Singing in the Summertime

By F. Josephine Arrowood
Sun contributor

SummersingersWeb.jpgDo you remember the pure fun of singing as a child? Growing up in the 1960s, some of my earliest memories include kids sitting on the floor around a nun with a guitar, belting out, “If I Had a Hammer,” and “This Land is Your Land.” At the playground, my sister and I would soar on swings, while our voices flew above the tree leaves, raucously chorusing, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Feelin’ Groovy,” and “The Sound of Music.”

Somehow, as we grew older, the notion of singing as fun became lost in performance and judgment, talent shows and celebrity. Now, rather than gathering around an accompanist to sing, many people gather around the television to watch the wannabe stars of American Idol, or hunker down in concert seats while others make merry with their professional voices.

Dick DeVinney of Glen Arbor aims to change this trend, in Leelanau County, at least. Three years ago, the intrepid choir director began Summer Singers, sponsored by the Glen Arbor Arts Association, as a way to offer musical participation to anyone who wanted to sing, regardless of their experience or perceived ability.

“The number one thing you need to bring to the Singers is enthusiasm,” Dick explains. “There is no typical [music] person in our group; it’s open to anyone who wants to come,” even if they can’t make all the practices, due to family commitments or travel. Dick notes that choir members come from all over the area, including Northport, Benzie and Traverse City, to take part in the weekly “sing out” at the host site in Burdickville’s Community Reformed Church.

Dick brings a wealth of musical knowledge, experience, and people skills to this joyful endeavor. He retired to Glen Arbor several years ago, after several concurrent musical careers in Grand Rapids. He taught music theory and computer music at Grand Rapids Community College full-time; was organist and choir director at an area Methodist church; led adult choirs on two tours of Europe; and wrote concert reviews and music features for the Grand Rapids Press. In his so-called retirement, he and his wife Marian own and operate Synchronicity Art Gallery in Glen Arbor, and he is the organist at Leland’s Community United Methodist Church.

Dick emphasizes that the Summer Singers is not about him, but about creating a great mix of people who love to sing. This year, he hopes to expand the musical repertoire, including works by John Rutter; Randall Thompson’s “Alleluia”; a vocal jazz piece, “Autumn Leaves,” arranged by Traverse City Central High School’s music director Jeff Cobb; and the traditional “You Go to My Head,” which he hopes will both challenge and delight participants.

Choir practice can be bewildering to the novice singer, including references to half steps, treble and bass clefs, sharps and flats. However, this need not be cause for alarm. Music is pattern, rhythm, a secret language that becomes more accessible the more it’s practiced. And the reward is pure euphoria, ascending in a physical wave from the solar plexus and out of the throat on the wings of a poignant line of melody or robust harmony.

Developing the skill of active listening also proves useful, although it requires concentration to discern others’ sung notes. During a particularly enthusiastic song rehearsal last summer, Dick stopped the group to briefly discuss listening. “When others are singing loudly, the tendency is to try to sing more and more loudly, too, but soon you can’t hear what your fellow singers are doing. If you sing more quietly, you’ll actually be a better group, because you’ll be able to hear what everyone else is doing.”

Listening also helps tremendously at the beginning of a song. There is a mysterious alchemy that occurs when a choir simultaneously nails the opening notes, as they pull that A, G, or C out of thin air. Asked how this serendipity happens, Dick smiles like the Mona Lisa and says, “It just comes together.”

Veteran Summer Singers tenor Dick Kay of Empire states that, “I do this because it’s fun!” although he comes from a singing background that was limited to long-ago school choirs, and more recently, the Leelanau Community Choir, which meets in Suttons Bay in winter.

Alto Joellen Evans of Cedar recounts some of the gifts that music has brought into the lives of her family. “I met my husband John in a church choir in the Detroit area when I was 15, and he was 16. Our high school had a strong music program, and both John and I got scholarships to Interlochen [Music Camp] in singing. All of our children have had many opportunities in life because of music, and two of our kids became music teachers.”

The recently retired postmistress of Maple City is also an accomplished choir director, leading 45 adult Sunday singers in four-part harmony at the Leland Methodist Church for over 30 years. She describes her husband (and fellow Summer Singer) John as “my star tenor,” and it’s clear from the warmth and affection in her voice that music has woven strong bonds into their decades-long marital collaboration. (John also plays trombone in the Encore Winds, and has been a frequent pit orchestra member at Glen Lake High School’s musicals.)

Joellen reflects on the importance of singing as a lifelong passion and avocation. “After working hard all day, often the last thing I wanted to do was go to choir practice! I felt like I could be dragged kicking and screaming there — but five minutes into practice, it’s heavenly!”

She continues, “There is nothing quite as intimate as singing with other people. It’s a real sharing of who you are, even with people who are totally opposite of what your belief systems are. You’re in it together, as strong as your weakest singer, so people pull together to help each other out.” A Shaker hymn, performed by the 2005 Summer Singers, perhaps sums up the feeling best:

“…and when we find ourselves in a place just right,
we will be in the valley of love and delight.”

Summer Singers will meet for eight Tuesdays, beginning June 20 until August 8, from 7-9 p.m. at the Glen Lake Reformed Church in Burdickville (this is not a church singing group; the church has kindly lent its space to the Singers for a third year). ALL ARE WELCOME regardless of experience or ability. Contact Dick DeVinney at 334-7695 for more information.