Arlene Agnew, alias Magnolia

Yesterday my friend Margie picked up the phone and called an old friend who still lives in Erie. (Many of us have moved away.) In no time they were reminiscing about life in Lawrence Park, even though it had been at least 35 years since they had seen each other. You might consider this unusual, even extraordinary, until I point out that we lived in a small company town of 4,000 residents on the east side of Erie. Just about all of them worked at "the GE." We walked everywhere -- to school and back and forth to one other's homes so that we got to know parents and siblings as well as classmates and neighbors. Most of us went to school together for 13 years, if you count kindergarten. All of which means we knew one another extremely well. So these two friends had a good old time catching up on health issues (the hot topic at our age), and remembering classmates and incidents from long ago. Remember when Margie ran home in 4th grade? Remember how Arlene always wore taffeta dresses and adored the art teacher, Mr. Vislosky? He called her "Magnolia" for no good reason at all. Remember painting the store windows on main street at Halloween? Remember? Remember? Remember? We were and are fortunate to have had this set of friends and this community.

Encore Chorale

Three years ago my husband Bruce decided to join a local chorale for people over the age of 55. No auditions required and you can sit during rehearsals and performances. How quaint, I thought to myself. What a nice thing for older people to do. I expected they'd be singing "On Moonlight Bay" or "Home on the Range." Then I attended the spring concert. Wow! Not bad, not bad at all. In fact, so good that I decided I wanted to be a part of it. I've never regretted that decision. We rehearse once a week, during the day so that there is no problem with driving at night for us older folks. Our conductors are professional musicians with the talent, patience and good humor to work with us. As I mentioned, no auditions required so the musical skills of the singers are all over the place. Some are professional or amateur musicians in their own right, some have had experience singing in church choirs or other local groups, and some have no musical background at all. It doesn't matter. With 15 weeks of rehearsals plus a CD of individual parts (soprano, alto, tenor, base) to sing along with, the basic music is easily learned. What is not so easily learned are the breathing exercises, the pronunciation guidelines (never sing on an American "R"), and the rounded vowels. Like I said, our conductors are professional musicians so they know what's what in the singing world. As a result, we learn a lot. At the end of each semester we give a performance with another local Encore group. Dressed in black with a string of pearls for the women and a colorful tie for the men, we look -- and sound -- quite professional. The past two Christmases we have been invited to perform in the Concert Hall of the Kennedy Center in Washington. What a thrill that has been, and we filled the house almost to capacity! Singing is so good for the soul. It's also good for breathing, for companionship, and for just plain fun! Try to find a choral group in your area. You, too, will never regret it!