A group of singers hope to liven things up in Okotoks with a new chorus focused on jazz.
After singing together over the summer, the Foothills Philharmonic Jazz Chorus is starting a full season Thursday evenings starting Sept. 8 at the Okotoks Alliance Church.
“It’s something a little bit different,” said Germaine Miese-Looy. “I did a lot of jazz in high school jazz band and choir and I really missed it.”
Miese-Looy came up with the idea for the Okotoks jazz chorus earlier this year.
She joined the 60-plus member Foothills Philharmonic Chorus a year ago and when the season ended this year she wasn’t ready to stop.
“This year I thought it would be good to have something going for the summer,” she said. “I talked to a few members of the chorus and there was a few of us who wanted to do something a little different and continue singing in the summer.”
Twelve people joined the Foothills Philharmonic Jazz Chorus, meeting Tuesday nights from June until mid-August, said Miese-Looy.
“The difference with jazz is there is more room for being goofy and having more fun with it and just different types of expression,” she said. “Choral music is more focused on the way the chords are built together. With jazz it’s more about what can we do different with this music and what’s going to sound different and still be appealing to people.”
Miese-Looy said there are fewer rules when it comes to jazz music.
“It’s more like anything goes,” she said. “It’s built the same way with sopranos, altos, tenors and bass, but you can be more playful with it than with choral music.”
Conducting the Foothills Philharmonic Jazz Chorus is Shawn Lindenbach, who thought it would be a great opportunity to get back into the music scene with some quality musicians.
“I’m an instrumentalist,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of work with choirs in the classical realm but I do have jazz experience. Where classical music is very structured and grounded in tradition, for the most part jazz choir is more free of that. It’s more self expression.”
Lindenbach said he started with well-known jazz songs, bringing in music from the early 1900s, so members of the chorus could get an understanding of the style of jazz music.
The feedback over the summer has been positive, he said.
“People have loved the music,” he said. “It’s a really enjoyable experience for everybody with the camaraderie of working towards a final goal.”
Lindenbach wants to cap the chorus at 16 members to keep the group small and intimate.
“Jazz music is more about experience,” he said. “The more people we have, the less it’s on the individuals and the self expression that they can provide becomes more a conglomeration of trying to get everybody to do the same thing. It has a better sound with a smaller group.”
Over the summer, the Foothills Philharmonic Jazz Chorus consisted of a combination of strong singers and those with little experience.
Lindenbach said those interested in auditioning for the chorus do not need to be experienced.
“Having musical experiences isn’t an asset,” he said. “We hope to get whoever we can.”
Auditions will be held for each interested person to determine placement and in the event of large interest from the public, said Lindenbach.
“I want to keep it a smaller choir so if we have too many people auditioning it could turn into an actual audition,” he said.
Anyone interested in joining the Foothills Philharmonic Jazz Chorus can contact Shawn Lindenbach at [email protected], 587-700-0079 or by filling out an application form at foothillsphilarhmonic.com
