October 17, 2016
Hospitals can be dreary places at the best of times. Despite even heroic efforts from nursing staff to brighten days, there’s nothing particularly good about being there—if you landed in the hospital, you’re probably not having your best day. But it can get worse! What if you end up in the hospital over the holidays, with nary a jolly soul around to make your days cheery? It happens, of course. And being stuck in a bed over the holidays can really make loneliness a lot more lonesome. That’s where Choir Nation comes in.
Basically Choir Nation is a “team-building experience” where the organization takes 10-25 employees, gets them together with a celebrated Canadian musician who teaches them choral arrangements of original and cover songs, and then has them put on a show for their friends, families, and coworkers. This winter for the holidays, they’ll be focusing specifically on hospitals with their Harmonies For Health initiative. So far, the hospital foundations that have decided to take part are Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation, McMaster Children’s Hospital, and OneFoundation (the Niagara hospitals). Apparently the hospitals are also interested in having companies perform for patients year-round.
All you need to do to participate is wrangle 15-30 people who want to sing, pick three tunes, and a Music Director from Choir Nation will lead you through four weeks of 90-minute rehearsals. When you finally perform, you’ll be joined by two other companies who will also do three songs each. The fee is $3000, and $1000 will go to the hospital foundation as a charitable donation. If your office might be interested, hit them up and bring some joy to patients waiting out the holidays away from home.
In Other News:
- The Western Canadian Music Awards were announced.
- Fucked Up and the Montreal Canadiens joined forces
- Gord Downie opens up about living with cancer.
- Rae Spoon gets misgendered by the WestJet staff.
- Police have arrested a homeless man suspected of killing actor Richard Hong at George Stromboulopoulos’s LA home.
- Adele showed some support for the Blue Jays.
- Drake postpones tour dates because of an ankle injury.
- Check out seven (!!) new Grimes videos.
- A B.C. band named Utility Provider rescued a couple from a burning car.
Festival Lineups: IHeartRadio Canada Jingle Ball, Mundial Montreal
