Pittsburgh Threshold Choir
The Pittsburgh chapter was established
in 2007 by Kate Granneman and Cindy
Harris, who first learned about the Threshold
Choir Network from their mutual friend Sue
Ribaudo. All three women were participating
in Vocal Week at the Augusta Heritage
Center that year, and Ribaudo had been
excitedly telling the other participants about
Kate Munger and her new organization.
Granneman and Harris decided that this was
something that they would like to bring to
the Pittsburgh area and felt that they would
make a good team. Harris wanted to focus on
musical direction, while Granneman knew
that she could utilize her organizational and
administrative skills while also enjoying
singing.
Currently, there are 27 active members of
the Pittsburgh Threshold Choir. Rehearsals
for the group are, according to Harris,
“designed for busy people with schedules.”
There is at least one rehearsal per week, but
they are on different days and times and held
in various locations. Rehearsals may be held
in the Mt. Lebanon Library, Family Hospice
(in Mt. Lebanon), Shaler Library in the North
Hills, as well as members’ homes throughout
the Pittsburgh area. Members are asked to
commit to at least two rehearsals per month.
The choir began rehearsing at the Mt.
Lebanon Library when one of the members
asked the group to work with Family Hospice
and Palliative Care. According to Cindy, “…
being on the library calendar has brought
“It’s really very beautiful and
peaceful to sing this way,
even when the emotional level in
the room is high.”
us to the attention of a number of women
who might not otherwise have found us.”
Furthermore, all of the members who
rehearse at the Mt. Lebanon Library have
become part of the Family Hospice corps
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Continued
of volunteers, which just began singing at
bedsides this past December.
The music has a tremendously powerful
effect on those who are suffering. Cindy
says that “what we do is incredibly calming
and soothing and enlivening to anyone who
we sing to directly, and even those who just
happen to be in the room when we are singing
find it to be a moving experience.” She recalls
that, recently, two members were singing for a
woman who was unresponsive and depressed.
“After we had sung for a minute or so, we
could see her vi