GREAT BARRINGTON — Julie Bickford found her way to choral music a bit circuitously. By age 11, she was an accomplished ballet dancer; one autumn, when she was not cast for the part she wanted in “The Nutcracker,” her mother suggested she audition for Chorus Angelicus in Torrington, Connecticut. “I sang for the director, and that was it: singing became my thing,” Bickford told The Edge in a recent phone interview. This weekend, Bickford will take to the stage at Saint James Place, this time at the helm of Vocalis Youth Choir — the Berkshires’ newest vocal ensemble for children and young people.
“I felt compelled to start this group for a different level of engagement with kids outside of school,” said Bickford, who is the Choir’s artistic director and has served as choir director at Monument Mountain Regional High School for 15 years. She developed her “roots as a teacher” while serving as junior choir conductor at Chorus Angelicus — under founding director Paul Halley, for whom she once auditioned — after graduating from Ithaca College. “It just seemed to fit,” she said of her decade-long tenure, during which she earned her masters of music education from the Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford.
Not surprisingly, learning is part of the bedrock of the nonprofit. The mission of Vocalis Youth Choir is to educate young people in the art of choral music while providing opportunities for personal and creative growth, youth leadership, and community engagement. The conversation took shape during the pandemic, on a series of informal hikes, among a group of like-minded individuals with a shared love of choral music.
“No one was vaxxed, [and] no one was singing — at least not indoors — [and] it seemed like a dream that we could pull it off,” said Bickford of the flood of ideas and legal paperwork needed to become an LLC. As to the tie binding the fledgling group together? “A deep support of what Julie does, bringing music to life from children, [and] an undying commitment to keep her teaching outside of school,” said Larissa Yaple, president of the Vocalis board. Auditions took place via Zoom, and in-person rehearsals began in September; at present, there are 13 singers enrolled (ages 11-18), and the group is always looking for more singers (with the goal of expanding to include younger students as the organization becomes established).
As close partners in this venture, Bickford and Yaple share a single goal: to emphatically encourage and support the use of one’s voice, whether on stage or in life’s other arenas. In fact, the name Vocalis translates to “having a voice” in Latin, and the VYC strives to help all children and young people find their voice. “I always envisioned [Vocalis] as a strong support system for the younger generations, especially [as it] sometimes feels like our voice is not heard in this world,” said Yaple of the importance of finding one’s voice, whether through participating in a chorus, speaking up for oneself at school, advocating for change, or running for public office. She remains committed to “help[ing] all of our young people — both as individuals and as choristers — to learn to use their voices, to not be afraid to use their voices, in all of their life’s circumstances.”
While building a body of sound is the goal in any musical ensemble, Bickford points to something particularly special about a choir. “[There is] utter reliance on your neighbor to get the work done,” she said, citing a situation where no individual is more important than another. “Every single voice is important and has an impact on the group; they are all needed,” she said of the reciprocal relationship that ultimately takes shape. “Kids learn to rely on one another; they need their neighbor’s sound in their ear so they can feel supported and confident to sing.”
Furthermore, multi-age ensembles offer an opportunity for really lovely, natural mentoring that does not necessarily happen in school. “You have kids who are younger looking up to the older kids — who are often more experienced and more vocally talented — and this natural leadership starts to develop within the choirs,” said Bickford of roles that naturally get replaced as kids graduate and move on. “It’s the most organic group leadership model I can imagine,” she added.
Sunday’s concert will be the first in-person event for Vocalis (save for their appearance following last Saturday’s downtown Holiday Stroll). All singers will be masked, “which is challenging for the kids, but necessary” said Bickford, who is thrilled about her group’s first foray on stage.
In the end, the benefits of choral music extend far beyond singing and performing. “Participation can lead to confidence, a sense of self, and deportment — the ability to carry oneself out in the world,” she said. Does it get any more harmonious than that?
