Moama Anglican Grammar Adult Choir meets every Monday from 7.30pm to 8.30pm at the school. Photo: Emily Donohoe
Photo by
Emily Donohoe
Echuca-Moama is a thriving community that is only growing. One of the many reasons people love the region is the multitude of groups they can be a part of. To help you find the right group, check out our ‘Why not join ...’ series each week, where we focus on a community group.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
In today’s edition, Emily Donohoe speaks to Moama Anglican Grammar Adult Choir.
After living in the area for more than a decade, Susan Cox saw a gap for a casual choir. Earlier this year, she started the Moama Anglican Grammar Adult Choir, where locals can get together for a sing in a relaxed environment.
Mrs Cox has vast musical experience, beginning with learning the piano since the age of around five and completing her Grade 8 AMEB piano and Grade 5 musicology exams.
She was also involved with many productions, including the Horsham Theatre Company’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat show and a battle of the bands fundraiser for the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre, performing in front of the famous singer herself.
Having moved to the area around 13 or 14 years ago, Mrs Cox wanted to put her knowledge and passion to use.
“I tried one of the local choirs, but it kind of wasn’t my thing,” she said.
“There was no-one else my age. At the time, I was in my early to mid-thirties, so I just thought I’d give it a miss.
“When COVID was happening, lots of people were having mental health issues and I thought it would be great to go on a low-key basis and go belt out some tunes with people to raise the spirits of myself and also everyone there.”
Susan Cox created and leads the choir. Photo: Aidan Briggs
Photo by
Aidan Briggs
A few more lockdowns and some road bumps later, and Mrs Cox was in the swing of bringing the choir together.
She reached out to the Moama Anglican Grammar music co-ordinator, who was on board with the idea from the start.
Initially, Mrs Cox thought the choir could run within MAGS, made up of staff, parents and the immediate school community.
“The general consensus was to open it up to the whole community, so that’s what we did,” she said.
“The aim is for people to come and just chill out, relax and get the endorphins from singing.
“Singing at home obviously makes you feel good, but when you come and sing with other people, especially when you can add harmonies in there, it’s a completely different thing. It just heightens the experience.”
The group is not necessarily a choir in the traditional sense, with Mrs Cox choosing modern music and focused on casual singing in a group, rather than performing at concerts or competing in eisteddfods.
“Using the ‘choir’ term seems quite formal,” she said.
“I guess it is the proper term because we are a group of people coming to sing together, but given the style of music we sing together ... it adds to the more relaxed environment.
“We’re not just there singing notes in a staunch way, you’re actually putting that feeling into the song as well and getting those feelings back.”
So far in 2024, the choir has sung Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, Toto’s Africa and Sheppard’s Geronimo. Christmas carols are next on the list.
Each session begins with a 10-minute warm-up, before a song is broken up into parts — soprano, alto and baritone — at the piano, and is sung through with a backing track.
“The group of people are just super friendly, and we often crack up and laugh about different things,” Mrs Cox said.
“It’s a structured, low-key environment.
“Having a place that people actually to look forward to going to on a Monday night and don’t want to leave.
“The main thing is about bringing that happiness.”
The group meets at Moama Anglican Grammar hall every Monday during school term times from 7.30pm to 8.30pm.
