K.C. Jordan, LJI Journalist

Last Monday evening, long after the last bell had gone and students were off to their extracurriculars, a group of 20 or so kids aged seven to 15 gathered in the Pontiac High School auditorium to hone their singing chops.

Their director was none other than Pontiac High School teacher Phil Holmes, who stood at the front of the auditorium urging the young singers, “Sing from your diaphragm!”

Holmes has directed 18 high school musical theatre productions and spent hundreds of hours offering private music lessons to Outaouais youth. A graduate of the University of Ottawa’s vocal performance program, he’s widely sought after for his singing expertise.

This fall, he and his wife Alina Holmes have turned their attention to a new musical endeavour – the creation of the Pontiac Youth Show Choir – where the next generation of Pontiac prodigies can hone their own chops.

According to Phil, who grew up in Shawville in a time when most singing groups were church choirs, this new show choir is the first of its kind in the Pontiac. He said a show choir is in many ways the opposite of a church choir. Active, dynamic, and upbeat, it’s more akin to musical theatre.

“A show choir is fast, fun, up-tempo music, and it’s more than just standing,” Phil said. “It’s a performance, it’s a show. There’s movement, there’s choreography, hopefully costumes.”

Phil and Alina, who manages the behind-the-scenes business for the choir such as registrations, had talked about starting a show choir for a few years, but with two kids now interested in joining the choir, the couple decided the time had finally come to actually do it.

Phil said rehearsals, which have been going on in the PHS auditorium since mid-September, are going well, and that the kids are getting more comfortable singing and dancing. “A lot of these kids don’t have a background in dance,” he said.

Last Monday’s rehearsal began with Phil leading the kids through dynamic vocal warm-ups, enunciation exercises and full-body stretches. Then, once everyone was nice and loose he led the kids through their repertoire of songs, which he has arranged according to the kids’ strengths and abilities. Selections range from pop music from artists such as Coldplay and Imagine Dragons, to more traditional songs, like sea shanties.

On this particular day it was the sea shanty that was giving the kids trouble. Phil urged the kids to sing louder, with the gut and gusto of a salty sailor. “Sing with your diaphragm!”

A student of the art of singing, he knows what he’s talking about. Singing from the diaphragm, instead of the chest, creates a deeper, fuller sound, helping singers project their voices further.

The kids listen to his advice. “Better!” he said.

Phil might be dealing with a choir full of kids, but he takes it seriously, even issuing a challenge to his young singers: “Being good at singing is going to be hard,” he said. “You’re going to have to work at this.”

Phil has seen firsthand the impact music can have on young people’s lives. He said programs like the show choir are there to help kids find their passion — especially if that passion doesn’t happen to be sports.

“We have a fantastic hockey program [in Shawville], fantastic athletics, but not every child wants to play a sport. But every child is born with something inside of them that they will love,” he said.

Alina, who has a university degree in music as well, also discovered music at a young age, which she said helped her overcome a lot of challenges.

“Socially, I had a difficult time with bullying, with other things going on, and I really struggled with that. And it was only when I found music and I found that space that the rest of it didn’t matter as much anymore. Because I had somewhere I could go where I had people that got me,” she said.

Alina said in addition to her husband being from the music community, two of her best friends are as well. She hopes the choir can help these kids find meaningful connections through music, just as she was able to.

“We want to make sure that we are creating these spaces. [ . . . ] We need to provide as many opportunities as possible for kids to find their space where they belong, whatever that means to them.”

Nathalie Vallée signed her daughter Maggie up for the choir because the girl is interested in K-pop and wants to learn how to sing. Vallée and her partner were looking for singing lessons as far as Aylmer, but when they found the show choir they jumped on the opportunity.

“I thought it would be perfect to possibly help her sing, but also give her confidence in singing in the fact that her voice was mixed in with other voices,” Vallée said.

“I also wanted her to meet other people that love to sing,” she said.

Michelle Hitchen said her daughter Mia is always singing around the house, and even asked for singing lessons, so when she heard about the choir it was a no-brainer.

“She is enjoying it,” she said. “It’s great to see a program like this offered as an after-school activity.”

Phil and Alina have two kids, Mason and Amélie, in the choir, and the family is using the rehearsals as an opportunity to spend some quality family time together, despite what can be a busy schedule.

“We run a lot of various community events and organizations and what we have chosen to work on definitely has shifted over the years based on our childrens’ interests,” Alina said, adding that for them, spending time as a family is the number one priority.

She said that while Phil doesn’t like to toot his own horn, with him the kids are getting a world-class musical education.

“These kids don’t even know it because they’re just having a blast, but they are getting an absolute professional teacher, someone that is totally sought after,” she said.

“People are calling him constantly trying to hire him and he’s often saying no, he’s too busy, and this is the type of thing he’s too busy doing [ . . . ] This is where his heart is, and this is where he’s going to spend his time.”

Phil said he eventually hoped to take the choir on the road and perform in different locations. But first, he said, there’s lots of work to be done.

“We are only going to perform if we sound good as a group,” he said to the kids at rehearsal. “Who’s ready to work?”

“Me!” was the unanimous response from the choir.