Aca Bella

It's hard to believe, it's been 6 months since I've blogged, but I've been so busy it's unreal! I feel sometimes I'm in need of finding a way to clone myself so I can be everything to everyone. Busy or not, I live for the things I've signed up to do. Though I admit I am just starting to recover from burn out. Yet I keep on taking on things, and as you all know, I don't do anything "Half-Assed." (Except apparently this Web Log) And to use an "aca bella-ism", I Enj'ys it!! Seems I'm never going to find time to finish some of those songs I've been working on, or do some arranging for Aca Bella that I have been hoping to start on.

Anyway, as promised, the Aca Bella post!! YEAY! I'm never sure about how to spell our name. Whether it is Accabella, Aca Bella, Acabella, I guess is irrelevant. All that's important is how we sound right? I'm pretty sure for business purposes it's Aca Bella. (The "fella Bellas" will correct me if I'm wrong) Jim, Carolyn's husband, said we should have been called "The Foxy Pitches". That's so much easier to spell.

Ok, this group as it appears above (L-R; Andrea Green, Darlene Steeves, Mary Keefe, Carol Ann Oldford, Pamela Gill, Elizabeth Randell, Elizabeth Snow, and last but not least, Carolyn Parsons) had its first rehearsal on February12, 2006, and first public performance the very next day at the Arts and Culture Centre's Kinette Variety Show. Crazy huh? Though Carolyn and I had never heard these pieces (Frobisher Bay and Siyahamba), I think we rocked (once we realized it was easier to not read the words to Siyahamba and just go with the gut).

The group had formed the fall prior to this (Fall 2005) and performed at the OBP Christmas Reading "The Polar Express" but they didn't really shine till Carolyn and I came aboard! :) In all honesty, I remember thinking that these girls rocked and that I was so jealous of them and wanted to be a part of the group. Of course I said nothing. Until one night at Casual Jacks at the OBP's cast party Rocky Horror Picture Show someone mentioned that I should join. What I didn't know at the time is that in order to become a member, a unanimous decision has to be made by all other members. It was over three months later when Darlene emailed me and asked me if I wanted to join.....so that's the more long than short of it. We've been on a whirlwind ever since. We've sang at a convention, A&CC for benefits and for Summer Sessions, at City Hall, and even sang with OBP for the opening of the Duathlon in the main arena at the Pepsi Centre for the athletes from around the world. What a feeling it's been.

Our next performance will be November 30/06 at the A&CC. That promises to be fun. It's going to be cool to sing some Christmas songs and our old staples. We are planning a Christmas Show for mid December, so watch your emails.

Enough babbling. I want to introduce the group.

Andrea Green
Nutcase!
Been singing in choirs from kindergarten until Grade 12 (and actually went back to High School Choir after graduation because I was still in the age group for festival!!) and was in the Alumni Choir for a few years. I've also sung each weekend in church since I was old enough (like 12), but never sang solo until my High School Graduation. It's only now am I starting to feel some fledgling confidence that I can sing! I mean, thing is, I know I have the musical talent (the ear), I just never was sure my voice was good enough. I always feel inferior to the group too, as I don't read music. But what I lack in musical theory, I make up for with hard work.

What I think makes Aca Bella rock are the friendships formed by our mutual love for music. These ladies are amazing, and I'll elaborate below. I'm proud to know each and every one of these ladies.

Darlene Steeves
sings Second Soprano and Alto, is a music teacher at Humber Elementary, and has been deemed our director. (She teaches my Aimée actually). You wont see her standing in front of us waving her arms though. We need her sound more! She directs with her head and breathing weirdly enough and uses a pitchfork to find all our starting notes! It works super well. We all lean on her for the breakdown of pieces and she decides who'll sing what parts, etc. (Our practices without her are always more interesting!! The OBPlayers who were involved with Gatchers will recall those music rehearsals that sounded like injured animals....that was when Darlene was away. Scary actually.

Darlene has a bachelor's degree in music and a masters in music education as far as I understand (please correct me if I'm wrong Darlene). But forgetting all that background, her love for music is what makes her be a part of this thing. She's been part of community choirs and Festival 500 has been a source of inspiration for her. It seems being with Acabella is what she's most proud of. And man, the girl can dance! She's now attempting pointe!! Where she finds time, I have no idea!

Mary Keefe
sings Alto or Bass. That girl has a set of wicked deep pipes. It spooks me how low she can go! It appears that Mary started out in the U of T in music (B.A.). She went through year one sight singing by hiding in the back of the room and singing quietly to the prof while giggling nervously. During second year, she was in a class with a bunch of opera majors. On the first day, the professor made her get up and sing some ridiculously difficult piece in front of the class. She says that all the opera majors laughed. I doubt it was as bad as she says. She then left, went to the registrar's office, and switched programs to psychology! She didn't sing for years after that.

We are so glad she came back to singing. Anyone who has music in their heart will always come back.

Carol Ann Oldford
There's a girl who can sing the guts out of anything. Carol Ann's style is pretty well everything. She does this one Irish traditional piece called Bonnie Wood Green that would melt your heart. It's as if the piece was written for her. Though she normally sings Soprano, she also from time to time sings alto in the nummmannummmm pieces (the low doo wop parts of songs) as if those were written for her. She can do anything and everything, and man I for one am sooo jealous. Her voice never seems tired and she's involved in so much besides a busy career, night classes and an active schedule. You should see her bellydance! I never knew a human's body could get into some of those positions. She's a great gal!

Pamela Gill
sings soprano or second most times. This girl is a one-of-a-kind, original piece of work. She is so full of life it's scary to me. I've never met another soul who was involved in so much, yet is pretty well a single mom for a third of the year when her husband is away working. Pam is very talented and everyone who knows her can't help but be captivated by her personality. She has sung in many choirs (Church, Community and University) and has taken voice and piano lessons. But aside from musical talent, she can tie the stem of a cherry in a knot with her tongue. Interesting girl!


Elizabeth Randall
sings alto. Liz has an amazing talent. She can act and sing like ya wouldn't believe. She also learned the boadhran to play on "Paddy McGinty's Goat" and I think that's her approach to life. Try anything once! I love Liz because she loves the stage and the stage loves her. She is humble though, and would never admit to the talent she has. I remember one of the first big roles I saw her in in Guys and Dolls. It amazed me what that girl could do on stage. We are so fortunate to have her in our group.

Elizabeth Snow
sings soprano. Liz, one of the sillier members of our group, can always lighten the mood and make us laugh. She has 4 children and a dog. Anyone with that many children has to be good hearted and have an amazing sense of humor. Sometimes when we get too serious, she reminds us that we're together for the enjoyment of music and everything else is a by-product. She is a self described choir geek, has an amazing voice, but loves the social time together the most. She also has been bit by the theatre bug and has just tried her hand at directing. I am so sorry I missed the show, but I hear it was amazing.

Carolyn Parsons
sings second and alto but she can sing anything! I have never met anyone like Car. She totally freaks me out in regards to her talent. She can pretty well sight-read anything (I am so jealous!!) She can usually get the hardest pieces in no time and never needs to rely on a partner to sing her part. Carolyn has the coolest personality. She is neither flamboyant nor is she reserved. I feel like we share a lot of ideals as well. Because she was the one I knew less about when I joined Aca Bella I was so proud to have worked with her in Gatchers this year, because I got to see her talents more clearly and I got to know her (and her husband Jim) better. They both are such amazing, talented, fun, and intellectually interesting people. And boy can Jim cook!!!

These group of gals are so generous as well. They have done many benefit shows together, and graciously agreed to sing at my Dad's 90th Birthday party in September, giving up a Saturday night of their life to sing a couple of songs for my Dad. For that I'm forever thankful.

Well, having said all that, I think you get the idea how important this group is to me. I'm so happy I finally put this together. It's been sitting on my desktop for 5 months. Now I can rest that this is done.

You gals are an awesome group of people. I love each and every one of you. Each of these girls are so important to me for various reasons, which I wont go in to right now. I think if I get into that, all that water that's trying to escape from my body may start to leak out of my eyes. We can't have that can we Darlene?

Until Next Time