April 9, 2022<\/span><\/a> by Dan Wheat)<\/span><\/h6>\n\n\nA new community choir is beginning its second season offering benefit performances for organizations in the Wenatchee area and Central Washington.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\nGladSong provides a mix of pop, country, jazz and gospel. Its mission is to \u201cencourage the singer, inspire the listener and benefit the community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\u201cWe love to sing. We want to be an instrument to help charitable causes and provide a message of inspiration while giving singers an opportunity to sing,\u201d said Tim Meyer, founder and director. Meyer, 61, is a longtime Wenatchee singer who has directed church choirs and directed the Wenatchee Apollo Club, a men\u2019s chorale, from 2005 to 2015. About four years ago, he attended a Breath of Aire concert at Grace Lutheran Church. Breath of Aire is an inspirational choir in Western Washington whose members include accomplished singers from throughout the state. \u201cTheir presentation was energetic and amazing and when the hat was passed over $10,000 had been raised for a charitable group,\u201d Meyer said. \u201cAnd I thought, \u2018Why not us?\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\nHe was director of Wenatchee\u2019s United Methodist Church Choir and began having the choir perform at places outside the church. \u201cIt was a great experience and warmly received. Then COVID hit and nobody was singing anything, anywhere. It was a time to pause and reflect,\u201d Meyer said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\nChurch choirs had already been in decline before the pandemic. Meyer consulted four musicians knowledgeable of the community who agreed Wenatchee could use another community choir to give people more opportunity to sing. \u201cWenatchee\u2019s Columbia Chorale is a classic community choir with a certain type of genre and Apollo Club sings a men\u2019s repertoire and Appleaires a women\u2019s repertoire,\u201d Meyer said. \u201cGladSong is more of a cross between a church choir and a glee choir. We sing pop tunes but also gospel songs and can tailor our performance to the venue. All of our songs are positive messages.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\nMeyer, and his wife Alice also a singer, recruited about 20 initial singers who began rehearsals last June and first performed on Aug. 18 for the Applarians, the hosting organization of the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival. GladSong will perform for this year\u2019s festival at 4 p.m. May 1 in Memorial Park.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\nLast fall, it sang for MOPs (Mothers Of Preschoolers) and Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center. \u201cIt touches hearts. Comments I heard were that one of the young MOPs moms was crying and didn\u2019t know why. Another said she would be smiling all day and a third said she would be singing \u2018Oh Happy Day\u2019 all day long,\u201d said Barbara Brink, GladSong member and a MOPs mentor mom. \u201cThere were 60 to 70 young moms there and they were all smiles. They hadn\u2019t heard a choir in a long time,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\nGladSong will perform July 9 at a Northwest meeting of the Lutheran Womens Missionary League at the Wenatchee Convention Center. Other performances are being planned.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\nGroups interested in arranging for performances or singers wanting to audition to join may contact GladSong at its website, GladSong.org. GladSong is on Facebook. Among 18 songs in the choir\u2019s repertoire are: \u201cListen to the Music,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m Amazed,\u201d \u201cHow Sweet It Is,\u201d \u201cI am Blessed,\u201d and \u201cGotta Get You Into My Life.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\nSeveral of the group\u2019s 33 members are young adults. One of them, Sara Culp, 34, who sang in choirs Meyer directed at Eastmont Baptist Church and United Methodist, said GladSong shares \u201chope, joy and Jesus\u201d from neutrality apart from a church or denomination. \u201cBeing in a choir is a beautiful reminder that in a community we need and rely on each other to make something better than we could on our own,\u201d she said. She said a lot of young people who sang in school or church choirs no longer do because they don\u2019t have time. \u201cI hope they make it a priority when they do have the opportunity,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause it\u2019s something that feeds life and energy back into you. It feeds the soul.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\nDan Wheat is retired from 45 years in journalism. He was a Wenatchee World reporter from 1987 to 2009. He has sung in local church choirs, Wenatchee\u2019s Columbia Chorale and GladSong.<\/span><\/em><\/span> \n
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