Last night I went to see the Vancouver Chamber Choir perform here in Dawson City. I really don’t know a thing about chamber choirs or what to expect at a live show, but remember I said recently that I wanted to attend more live performances this year and there hasn’t been a live music performance yet that I didn’t like?

Well that is all still true! It was an enjoyable night!

When I was a young girl in elementary school, I was in the choir. And despite being an incredibly shy little thing, I was selected to be in this little choral ensemble. There were maybe just 5-7 of us? I was really intimidated, but I loved to sing! (I can no longer sing – the tubes down my throat during the surgeries I had make my singing voice unstable, like it gets interrupted. It is just bad.) While I can’t sing like that anymore, I can appreciate those who do!

I wasn’t sure what a chamber choir was, except there were a lot of people in the promotional photo. They advertised a show with northern elements, snow, and northern lights. And they delivered!

There were 16 of them, 8 women, 8 men, and their musical director, who conducted.

I did not get a picture of all of them in one shot, because there were many of them, and silly me, I sat myself in the second row. I could have easily gotten better shots in the front row! Next time!

They didn’t just sing. Their voices made noises. Hums. Whispers. Vibrations. Crescendos. They were all different pitches or octaves. At times it sounded like a fabulous church choir. But the rest of the time, I could really understand that the musical arrangements they were performing were composed to not just tell a story, but to paint a picture. Their voices were meant to be the northern lights, and the snow, and the cold, depending on which number. I never would have guessed that was possible!

I found it interesting to notice that each of them had their own expression and autonomy. While they all wore black, some men had ties, some didn’t. The women’s pants and blouses and jackets all varied. They all had different types of shoes. And 6 of them used iPads for their music, and the rest had folios with paper. Oh, the musical director had a big iPad too, that’s makes 7!

They performed two sets with a short break. I really wanted to learn more about them, but our weather was so miserable, Jeff was picking me up, and since it was already 10pm, I didn’t want him to have to wait. I would have loved to know what this job looks like. Is it full time? How often do they practise? What are their shows like? I think this was a show they are performing specifically for a northern tour, so how many shows do they need to learn? And what could the music sheets even look like? When the man with the deep voice made his voice sound like a didgeridoo, what could that even look like on paper? And when they are all singing different things, are their papers all different, specific to them? And I think many of the numbers were not in English. How do you sing in words you don’t speak?

Anyway, it was a great night out. I thoroughly enjoyed stretching my comfort zone.

And about the weather, this was outside:

We’ve got rain since the snow, but not enough, and not warm enough to melt, so everything is icy and it is so crazy out there!