l a n o i g Re VOLUME 14 NUMBER 42
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2016
Moush Sara John/Weekender reporter
Rhonda Sylvester muses on life and music in her studio, where she trains voices from five-year-olds to 18.
Raising the bar: Rhonda Sylvester on music and life MOUSH SARA JOHN WEEKENDER REPORTER Along Stettler’s sleepy part of town is musician Rhonda Sylvester’s musical paradise, where she trains voices to hit the right note. Having started voice and piano lessons when she was five-years-old, Sylvester immediately fell in love with making music. “It has always offered me so much in the way of expression and creativity that I have never been able to find in anything else,” mused Sylvester. “It has become my comfort, my joy and my way of life. As a musician, you tend to look at the world in a bit of a different way than other people might.” Anyone in town who has ever wanted to learn how to sing would have crossed paths with Sylvester, who trains Tiny Gracenotes, aged between five and eight, Rhapsody Girls and Tiny Tenors, aged between nine and 12, and the Gracenotes Choir, aged between 13 and 18. With over two decades of music in Sylvester, it is easy to see why the Gracenotes Choir and the Rhapsody Girls
and Tiny Tenors have been past Provincial Choral winners several times, with the Gracenotes Choir also being recognized as the “Gold” winners and “Spirit of New York” winners at the New York Heritage Festival in 2010. Explaining the process of what goes into planning choral productions, Sylvester said, “When planning our choral productions every year my first and last inspiration is always my students. I always want to give them goals to reach for and I want them to learn not only to become strong musicians but also to learn life lessons.” According to Sylvester, it takes a lot of hard work, dedication and team work to put together the shows. “We have many different musical levels and it isn’t always easy to choose repertoire that will suit such varying groups,” added Sylvester. “We also have many different personalities and they have to learn to work together and be responsible for not only themselves, but each other.” She said that often students start the year not knowing one another and even feeling shy or apprehensive about the whole process but, by the time the year ends they are sharing ideas, laughter and hugs with one another like
they have known each other forever. “There is a very special bond that happens in music when people allow themselves to believe in the magic,” explained Sylvester. “The magic of sensitivity, of creation, of laughter, of dance and of course, singing.” Contemplating on the art of music, Sylvester said, “Music can lead us to feel things quite a bit deeper or even perhaps a little more critically at times, because it teaches us to open ourselves up to all possibilities and emotional levels of expression.” Drawing an analogy from the world of photography, she explained, “Like a photographer learns to see and sharpen or blur images with a camera, musicians live through emotional expression and sensitivity that is unique to each and every one of them.” This is Sylvester’s 23rd year of teaching singing and choir. Recalling her first voice teacher Elaine Pitt fondly, Sylvester said, “She was a lady who I will always love and admire. She planted the seed and helped me grow both as a musician and a person. I owe her so much.” continued on page 5