The Selah Singers choir rehearses the Christmas carol Silent Night at the college theatre in 2016. The future of the Selah Singers is uncertain after the recent passing of its founder and director Ralph Browne.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
This could be the end of the road for the Selah Singers choir that was founded in October 2002 by Ralph Browne, who passed away recently.
“We have not met as a board (Selah Singers is a Society) yet to discuss either a memorial of some sort or the continuation of the choir. At present it is not likely the choir will continue, but we will create something in Ralph’s memory,” said John Crisp a former student and music librarian for the Selah Singers.
The name “Selah” means; “to pause and reflect as in the Psalms,” said Crisp.
The choir has had about 100 participants on an ongoing basis. Traditionally they performed several Christmas concerts but once there was a spring concert, too, and they also sang at churches and seniors’ residences.
Browne passed away on Jan. 5 at the age of 59 years. He had revealed last summer that he had been diagnosed with cancer.
Browne spent the past few months writing a piece of music that the choir performed at his memorial service. The words were taken from Habakkuk chapter three in the Old Testament: Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. The choir sang a few other pieces at the service as well.
“A spontaneous standing ovation capped the choir’s final full volume ‘Amen’ at the celebration of Ralph Browne’s life on Saturday,” said Crisp.
About 700 people attended. There were video clips, family pictures and eulogies from his two sons and some friends. Shane Andrus then prayed and spoke briefly, said Crisp.
“Laughter, singing, sorrow and tears were all there as we remembered Ralph’s life and contribution to his family and our community,” said Crisp.
He says over the next few weeks the Selah Singers will consider how best to commemorate Ralph’s gift of music, and whether the choir can continue. His lasting legacy will however, be the many students and audiences that were blessed, touched and encouraged over the years.
“At the moment there is nobody to fill Ralph’s big shoes and continue the Selah Singers as the unique one-hundred voice community choir. Perhaps a new community choir may some day be formed with a different name and director, but we do not know that,” said Crisp.
Very much aware of the benefits of singing in a choir, Crisp suggests people consider joining one of the other choirs in town. There is the Medicine Hat College choir, church choirs, the Tartones or the Veiner Centre choir.
“Give us plenty of opportunity to sing in our musical community. As Ralph frequently reminded us and his family, singing is a pleasure, not a pressure, so sing, sing, sing,” said Crisp.
