Bringing in a sense of harmony

It isn’t easy to train 120 children, most of them below 15 years of age. But what was evident at the concert by 120-member ‘Glorious Children’s Choir’ that performed in the City recently was the discipline, commitment and dedication of both the children and the Glorious choir director Reji Chandy.

Not all the children in the group have prior training in music but the tireless hours of training was shone through and through for the choir sounded like one voice, with not a note out of place. The hall was packed with regulars at all Glorious concerts, parents of the children and some grandparents too who were seen patiently sitting through to watch the little ones perform.

The concert was thoroughly entertaining and it seemed like a lot of thought had gone into the selection of songs for there was a good blend of spiritual numbers, action songs and the popular melodies.

There were almost 20 songs and the children seemed to know them all by heart and sang without any prompting.

   None of them was seen holding a paper in hand. They also managed to learn and render the Hindi song Yeshu Masih to perfection.

Among the songs that were sung were ‘Righteousness Peace and Joy’, an action-song that was rendered with participation from the audience. This was followed up with, ‘Prince of Peace’, which was presented in a two-part harmony and ‘Open the Eyes and come, now is the time’ had the choir accompanied by child artistes. Another song titled, ‘Shackles’ was a choreographed number where the solos were backed by harmony.

Another lively number ‘Turn, Turn, Turn..’ was rendered in a three-part harmony. This was followed by action songs which the children seem to have thoroughly enjoyed. There were also several meaningful songs numbers like ‘Alpha and Omega’, ‘Shout to the Lord’ , ‘He’ll be there’ and ‘Give them all’ just to mention a few.  

Sharing the joy and experience of training the young ones, Reji said, “It is indeed challenging but there is no standard that we need to set because we are the first children’s choir in the City.” The children were put through several sessions of team building exercises, “The basic concept of harmony was taught to the children through several team-building exercises. This is done to bring about a sense of harmony,” explained Reji.   

The parents couldn’t contain their excitement, when they watched their little one perform. Charmaine Cumine, mother of little Kezia Jade Cumine said, “We were looking for a choir in which we could put our daughter. She has a natural talent for singing and we believe that we found the right creative path for her. When she returns home she makes it a point to practice. Such is the dedication and she enjoys every bit of it.”