Each Wednesday night from September to May, Syd Birrell faces a task that would be daunting for anyone who didn't have his exceptional musical talents---conducting a choir that is composed of other choral directors, music teachers, and professional musicians. "There are at least half a dozen to a dozen veteran choral directors in The Peterborough Singers," Syd reports. And it would be hard to count the number of people who teach voice or piano or instrumental music.

Two Peterborough Singers who have impressive records as choral conductors in their own right are Arlene (Buwalda) Gray and Barb Monahan.

Arlene Gray
Arlene is the founder and director of the Kawartha Treble Troupe, which she began in 1996 as the Gray's Girls Chorus. Currently, the 25-voice auditioned choir, which is based in Lindsay, is composed of both male and female singers between the ages of 10 and 17. The group has won both local and provincial awards, and it made a memorable trip to Canterbury, England recently. Just this year, Arlene became the founder-director of another choir. The Kawartha Lakes Singers, which also rehearses in Lindsay, is currently 18 members strong. This ambitious auditioned choir open to choristers of all ages plans to sing Faure's Requiem in April 2010 as part of its first concert.

As if that were not enough, Arlene also conducts three adult choirs based in Peterborough: the 45-voice Jubilaires Women's Chorus, the 30-member Bonachord Male Chorus, and Jubilation --- 9 to 12 women who, as Arlene puts it, "just have a lot of fun." If you do the math, Arlene conducts more than 100 singers each week, and she shuttles between Lindsay and Peterborough to do it!

But Arlene --- whose motto is "Sing!... Just Because!" --- can't imagine life without music. "Mother used to sing Mozart's Alleluia while vacuuming," she recalls. "Uncle was a choir director. Opa played the organ. I've been involved in church music for as long as I can remember." Arlene's first paid conducting job was with a church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and she met her husband Kenneth while she was directing a Christian contemporary music group that "did a lot of touring" in that state.

These days, on top of her choral conducting, Arlene serves as the organist and music director for St. Paul's Anglican Church in Lindsay, and she teaches voice and piano and works as a piano tuner and technician. In her "spare time," Arlene sings. She's an active member of both the Peterborough Singers and the Peterborough Pop Ensemble, a choral group directed by yet another Peterborough Singer, Barb Monahan.

Barb Monahan
Barb joined the Peterborough Singers in 1999, after discovering "the kind of talent that was in the group." What else motivated her to join? "To have the chance to sing with a choir where I wasn't the director!" she laughs.

Well, her plan backfired. Director Syd Birrell, recognizing Barb's talent, asked her to conduct a small group of Peterborough Singers in the choir's 2000 Valentine Concert. And so the Peterborough Singers Pop Ensemble was born! Between 2000 and 2008, the Pops, as the group became known, entertained our community under the umbrella of the larger Peterborough Singers organization, performing the ensemble's signature music --- the rich, close harmonies of vocal jazz or inspirational spirituals sung a cappella. In January 2009, the group decided to forge ahead on its own, with Barb at the helm. It became the Peterborough Pop Ensemble. "It is amazing," Barb enthuses. "What I love about the Pop Ensemble is that it is as much about the singing I do in the group as my role as director."

Barb made her debut as a choral conductor long before she joined the Peterborough Singers, however. "The first choral group I conducted was my school vocal jazz group --- The Jazz Cats," she reminisces. "Then I took on the job of music director and organist at Grace United Church; I retired in February 2008. Grace Choir was a chance to work with adult voices, and I loved my 18 years there."

Grace United Church also gave Barb her first opportunity to sing in a choir. She joined the church's junior choir when she was in grade 6. Barb adds, "When I reached high school, I moved up to the senior choir and sang with them until I went to university" --- where she studied voice and music education, of course. "At the University of Western Ontario, I sang under the direction of Deral Johnson in Chorale and then in the prestigious UWO Faculty of Music Singers."

And Barb is still singing, all different sorts of music. She sang in a local country music band between 1977 and 1987, and, more recently, she has composed and recorded herself performing inspirational songs, sometimes as a soloist and sometimes with the Pop Ensemble. All this happens when she's finished her day job, teaching and conducting at Kenner Collegiate and Vocational School. ""I've been teaching vocal and instrumental music since 1984," she says. "Presently, I'm directing the Kenner Choral Ensemble and working with the cast of our musical."

The Singing Life
What can possibly sustain these two musicians through their hectic schedules? Arlene and Barb agree --- It's those magical musical moments. Barb recalls as "greatest experiences" two Peterborough Singers' performances conducted by guest composers or directors. "Working with and singing for Paul Halley in the Earth Mass and Brainerd Blyden-Taylor in the Singers' gospel concert --- amazing!" "Of course," she adds, "I would be remiss if I didn't mention the opportunity to work with Syd and the many wonderful people I have come to know. It has been a joy --- absolutely!" "Two of my most memorable experiences," reports Arlene, "are conducting the Messiah with the Peterborough Singers and attending a conductor workshop on Faure's Requiem in France."

Indeed, both women think of the Peterborough Singers as not only a place where other conductors come to sing --- Peterborough Singers have conducted or are conducting the Peterborough Children's Choir, Coventry Singers, the PCVS Ladies Choir, and the choirs of Lakefield College School --- but also as a kind of conductor training ground. "Being in the Singers has been a great experience," says Barb. "Primarily, it has helped me understand the magnitude of effort it takes to work with a choir of this size, and calibre."

And what fun when you are up on the podium in front of the choir, and it all comes together!

"As a conductor," explains Arlene, "my joy is when I get the honour of taking a Peterborough Singers' rehearsal or conducting a piece in a concert, because conducting is part of my soul. And when I get to work with an instrument like the Peterborough Singers, it's awesome."