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Friday, February 21,2020
Photos by STEVE MELLON I Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Music director Susan Medley directs a rehearsal of the Pittsburgh Concert Choral at Ingomar United Methodist Church in Ingomar on Tuesday, Jan. 28.
1 in 6 Americans sings in a choir,
and they may be healthier for it
From left, Marra Boyd of Cranberry, Whitney Wright of McCandless and Jackie Kulfan of
Mars join about 100 other singers during a rehearsal of the Pittsburgh Concert Choral at
Ingomar United Methodist Church in Ingomar on Tuesday, Jan. 28.
BY JEREMY REYNOLDS
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
PITTSBURGH — Laughter erupted as
members of the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale
warmed up their voices and lips with scales
and raspberries at Ingomar United Method
ist Church. Then the choir got down to busi
ness as wisecracking director Susan Medley
drilled the singers on harmony and rhythm
with an infectious sense of merriment.
The chorus is just one of many community
choirs around Pittsburgh that exist for the
sheer joy of singing. Membership has risen
lately to about 100 singers ranging in age
from recent college graduates to retirees
in their 80s. Some have sung professionally,
but most are amateurs. They come from
all over the area and from various political
backgrounds.
It’s no secret that America’s social fab
ric is unraveling. Participation in churches
and religious institutions is down. Fraternal
organizations are shrinking. Marriage rates
continue to decline. Voting is up, but volun
teering is down. The differences dividing us
seem greater than the similarities.
Yet group singing is gaining popular
ity. While participation in church choirs is
declining, more than 17% of adults in the
U.S. participate in a choir of some sort, up
from 14% in 2008. That’s about 1 in 6 adults,
according to a recent study by the service
organization Chorus America.
The study identifies numerous reasons:
Singing in groups has been linked to bet
ter mental and physical health, a sense of
belonging and feeling connected to others,
better social skills, increased civic engage
ment and volunteering, developing leader
ship skills and much more.
“Increasingly, people are thinking about
constructive ways to bridge some of the
gaps between people, and they’re looking at
issues that exist in societies today,” said Liza
Beth, vice president of communications and
membership at Chorus America.
“How can this art form that we love con
tribute to healthy vibrant aging? The peo
ple who love this also see this as a really
important tool to address things they see in
society.”
She said choirs are springing up around
the country dedicated to serving specific
areas such as hospice facilities, aging adults
or homeless people.
In Pittsburgh, choral groups ranging from
community to professional have reported
increased attendance or applications, and
new choirs are forming all the time.
Stewart Copeland, former drummer of
The Police, has partnered with the Mendels
sohn Choir of Pittsburgh to create a new
oratorio, “Satan’s Fall.” The new work fol
lows Lucifer’s fall from grace as imagined
by John Milton in “Paradise Lost” and will
premiere on Friday and Saturday at the Rox-
ian Theater in McKees Rocks.
This collaboration is another in a string of
creative programming by the Mendelssohn,
which has also presented a Bob Dylan ora
torio and a concert exploring Pittsburgh’s
Underground Railroad connections.
The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh is
preparing to launch a new initiative to cre
ate grassroots choirs in senior centers. Then
there’s the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh, Pitts
burgh Camerata, Renaissance City Choir,
the Voice Givers Choir, Greater Harmony
Chorus, Belle Voci, Pittsburgh Threshold
Choir, Sounds of Pittsburgh, Vocal Conflu
ence and others.
“There’s a real sense of family there, a
real sense of community,” said Matthew
Mehaffey, music director of the Mendels
sohn, which has a core group of 20 paid sing
ers and about 100 others. The choir regularly
performs with the Pittsburgh Symphony
Orchestra.
“There’s always a group that heads for a
happy hour after rehearsals on Wednesday,
and everybody is incredibly welcoming to
new members,” he said.
At the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale’s weekly
rehearsal, Medley mixed disciplined practice
(“Let’s check that chord!”), aerobic exercise
(“Stand up... now sit down!... Stand again!”)
and lighthearted banter to keep things mov
ing (“If you’re absolutely terrified of singing
that high B, please email me later”).
“They’re a great group. If I asked them to
sing on their head they would,” said Medley,
also director of choral activities at Washing
ton & Jefferson College in Washington, Pa.
“Choir singing is this unique tradition that
gives people a place to belong. You don’t
need training. It’s just about making some
thing positive and beautiful with friends.”
Most of the amateur organizations
rehearse just once a week in the evening.
Many members started singing in grade
school or high school or a church choir, but
singing in a community choir doesn’t require
formal training. Just a low-pressure audition
with the director and a willingness to be a
team player.
“People run the gamut politically, but we
leave that at the door,” Ms. Medley said.
“We’re here to make music.”
The Chorus America study found that
older choral singers reported a better qual
ity of life and better overall health than non
singers they knew. Nearly three-quarters of
choir members said singing helps them feel
less alone or lonely.
“One of the most striking findings in our
study was that choral singers are more likely
to volunteer and serve in leadership posi
tions. It’s a hugely civically engaged popula
tion,” Ms. Beth said.
Bernie Heisey has sung with the Mendels
sohn and Bach choirs and is currently a
member of the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale.
“I can have a terrible day, but coming to
choir practice just makes it better,” she said.
“Being around these people is the highlight
of my week.”
The singers in the Concert Chorale and
the Mendelssohn Choir represent a diverse
array of occupations, including doctors, law
yers and engineers. Some join for a brief
period; others make it a lifelong passion. A
few have met significant others or spouses
in choirs. Some members tour overseas; the
Concert Chorale plans to visit Leipzig, Salz
burg and Vienna in 2021.
“I think people are looking for meaning
in the world,” Mehaffey said. “To have the
chance if you’re not in a creative field to
come and make something beautiful that
you couldn’t make by yourself — there’s
something immediate and visceral about
choirs. The breathing becomes synchro
nized. It’s almost spiritual.”
Plants need chill hours to rest, help them blossom
The rain finally subsided a
couple of weeks ago for a moment
and instead turned North Georgia
into a temporary winter wonder
land. We really haven’t had much
of a winter since Christmas and
this can have a long-term effect on
our flora.
Most nonannual plants in our
region need some relief from
the heat and active growing, so
in the winter months they go into
dormancy. This is a gradual pro
cess that begins when the days
get shorter and the temperatures
begin to drop. Some plants begin
setting their buds, shedding their
leaves or even die back to the
ground. When a plant finally goes
into dormancy, it is able to defend
itself against harsh conditions like
snow and ice as well as experience
a necessary down time.
A period of chilling is required
CAMPBELL VAUGHN
ecvaughn@uga.edu
for a plant to blossom. And with
a blossom, there is fruit. This
chilling requirement is usually
expressed with the term “chill
hours.” One chill hour is equal to
one hour at or below the chilling
temperature. Some plants have a
chilling temperature that is below
freezing, some may need to be
fewer than 45 degrees Fahrenheit
while others may only need to
be under 60 F. If a plant does not
obtain its required chilling hours,
it either may not flower at all or
flower much less. Less flowers
means less fruit.
There are two stages of chilling,
and the first stage is reversible.
As the season starts to cool down
and a plant is getting ready for
its period of dormancy, if the
temperature warms up for an
extended period then the plant
slows its dormancy preparation.
In that case, no chill hours are
recorded (picture a squirrel tak
ing notes from its nest while using
his Brookstone Indoor/ Outdoor
Wireless Thermometer and a led
ger). The second stage of chilling
is irreversible. At some point, a
plant is committed to dormancy.
When the weather reaches a
certain temperature or a cer
tain period of time at or below
a specific temperature, a plant
will commit itself to dormancy.
Even if things warm up some, the
plant will remain dormant until
other triggers cause it to break
this phase. If the temperatures
are low enough or long enough
throughout the winter, then the
plant will be able to emerge in
the spring and blossom prolifi-
cally. If the weather is like this
past winter and not cold at all,
then we may get little or even no
flowering, which leads to poor
fruiting.
University of Georgia has a
statewide weather network that
is a great source for facts and fig
ures and historical climate data
on the website georgiaweather.
net. There is actually a station in
Gainesville. To research chilling
hours on this website is easy.
Our chill hour season runs from
Oct. 1 to April 15. The standard
chill hour temperature in Georgia
is 45 F. This chill season, Gaines
ville has already had 1,036 hours
in the bank as of Feb. 17. This is a
couple of hundred less chill hours
this season than the past two
years, but I think we are still on
track to have a good apple crop.
Blackberries, pears, persim
mons, muscadine and plums are
also good producers in our area.
Make sure to check the chilling
requirements for the particular
cultivar of fruit when deciding to
invest in edible plantings for your
landscape.
If you have been praying for
rain lately, please stop.
Campbell Vaughn is an agriculture
and natural resource agent with
the University of Georgia Extension
in Augusta. He can be reached at
ecvaughn@uga.edu.
