Oakdale Community Choir Reflections

June 2010

 

Greetings!  This summer edition of the Oakdale Community Choir newsletter contains excerpts from choir members’ writing in the second half of the spring session.  I hope that reading the thoughts below help you recall the good times we’ve had and the good music we’ve made together.  Best wishes to Mary Cohen, Rose Schmidt, and the inside singers who are taking the song-writing class this summer.  I can’t wait to hear the results of the class, and I look forward to gathering together with all of you again on Tuesday evenings when the summer session is over.  Mary Trachsel Continue reading “Newsletter: June, 2010”

Oakdale-Community Choir Newsletter

March 30, 2010

 

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this month’s store of writing responses.  In keeping with the communal reading assignments, I’ve divided this edition of the newsletter into excerpts about musicking wherever it may occur—inside this choir or elsewhere in our past or present lives.  Thanks again!

 –Mary T.
Continue reading “Newsletter: March, 2010”

Happy 1-year Anniversary,

Oakdale community choir!

(AND HAPPY GROUNDHOG’S DAY TOO)

 

Writing Sampler #5

February 2, 2010

Dear Choir Members—In honor of our one-year anniversary, this newsletter traces the history of our choir through selections from past newsletters.  We conclude with some new selections from recent writings of choir members and a list of all the people who have participated in the choir, past and present.  Thanks to all who contributed to this newsletter and to the vitality of the choir.

Mary Trachsel 
Continue reading “Newsletter: February, 2010”

The Better-late-than-never, Thanksgiving 2009 edition of The Oakdale Volunteer Choir Newsletter.

 

A word from the editors:  At the beginning of the winter holiday season, we are thankful for this choir and the opportunities it gives us to make music and socialize with all of you. Thanks to Dr. Cohen for leading us, and thanks to Bill Hilderbrand for supplying the turkey for this issue.—Mary Trachsel and Jen Gerbyshak
Continue reading “Newsletter: Thanksgiving, 2009”

Meditations from the choir–#2!

May 2009

From the Editor…

            This semester, it has been my pleasure not only to sing with you but also to write with you.  Another pleasure of this semester, for me, has been editing two of these Chorus Newsletters, where our voices come together on the page.  As Dr. Cohen mentioned at the concert, I’m hoping to extend the writing component of the choir into a writers’ workshop at Oakdale.  A couple of you have already let me know you are interested (thanks!).  I hope others of you will be interested as well.  If you can walk, you can dance.  If you can talk, you can sing; if you can read, you can write.

I decided to call this  newsletter “Meditations from the Choir” because each one represents a writer pausing to reflect or meditate upon the experience of Tuesday evening rehearsals in the IMCC testing room.

Mary Trachsel
Continue reading “Newsletter: May, 2009”

IMCC-Community Choir Writing Sampler #1

March 2009

Dear Choir Members—In this writing sampler I’ve collected passages from the submissions of those who have given permission to share.  Thanks to all of you who have contributed to this collection.  It was a privilege to read the full submissions, and I wish time and space had permitted more and longer excerpts.  Below you will find a mixture of written thoughts that I’ve grouped into four themes: Getting to know each other, Descriptions of our rehearsal experiences, Ourselves as singers, and Ourselves as writers.  I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

                                                                                                                        Mary Trachsel Continue reading “Newsletter: March, 2009”