CHOIR from Page 5 setup is challenging for the singers , it is a joy for the audience .”
Also that year , Lyn Mizer organized a campaign to unsqueak the 915 Coshocton High School auditorium seats and recruited 42 volunteers to help .
In 2005 after 34 years at the helm of the community choir , Snyder took a leave to recharge his batteries . For those five months , he was at Muskingum College , filling in for professor Robert Owen Jones , who was on his own sabbatical .
Snyder had been writing the narration for the Christmas concerts for 20 years , and in 2005 he asked Dr . Allan Zagray , retired pastor of Grace United Methodist Church , to take over that role .
In May 2006 the Coshocton Youth Chorale was invited to sing for the unveiling of the new sculpture at the public library . That June the community choir was invited to sing at Lakeside again and were welcomed by a large and
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enthusiastic crowd .
In 2007 the Columbus Symphony selected Snyder as Community Music Educator of the Year , and 45 friends , family members , colleagues , and present and former students gathered for the occasion .
The choir had performed its Christmas concert for five years at Dresden Presbyterian Church . “ Then in 2009 we began a new tradition of singing our Christmas concert at St . Paul Lutheran Church in Newcomerstown ,” Snyder said .
While the choir normally holds music when they sing , there are times when it ’ s better without it , especially if you ’ re walking in a procession . So Snyder keeps after the choir to memorize a few pieces .
“ Some altos in 2011 were not so eager to memorize the processional music ,” Snyder said . “ A couple of them realized they would be on the stage before they had to sing and thought they would set the words on the instrumentalists ’ music stands where they could see it and not have to learn the music . A
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totally innocent alto with neat printing was conscripted into writing the text for them and placing it on the stands . That totally innocent alto may have accidentally let the plan slip to me , and I will neither confirm nor deny that before the concert I took great delight in rearranging their pages of text so they were in the wrong order .
“ In 2012 my sister
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Cherie and I were at Lakeside for some rare sibling time . One evening we went to a symphony concert . We arrived early , and a few minutes later , three folks came in and sat in front of us . Soon we heard Coshocton , and our ears perked up . They were talking about our recent community choir concert at Lakeside and how wonderful it had been . They were surprised |
that it was a community group . ‘ Coshocton can ’ t be that big ,’ one said . ‘ How do you think something so wonderful could come from such a small place ?’
“ Cherie and I exchanged looks and smiled but didn ’ t give in to the temptation to speak . In a time when it ’ s hard to remember what we had for lunch , it ’ s quite a tribute to
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hear folks exuding about something they heard 10 or 12 days earlier .”
Find more information about the Coshocton Community Choir and its upcoming concert on Sunday , April 24 at www . CoshoctonCommunity- Choir . org . If you are a choir alumni and haven ’ t yet received information about the 50th anniversary celebration , call the choir ’ s office at 740-623-0554 .
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