{"id":8441,"date":"2011-10-07T11:00:01","date_gmt":"2011-10-07T16:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=8441"},"modified":"2011-10-07T00:10:42","modified_gmt":"2011-10-07T05:10:42","slug":"local-community-choir-looking-for-new-members-for-spring-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2011\/10\/07\/local-community-choir-looking-for-new-members-for-spring-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Local community choir looking for new members for Spring Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – Dr. Nell Rayburn, chair of the Austin Peay State University Department of Mathematics and Statistics, had to calculate the odds first. What were the chances that someone might identify her voice while she sang? If she stepped on stage for a solo performance, the odds were pretty good. That\u2019s not at all what she wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to hang out with people who have talent,\u201d she said. \u201cI like to be surrounded by a big soprano section.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, when Rayburn decided to pursue her lifelong passion of singing, her mathematical background told her she\u2019d be more comfortable in a large group. That\u2019s why she joined the Clarksville Community Choir, a musical ensemble made up of area residents from different backgrounds and professions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had area elementary teachers, area high school teachers, Austin Peay faculty, Austin Peay staff, Austin Peay alumni,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have people who work for the city of Clarksville. We\u2019ve had physicians, bankers, state department workers, you name it. It\u2019s just a really good cross section of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The choir, which is actually a choral class offered by the APSU Community School for the Arts, started more than a decade ago as a means of giving Clarksville residents an outlet for their passion to sing. The cost of the class is $75.00, and members meet every Thursday evening from 7:30pm to 9:00pm for rehearsals. Each semester, the choir usually gives two free concerts for the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s therapeutic for me,\u201d choir member Connie Richardson said. \u201cI have learned a great deal from being a part of it. I know the quality of the product they put out here at the school. I know the quality of the teaching, and I think everybody should know about this.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the reasons for the choir\u2019s success over the years has to do with its founding conductor, Valerie Oyen-Larson. She is an accomplished singer with an M.A. in vocal performance from APSU and a resume that includes a summer studying at the prestigious Franz-Schubert-Institut in Austria.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow good we sound depends an awful lot on the skill of the director,\u201d Marlon Crow, a choir member and former assistant director of the APSU Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, said. \u201cWe\u2019re so fortunate to have Valerie Oyen-Larson. She is amazing. If I weren\u2019t singing for her, I\u2019d go to Nashville.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Anne Glass, APSU professor of music, accompanies the group on piano.
\nGlass is also a well-known figure in the community, serving as a long-time organist at Trinity Episcopal Church and frequently collaborating with APSU faculty members for public concerts.<\/p>\n

The choir is open to all members of the Clarksville community, regardless of their musical abilities. When the ensemble first formed years ago, it consisted of about 40 members. Today, that number has dwindled, and the group is looking to grow again with new voices from the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the fifth largest city in the state of Tennessee. If we can\u2019t support a community chorus, than something is wrong here,\u201d Richardson said.<\/p>\n

Some people might be intimidated by the prospect of singing in a community choir, feeling that they don\u2019t have the voice for such an undertaking. But Crow, a former choir director himself, said that should not inhibit anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cValerie is so skilled at coaxing us to do these productions that we would never be able to do on our own,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s one of the best teachers I\u2019ve ever had the privilege of observing,\u201d Rayburn added. \u201cShe\u2019s an excellent teacher and knows how to conduct a rehearsal in such a way that every one has good time and learns a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Clarksville Community Choir will hold auditions in January for next season\u2019s class, but the auditions won\u2019t exclude anyone. The process, Rayburn said, helps Oyen-Larson determine the vocal range of her performers.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get people working together, and it\u2019s an amazing feeling to be a part of that when you can hear what it sounds like,\u201d Rayburn said.<\/p>\n

Anyone interested in joining the Clarksville Community Choir should contact the Community School of the Arts at APSU at CSA@apsu.edu<\/a> or 931.221.7508.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clarksville, TN – Dr. Nell Rayburn, chair of the Austin Peay State University Department of Mathematics and Statistics, had to calculate the odds first. What were the chances that someone might identify her voice while she sang? If she stepped on stage for a solo performance, the odds were pretty good. That\u2019s not at all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[11042,23,589,9049,8199,4402,262,11037,11039,11041,11036,11038,1758,646,11040],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-2c9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8441"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8441"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8443,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8441\/revisions\/8443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}