Sing a chorus for peace

By Olivia Johnson
The Portland Upside
November 2009

Members of the newly-formed Portland Peace Choir are dedicated to singing songs of peace.

The Portland Peace Choir is shaping a unique group of vocalists who promote equality, justice and peace through song.

The choir got off to its official start on September 9, and has been rehearsing two hours per week at Bothmer Hall in Southeast Portland. The choir meets in the donated space every Wednesday evening from 7 to 9 p.m. No auditions are required, just a passion for singing.

Janet Allison, one of the founders of the choir, was a member of the Rogue Valley Peace Choir in Ashland, Oregon. She has sung in Hiroshima, Japan at the anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb, and she has also performed for Martin Luther King III. Being a member of Ashland’s peace choir inspired her to help co-found a similar group here in Portland.

The Portland Peace Choir hopes to eventually share its music in similar settings. For now, the group is starting out by performing in as many different venues as possible, wherever people can be inspired by the music.

But making a positive impact on those who are listening is not the peace choir’s only mission.

They are also concerned with the well-being of each of their singers. When Janet was in the third grade, she auditioned for orchestra and was told that she had no music ability. She can relate to the many people she refers to as the “walking wounded,” who want to sing but are held back by either their own insecurities or the opinions of others.

“It’s a healthy experience for people who’ve been told they can’t sing to join this choir,” she says. “Everybody can sing, especially if they sing with lots of people!”

The choir welcomes all voices, although Janet stresses that most choirs suffer from a lack of male singers. The Portland Peace Choir is no exception. Perhaps if men were aware of how many single women there are in the choir, the statistics of an overruling soprano and alto count would change drastically, she adds humorously.

Currently the choir has about 40 members. Ages range from high-school students and young adults to middle-age adults and seniors. Janet says they hope to grow and especially to welcome young people and much-needed tenors and basses.

Marion Van Namen, a music therapist running a private practice in Southeast Portland, is the choir’s director and co-founder. Growing up in her native country of the Netherlands, Marion learned piano at a young age. She also plays the cello and the African drums. She trained in anthroposophy and music therapy for four years and has taught at various Waldorf schools in the United States. She also directs the community choir at the Portland Waldorf School in Milwaukie.

For their opening concert, Marion has selected a variety of songs ranging from The Freedom Song of South Africa to “Imagine” by John Lennon. Some of the songs are in Dutch, French, German, African and Native American languages. Sometimes a piano accompanies their voices but most of the time The Portland Peace Choir sings a capella.

“Music is universal,” Janet says. “You don’t have to know the language to understand the gesture.”

Chrystal Godleske, who was a member of the community choir at the Portland Waldorf School, heard about the peace choir from Marion and joined as soon as it started in September.

She says that the Portland Peace Choir has “more complex music than the community choir.”

She especially likes being a member because practices are “participatory entertainment, fun, and Marion makes everyone feel comfortable.”

The Portland Peace Choir will hold its first concert on November 22 at 4 p.m. at St. David’s Episcopal Church in Portland. The concert is free and open to the public.

“We want to connect with people on a heart level,” Janet says, “by bringing this music into the world.”
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For more information about the Portland Peace Choir visit www.portlandpeacechoir.org

Olivia lives in SE Portland and is working on her bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Theology at Multnomah University. She loves reading restaurant reviews, traveling, Frank Sinatra, and Stumptown coffee.