Ballan choir is hitting the right note

ANYONE in and around Ballan with a song in their heart and a desire to let it out might want to look into the Ballan Community Choir.

The choir performs regularly at local events like the Bacchus Marsh Strawberry and Cherry Festival – held in November – and other dates such as Creswick’s CresFest.

Its musical director, Myrawin Nelson, said the group has proven popular since its official formation.

Ms Nelson, who lives in Gordon, founded the choir last year after organising a ‘taster’ session, and it soon moved under the auspices of the local neighbourhood house.

It now has a strong base of about 20 constant members from Gordon, Ballan, Bacchus Marsh, Greendale and even Ballarat.

“We run with the school term with the neighbourhood house, and we have a rehearsal every Tuesday night at 6.30, and it goes for an hour and a half,” Ms Nelson said.

The choir has a base repertoire but adds and removes songs as needed.

Ms Nelson, a music teacher, directed a church gospel choir in the early 2000s and has led primary school choirs to award-winning performances at the South Street Eisteddfod in Ballarat.

A multi-instrumentalist who plays piano, recorder, tin whistle, piano accordion, and guitar, she founded a choir in Gordon in 2018.

“I’d been thinking about starting a choir for a long time, and I started the Gordon Gospel Choir in 2018,” Ms Nelson said.

“I got a surprising number of people coming along, but then with COVID that all died a natural death and I didn’t have the energy to get it back up again.

“But then there was a groundswell (of interest) in Ballan and Bacchus Marsh.”

Ms Nelson said that interest, along with moves by the Moorabool Shire Council for a community choir, gave her the impetus to establish the Ballan group.

Her first love when it comes to choirs is four-part American gospel songs, but the Ballan group also performs pop songs.

It’s currently working on California Dreamin’ by The Mamas & The Papas, which Ms Nelson said lends itself to three or four parts, and The Beatles hit Here Comes the Sun.

The choir’s participation in the recent Seniors Week activities in the shire had attracted new interest, with some first-timers staying on, she said.

“I’m really seeing friendships build in the group,” Ms Nelson said. “There’s a strong core of really lovely people who just love it, and it’s so much fun.

“We have a good laugh and have a good sing together. I think everybody leaves on a high, because singing does that to you – it improves your mood and it picks you up and takes you somewhere else.”

The next sessions will get underway on 27 January.

Potential singers can express interest in the choir by going to the Ballan Neighbourhood House website and clicking on the Get Social tab in the What’s On section.