Joy, exuberance, even glee can be had for a song this Thursday at the Very Special Arts Choir's free concert.
The VSA Choir was formed eight years ago to give adults with special needs a way to express their musical abilities and to meet other people, said Alayne Dolson, the executive director of VSA Arts of Montana.
Rather than wait for a slot in another program to open, Dolson thought they could find another way to socialize once a week. She convinced Malcolm Lowe, well known for his involvement with Missoula Children's Theater, to direct the choir.
Thus, the VSA Choir was born. It now boasts 30 members, some of whom Dolson has known since she taught them as preschoolers.
"It's exciting to see them develop some social skills, some community awareness," said Dolson, who accompanies the choir on piano.
Group members are proud of their singing, Dolson said. They work together and form lasting friendships. They make it fun - like when some of the singers who work together at McDonald's changed the words of one song to "feed them all burgers and fries."
Mary Jane Belz, a music education specialist at the University of Montana, was invited to hear the choir for the first time six years ago.
"Well, I walked in and the first thing that happened was one of the singers rushed right in and hugged me," Belz recalled. "That's the spirit of the choir. It's just a loving group."
She made observing the group, which uses the University of Montana's Music Building for its Thursday night rehearsals, a requirement for the students in her music education classes.
"Our music students go out and sort of have the opinion that they'll have the top marching band in the nation, the top choir in the high school," Belz said. "But the reality is that they're going to be working with people of all different abilities."
People in the music world tend to grow callous because they strive for perfection, Belz said. But that's not always what music is about.
"Music is so large," Belz said. "There should be a place in art for everyone and often we don't - we have elite choirs."
Those groups sometimes miss out on an essential component of good music: emotion.
"I feel that people should come and hear this just to experience the real joys of hearing someone who loves to sing," Belz said, recalling one former student who "sat there with tears streaming down her face" upon hearing the choir for the first time.
Dolson remembered a similar experience, when a friend of hers, on hearing the choir for the first time, "came out in tears and said 'I've never seen anything so beautiful,' " she said.
That depth of emotion is brought out by the choir's all-out, joyful singing style, Dolson said.
The choir will get a chance to continue spreading that joy when it heads to Warm Springs next month. Choir members will visit the Montana State Hospital to perform at the installation of a totem pole, give a concert and participate in Festival of the Arts activities.
Thursday's VSA Choir Concert is part of the University of Montana's weeklong 6th annual Accessible Music Education Symposium, which seeks to promote disability awareness. The public is encouraged to attend.
"It's too enjoyable an occasion to just have us enjoy it," Belz said.
Free concert
The Very Special Arts Choir will perform Thursday from 2:10 to 3 p.m. in the University of Montana's Music Recital Hall. The concert is free, and the public is welcome.
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