which consists of 38 students from grades two through seven, sang an impressive and lively repertoire under the direction of Jennifer Guild, who teaches grade three at the school. The choir performed seven songs that included a number of their own personal favorites, including “Firework” and “Roar” by Katy Perry, Serena Ryder's “Sing, Sing”, The Trews' “Highway of Heroes” and Cindy Lauper's 1980s classic “True Colours”.

The choir often performs Christmas concerts at local seniors’ homes and Guild said that it was the choir members themselves who asked to sing at the Fairmount Home this time around. Guild herself has been singing since she was in grade four. She attended a performing arts school in Sudbury and has studied music privately since then. She has been heading up the Elginburg choir for the last six years and said that she believes strongly that music gives children “a great and very positive way to express themselves”. Guild says she makes a habit of trying to chose songs that are inspirational and ones that the students are familiar with and enjoy singing.

The concert wrapped up with a special guest appearance by Kingston singer/songwriter Emily Fennell who, with the help of the choir performed one of her latest songs titled “Love, War, Hope, Change” from her newest CD, “Rise”. The song is one of two that she will be performing with the Elginburg choir at her upcoming CD release concert, where she will be performing with her full band, which includes Gord Sinclair and Rob Baker from the Tragically Hip. The family-friendly concert will take place on Friday May 30 at 7:30pm at the Ambassador Hotel at in Kingston.

Fennell said she chose the Elginburg choir to perform with her since she “fell in love with their sound” when she heard them perform years ago when her daughter was a member. She said she likes to give youth interested in music an opportunity to perform in front of an audience. “These kind of opportunities for young singers are few and far between and are experiences they can learn from and will remember for a life time.”

Tickets for the upcoming concert are $15 for adults, $10 for children and are available at the Taylor Auto Mall at 2440 Princess Street in Kingston.

Residents of the Fairmount Home thoroughly enjoyed the performance and resident June Gamble, who has three grandchildren and six great grand children of her own, said, “You can always count on youngsters to steal the show.” Resident Georgina Smith agreed and said that it's always a treat to hear the voices of young singers.