"We come from different professions, different decades, and different lifestyles, but we are women united in song. Women who love to sing and who wish to strive to be the best they can, are welcome," Volan said.
The women meet once a week for three hours to practice, but they have found that as the music develops, so do they.
"I find that so often, we tend to spend so much of our time every day doing for others, whether it's for our kids, our spouses, our employers, our employees. I do it myself. We give and give and give of ourselves with rarely taking time to replenish ourselves," Volan said.
While the women are training for performances and competition, the singing also acts as a release for every day tension.
"It's a way of relieving the stress of the day," said Charlene Davis of Goshen and member for 25 years. "For three hours, you get to leave the stress behind and you are there and you can use singing as an outlet."
"While I'm at chorus, I can't think about the bills, work, family life. It's all just about singing and focusing on improving your singing with a whole bunch of women who care about you and are doing the same thing themselves," Volan said.
The choir is led by Jason Remley, a graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, but the women also lean on each other for support.
"It's also a very fantastic group of women," Volan said. "They all truly care and support each other through whatever life brings. I've never seen anything like it."
"I enjoy the friends, the people, the singing, the music, the work and trying to perfect the quality of the music," Davis said.
The group will be competing at the beginning of April in the regional competition at the Covington Convention Center and then going to nationals in San Antonio, July 15.
Until then the group is continually looking for new members. To find information about the group, go to www.7hillschorus.org.
Reprinted with permission from The Community Press: http://news.communitypress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060118/NEWS01/601180507/1078/Local
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