At Ronald McDonald House

On my way to the Ronald McDonald House building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, I noticed a guy with a nice hat carrying a drum. Could it be POHC Musical Facilitator, René? I sped up a little and said "Hello there!" He turned around with a serious look, but realized it was me, Wilfred! We chatted until we got to the security desk where we had to use a registry computer to sign in (a bit confusing, but security helped us out). We thought we were all clear, but then Tenor Anthony, arrived and brought our temporary picture IDs that we had left downstairs with security. The rest of the group arrived and we were a few minutes late starting our warm up. After we finished, we waited for more audience to show up, so we took a little rest until it was time to start the actual show. The audience was quite packed and then we were ready to begin. Baritone Larry opened the show with his welcome speech as well as introduction of the song, Siyahamba.

We followed with Jingle Bell Rock. Soprano Cheryl was in the group for this performance so we sang Hafinjan and started with her solo. Of course she was great, no question. We also sung Down By The Riverside while several members headed toward the audience shaking hands during the "I'm gonna shakes hands..." lyrics. Deck The Halls was next and we recevied a nice applause from the audience. We moved on to Imagine, then This Land Is Your Land (only a few audience members sang along), and Peace Salaam Shalom. We had enough altos to sing 50 Kilowatt Tree, A La Nanita and Little Bitty Pretty One (the last song with with Alex, Nancy and myself singing solos).

We all rocked the house! Then we finalized the performance with Give Us Hope and our theme song, Let There Be Peace On Earth, with Larry and René doing the closing speeches. The audience really enjoyed the performance with one audience member sharing her positive thoughts on the performance after the show. Afterwards, everyone left very happy. Happy Holidays to all!

- Peace of Heart Tenor 

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert. 

At Rivington House

On Tuesday, December 18, POHC visited Rivington House on Manhattan's Lower East Side. After showing our photo IDs to security and receiving our bright red visitor stickers, we were instructed to press PH in the elevator. This brought us to the pent house on the fifth floor. It consisted of two large rooms, one with chairs set up in rows and a grand piano covered with a red Christmas cloth, the other with physical therapy tables complete with pillows. We stored our coats and bags near the PT tables, and Tenor Anthony’s mom put out the pizza-with-everything she had brought for us. Back in the first room we did our warm-ups as a few staff members made final adjustments to the chair arrangement and someone on the loud speaker announced a Hearts Voices concert (meaning us) in the pent house. The residents--some using wheelchairs, others using canes, some walking without assistive devices--dribbled in as we were still running through a few bars of each song, deciding what to sing.They took their seats and watched intently, so we explained that this was just the rehearsal. It was fine with them—they seemed to like this taste of what was to come. One guy shouted out that he remembered us from last year.

Five minutes later, we began the real performance.As always, Siyahamba got us off to a rousing start. This audience loved everything we did. They clapped. They sang along. When we got to the line "gonna-shake-hands-around-the-world" from Down By the Riverside, and were making our way through the audience, a woman said “Happy Holidays” to me while I was singing and shaking her hand. René gave the audience instructions on how to join us for Little Bitty Pretty One, and they followed him to the letter, even to the softer and softer fade-out at the end. When he gave the final cut-off, they did so exactly on time! Tenor Wilfred and Soprano Gwen did a great job on the solos--without microphones.

Lily (former choir member, and the one who was the contact for this gig) slipped into the back of the audience while we were singing the third or fourth number. So when we got to the closing song, Let There Be Peace On Earth, I invited her up to sing it with us.

A woman in the front row thought I was inviting her up, and she came to stand next to the altos. This woman hardly smiled throughout the concert, but clapped and sang along from her seat. Now, standing in front with us and facing the audience, she still didn’t smile, but she knew all the words and kept her eye on René and did everything she was supposed to do as a member of the choir. René caught her eye to let her know he knew she was up there and that he was including her. After the applause, while we were still standing before the audience, she went back to her seat. Though she didn’t say anything, we could tell that this had given her a lot of pleasure. A nice reminder of how our mission to bring music to those in need includes allowing their voices (and hearts) to join with ours.

- Peace of Heart Alto

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert. 

At The Queens Library

For me, an NYC newcomer, each POHC concert location is a fun way to see parts of the city off the beaten track. After solving a challenging 'shortest path problem' with the MTA trains and their weekend routes, I made my way to the Queens Library. One thing that struck me about the library was the heavy security. You expect it in airports, consulates and courthouses. But the benign act of reading is difficult to associate with possible criminal activity. Yet it is there, a vestige of the city's crime ridden past or an uncomfortable reminder of more current insecure times.

The security directed me to the library's auditorium where I found a few of the choir members already assembled. Rene sat at the charming baby grand piano placed just below the stage. After a few more choir members arrived we all went on stage and started our vocal warm ups. While we practised people heard the music and slowly trickled in. We took a short break and then started our performance.

A Queens Library event coordinator excitedly welcomed the audience and introduced the choir. Larry handed out lyrics to our songs and invited everyone to join us in singing. As in previous performances we started with 'Siyahamba'. Not only does it get the crowd excited, it also revs up the choir's energy for the entire performance. Probably one of the few songs no one needs music notation or lyrics to sing to!

Each song was introduced by a choir member and Barry really got in character to introduce the jazzed up version of 'Deck the Halls'. It was a complete crowd pleaser and we did a great job of it, gospel feel and all. Alex arrived just in time to introduce 'Little bitty pretty one' and rocked the solo, along with Nancy. Rene conducted us to do a wonderful decrescendo at the end of 'Little bitty pretty one' and we all 'mmmmed' to silence perfectly.

Our audience cheered us through but it was difficult to see their faces as most preferred the back rows and were hidden in the shadows. A few family members of our singers had also arrived to listen to us and were smiling throughout our performance. We concluded with 'Let there be peace' and mingled with the audience. It was a lovely rehearsal for our upcoming benefit concert.

- Noella, Peace of Heart Choir Soprano

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert.

At Kings Hotel, a Hurricane Sandy Shelter

Several weeks ago, just as we were all re-emerging from our homes after the Superstorm Sandy, one of the earliest members of the Peace of Heart Choir suggested that an additional outreach performance should be added in support of the hurricane recovery effort. Our schedule was already more than full, but the idea was so wonderfully in concert with our original Choir mission post-9/11 that it was clearly worth pursuing. Three weeks, and about two dozen phone calls later, after an attempt to sing at the Park Slope Armory storm shelter was foiled by its closure, we gathered at the Kings Hotel, deep in the heart of East New York, on a breezy Saturday afternoon, just two days after Thanksgiving.

The Kings Hotel sits on a lonely industrial stretch of Atlantic Avenue, deep in the heart of Brooklyn. An elevated portion of the avenue runs overhead down the middle of the street. It's a plain brick building, next to what looked like a recycling center for collected cans and bottles. Julia, a very polished blond volunteer at the shelter, greeted us in the lobby with her small dog.

We headed downstairs, through a maze of small rooms in the basement being used as social areas where people could sit, talk, play cards, and read. A dozen or more smokers congregated outside on the side of the building. The dining hall in the basement was a simple but decent-sized room. We cleared out the center of the room for the choir, so we were surrounded by chairs and tables on three sides.

During the early part of the warm-up, there were a few minutes of trepidation for Alto Pearl and Soprano Cheryl as they were the only people in their sections. But in the end, we had a full complement of about a dozen singers, with every part covered. We sang for perhaps 30 older folks. Clearly, they'd been through a lot the last few weeks and were tired. Many were wearing their coats. These were mostly residents from Belle Harbor Manor and one or two other assisted living facilities in the Rockaways, who'd been moved to the Kings Hotel when the Armory was closed.

We began with Siyahamba, which is undoubtedly one of the best opening numbers we've done. It welcomes the audience wonderfully, and catches their attention.René got the whole audience trained up to join us as we sang backup on Little Bitty Pretty One, which was fantastic. So glad we simplified the arrangement. It's a great sing-along opportunity, and Tenor Alex did a nice job on the solo. The audience was clearly appreciative, but fairly quietly throughout, applauding each song, but not getting overly excited. Still, as at most Peace of Heart Choir performances, there were a few people who were clearly more touched by the music than others. One older women, with no visible teeth, was singing along and smiling through most of the show.

Afterwards, she complimented Cheryl on her voice. She was there with her friend. She'd lost her walker, her clothes, and almost everything else in the flood, and didn't even know what was left behind to salvage at this point. But she was happy to be alive and well, and had truly enjoyed the concert. Another Kings Hotel resident, a middle-aged man wearing a beret and several layers of clothes, began singing and dancing along for a song or two. Before the show, he had been combing through his music for things he might join us on. Looked like he had a lot of Sinatra-era classics. He said he was performing with his group there on Sunday.

A black man with large glasses, who'd been sitting very quietly as we talked with others after the show, asked when we might see them again, and hoped that we could at least make it out to The Rockaways to sing for them again. At this point, I don't think they're sure if the facility they were living in will reopen, or when. But we'll check, and perhaps try to make the trek out there in a coming season.

After the performance we met Caron, a shelter volunteer who'd helped set up the show. She'd come straight from a bar mitzvah in Park Slope, but caught most of our performance. She was so happy we'd made it. Apparently when this group was at the Park Slope Armory they had a virtual parade of performers coming through. But few have made the trek to East New York. Overall, a lovely performance. We offered our sympathy, our music and the solace it can provide, and offered of ourselves.

- Peace of Heart Tenor

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert. 

At the Park Armory Women's Mental Health centre

It was a sunny and brisk this past Saturday, as I was approaching the Park Avenue Armory Women's Mental Health Shelter for POHC's latest concert. I'm used traveling to the shelter now, since I've performed there before with POHC. I saw some fellow POHC members entering the building. After a short elevator ride we made it to the third floor where we set out coats and bags in the pantry. From there, I could overhear René leading the Choir in voice warm ups in the cafeteria across the hall, where we were also to perform our concert.

Some of the shelter residents arrived in the cafeteria while rested our voices after the warm-ups. Soon, we were ready to perform. We started with Siyahamba, which we sang very well. The audience really liked it.

Then we sang Peace Salaam Shalom. We tried to get the audience to participate they didn't know the words; I think they liked the song anyways. Our third song was Od Yavo. We did get the audience to clap along with this song. Then came Down By The Riverside and several choir members went down to the audience shaking hands when a catchy lyrics "I'm gonna shake hands around the world..." started. Next was Little Bitty Pretty One with yours truly singing solo along with my fellow Tenor, Alex.

Then we did This Land was your Land. We usually have the audience singing with us, but the lyrics were not passed around, so the audience didn't sing it as much. They seemed to enjoy it regardless. We moved on to Imagine, then Hafinjan with Soprano Cheryl doing the solo. She has one great voice there. Toward the end we sang our Channukah song, Light One Candle, then a 9/11 commemorative song, Give Us Hope. We closed with our theme song, Let There Be Peace of Earth, with Soprano Deb and myself singing the solos. The audience loved us, and they thanked us for the performance we did for them, which was wonderful.

-Peace of Heart Tenor

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert. 

At the Jewish Community Center

On the Saturday after superstorm Sandy disrupted the East Coast, Manhattan Jewish Community Center hosted POHC for a concert as part of their Saturday R&R program. The JCC lobby was packed near capacity. Mothers and fathers sitting on chairs, bouncing their knees up and down in time to our singing because their hands weren’t free to clap—they were holding on to the children on their laps. More adults were standing behind and in between them. In the back, other people were sorting donations of clothing and assorted items for people severely affected by the storm.

On the side, still other people were clustered around the snack and beverage table. The place was humming with the noise of a crowded restaurant where you have to shout to talk to your table-mates. Into this din marched the SATB members of the POHC. We took our places and waited for some quiet so René could introduce the Choir.

When the quiet didn’t come, we decided to just sing. Our opening number, Siyahamba, couldn’t have been better-chosen. Now we had their attention! I can’t say that they were totally quiet for the rest of the concert. I can say that all of them in the front were paying attention, especially the wide-eyed children. So were most of them in the back. And when we got to Od Yavo, I saw some of the people sorting items on the donation table singing with us while they worked. (At one point, in the middle of a song, a man came up and whispered something in René’s ear. When the song finished, René faced the audience and said, “I’m told to announce that three more teenagers are needed in the sorting area.”)

This was sabbath at the JCC, where peace is supposed to reign and no work is to be done. No work means no appliances, which means René was not allowed to play his piano, which means our entire concert was a capella (unless you count René’s pitch pipe). For the Choir—at least for me—this was an unexpected treat. René was 100% conductor, his gestures and facial expressions letting us know exactly how to shape the sound. And we did give forth a really fine sound, the controlled chaos around us notwithstanding. Contrast today with our concerts at the hospice, where we go into a patient’s room, gather around his or her bed, and sing to one person. Each is satisfying in a different way.

-Peace of Heart Alto

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert. 

At St. Luke's Psychiatric Unit

On a beautiful fall Sunday, the Peace of Heart Choir visited St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital in Morningside Heights, near Columbia University. The lone staff member eating lunch in the first floor cafeteria said she didn’t mind our warming up within feet of her table, so we made ourselves at home. Then we went upstairs to the day-room of the psychiatric unit.

As always, our pre-concert arrangements interested the audience—the re-arranging of chairs, the moving of the piano, René’s tickling the keys and pronouncing it a "fine specimen." Then René introduced the choir, and Gary introduced the South African hymn, Siyahamba, inviting the audience to determine whether this was in Zulu or Africaans.

René started his drumbeat, and we were off. No one weighed in on the language question at the end of the song, but they were obviously engaged. Starting with the next song, John Lennon's Imagine, we invited them to sing along with any of our numbers. No one did, except for the actual sing-alongs, Down by the Riverside and This Land is Your Land. But many clapped along or swayed, and all seemed interested in the introductions.

A few patients walked in and out during our performance, but there was a core who stayed for all eight songs. And though we were a bit sparse on some parts, POHC is nothing if not adaptable. A soprano joined the altos, a first soprano sang second, and, for our Spanish song, Nanita, René sang with the basses. At the end of the concert, we mingled with the audience, all of whom thanked us for coming and said they enjoyed it.

One of the nurses told me she like the a capella songs best, because there was more of a connection with the audience. She also said she loved the songs with the drums. Another staff member asked us to come back for Thanksgiving and Christmas; our Steering Committee Co-Chair, and tenor, Gary talked to her about scheduling for next year.

Before we went our separate ways, we gathered in the street under the St. Luke’s sign, and on of our newer sopranos, Noella, posed us with our black folders in our left hands and took our picture for the website. Post-performance smiles at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital.

-POHC Alto

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert.

At the Vigil for International Peace

The weather was wonderful, a little chilly but still hangout weather in Central Park. POHC members gathered around the Naumburg Bandshell to participate in the 11th annual Vigil for International Peace, a day of music, performance, and arts inspired by the United Nations' 2001 Resolution 55/282, which designates each September 21st as a full day of global ceasefire and nonviolence.As I approached the area with two of our newer members, there was already a performance going on.

I don't know the group name, but they were already singing John Lennon's Imagine, a song we were planning to sing. We stepped away from the crowd, away from the stage area, and started a short rehearsal with a warm-up. No physical exercise as we would do in regular rehearsals, but voice exercise. When we were singing the South African hymn, Siyahamba, two trucks drove through the area and we had to step aside while we still practiced the song. Then we rehearsed Peace Salaam Shalom. Even though there were some distractions, we worked together and were ready to perform.

After our rehearsal/warm-up, we went back to watching others perform while we waited for our turn. We had planned to start at 2pm but it was already 20 minutes after. Finally it was our turn. We waited on the stairs behind the stage. It was kinda narrow as we walked inside. We finally got on stage, right after POHC Soprano, Cheryl, and friends sang a song. Then it was our turn.

We started out with Peace Salaam Shalom (POHC Soprano, Deb, helped out by joining the Alto section for the song, and it turned out great). Then we went on with Siyahamba. Easy song to get through too. Then we sang our theme song, Let There Be Peace on Earth, which was also our final song for this concert. While we sang, there were several people in the audience waving their hands from side to side, something we don't always see at our concerts. The audience seemed to enjoy our performance and we enjoyed being there.

-Peace of Heart Tenor

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert. 

9/11 Remembrance Concert, Central Park

 Peace of Heart Choir formed in response to the events of September 11, 2001. During this time of year we join with other New Yorkers to remember, connect and heal.

The sky was blue and the sun shone today—the same weather we had eleven years ago. Except that today’s air was fresher. A perfect day for our outdoor memorial concert. We gathered at Merchants' Gate, the Columbus Circle entrance to Central Park. Our Music Facilitator, René, set up his portable piano, and the Choir arranged themselves a few steps up, in front of the monument.

Our audience faced us from behind René; people of all ethnicities and ages (including a baby), some standing still to listen or sing along, some passing by on their way to somewhere, smiling in our direction as they walked. The policeman leaning on his van off to the side looked as if he wasn’t sure what was going on but liked what he was seeing and hearing. In any case, he let us be.

We opened with the South African hymn Siyahamba, which went off pretty well considering we learned only it a few days ago. Kudos to the choir! The audience sang along to the songs we thought they would—Down By the Riverside and This Land is Your Land—as well as to Od Yavo, Imagine, and Let There Be Peace On Earth.

This was an informal concert. There was background noise from the general public, and also drums from a group on the other side of the monument. Unphazed, we sang through it all, and the audience obviously enjoyed us. The noise also worked in our favor: we didn’t have to be perfect.

After the concert, several of us were approached by students from the Columbia School of Journalism, who had been assigned to come to Central Park specifically to report on us. Their questions were about how the Choir formed, what various members do in our “regular” lives, whether we knew anyone who had died in the attacks, and more. These were audio interviews (no video), and the students used the same equipment René uses to record our regular concerts, so he gave them pointers on the microphone. In a way it’s fitting that the Columbia students were there, because POHC was started eleven years ago by musicians from the Columbia School of Social Work. Afterward, a few of us went out to eat and then down to the Hudson River to view the memorial beams of light from Ground Zero, beams reaching high into the sky, way past where the towers did.

- Peace of Heart Alto

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert. 

Spring 2013 Song Selection

New York City is in the dog days of summer, but The Peace of Heart Choir is already thinking about Spring 2013! [img responsive="true"][/img]

A full season in advance, members nominate and vote on songs that will not only be performed during an upcoming season, but will also become part of the ever-growing general POHC repertoire. Charts are used to keep track of votes for the many excellent song nominations. In accordance with the Song Selection Guidelines, members choose six songs from the existing repertoire, six new songs not previously performed by POHC, and two sing-along songs that can be old or new to the group.

Another twist to the proposal and selection process is ensuring that the upcoming repertoire includes songs in English, Spanish and additional foreign languages (all according to the Guidelines--a document created and ratified by POHC members). Members use various media tools to present music and lyrics when nominating a song.

This season, we had a great turnout--approximately 15 members gathered around a conference table in Midtown Manhattan to share their proposed lyrics and music, via all forms of media. We even sang a few songs to see how we liked them. The decision making was difficult because all of the choices were so good! Votes were cast and the POHC Spring 2013 repertoire is ready to be announced:

Returning Songs: 59th Street Bridge Song Aquarius de Colores (Spanish) Everyday People Stand By Me (Spanish/English) The Lion Sleeps Tonight

New Songs: Die Gedanken (German) El Beso (Spanish) Madrigal Fire Put a Little Love in Your Heart This is My Song Tumbalalaika (Yiddish)

Sing-along Songs: New York, New York Turn! Turn! Turn!

Why does POHC conduct song selection a full season ahead?

Simple! Our Musical Facilitator, Robert René Galván, uses the time to research and prepare SATB choral arrangements for each of the new songs, andsometimes makes updates on returning arrangements so they will be ready for the specific blend of voices and talents to be participating. Now that we have a sneak peak at Spring 2013, we can focus on Fall 2012 with our upcoming auditions starting August 9. We hope to see you at our fundraising concert in December, but for now, we encourage you to enjoy your summer!