Calling all “gleeks” from ages 7 – 12, there is now a club for you in Cochrane.
The Cochrane Glee Club will be running from September until May with rehearsals happening every Tuesday from 6 – 6:45 p.m. at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre.
Shelley Steele-Gittel will be directing the group and said that as far as she knows Cochrane does not have another club like this. She described a Glee Club as a fun alternative to a traditional choir.
“It incorporates really fun current music with action and some theatre with it,” said Steele-Gittel. “We are going to have the kids actively involved, where they are going to help with how the performance will go and what the actions will be.”
Steele-Gittel said it is important for the kids to be involved in how the performance is shaped because it allows them to take ownership of what they learn.
“I think it is more personalized that way and they will have a lot more fun knowing that they created the performance,” she said.
She added that they would be at the Labour Day Parade promoting the club and they have a lot of other performance ideas for the year that would be community based.
Steele-Gittel has a masters of arts in child studies and education that she received from the University of Toronto. She is familiar with music in the community having started Miss Mozart three years ago.
Miss Mozart allows a person to hire a music teacher to come to their home. Steele-Gittel said she currently has 10 qualified teachers who are available that are matched up with students who are interested in everything from piano to singing.
“I did it because parents are so busy, so it offers the convenience of the teacher going to them. It gives you a little bit more stress free after school experience,” she said.
Steele-Gittel said the Glee Club is filling up fast with only limited spots available.
Kids can join at a cost of $39 per month and parents can contact her to sign their kids up. She can be reached at (403) 467-8375 or [email protected].
