An Invitation to Harmony

Question:
Why do people gather to sing together?
Why do they find such joy in this activity?
Why do Beatitudes Choir members get so excited when they hear there's another singing opportunity for them?

Answer:
It's all about HARMONY!

Recently, Beatitudes Campus offered a Tuesday afternoon Hymn-Sing which featured the chance for all to enjoy singing some of their favorite hymns, to hear the Beatitudes Choir perform one of their successful hymn-tune arrangements from the recent season, and to top it all off by enjoying a time of social mixing and root beer floats! While all of these factors made for a lovely Tuesday afternoon, (especially those cool delicious root beer floats on a very hot august day), what the Beatitudes Choir members found MOST appealing was the opportunity to sing together. Not just “singing,” but singing in HARMONY. The incomparable Webster suggests in his dictionary that the word Harmony is a “tuneful sound”, a “pleasing or congruent arrangement of parts”, but even more “correspondence, accord, internal calm; Tranquility.”

Yes, as singers fill their lungs with air, and release that air through vibrating vocal cords in tuneful sonorities, they achieve a pleasing sound to their ears. Even more, they release happy beta-endorphins in their brains, and peace and tranquility begin to settle inside them.

Furthermore, after they've sung together for a period of time, they begin to appreciate the spirit of the personalities singing around them, and they begin to feel a “harmony” of spiritual being with their fellow singers.

Thus, it is with great joy, that the singers of the Beatitudes Choir invite those of you who love music and who can sing in tune, to come and join them in Choir this Fall. To achieve their uniquely harmonious tones, the Choir gathers together to rehearse 3 Tuesdays a month, then shares the beauty of their harmony with their fellow residents by singing at the 3:00PM Sunday Service in the Life Center on the last Sunday of every month. The first rehearsal of the upcoming Fall season will be held Tuesday, Sept. 10th from 3:30 to 4:30PM in the 2nd Floor Lobby of Central Park West. In this welcoming and friendly space, equipped with comfortable chairs and a baby grand piano, Director, Ellen Brown, leads the choir through vocal warm-ups designed to strengthen and increase their vocal range and breath-control. Then selections are carefully rehearsed for the next Vespers, at which they will sing.

Repertoire is carefully chosen to bring out the best that the singers have to offer, showcasing a wide variety of styles and composers: some fast, some slow, some very serious in nature, some with a touch of light-heartedness to them. In the time span of one hour, singers would agree that, although they may arrive at rehearsal in all sorts of conditions, invariably they leave feeling that at least for a sweet hour of time, their lives have been eased into harmony, in a most delightful way, through the sharing of The Gift of Music.

You're invited: Do come and share this special Gift! Feel the Harmony! You'll be glad you did! Call the Spiritual Life Department with any questions at x18465.

Author Info: Beatitudes Campus

At the foundation of Beatitudes Campus is the vision of Church of the Beatitudes pastors and congregation members to create a better alternative for older adults than the nursing homes of the early 1960s. The type of community they imagined was the first of its kind in Arizona. Beatitudes Campus is proud to continue the legacy of our founders, by being a leader in the field of aging services for over 50 years.