By Tyler Wright
The Sweet Sassafras Community Choir is looking to expand its skill set and performance capabilities with a new electric piano bought with a grant from the Dandenong Ranges Community Bank Group.
Choir Secretary Stuart Semmens said the choir did not apply for the $1,000 grant, and receiving the funds was a surprise.
“We have a new choir director, Susy Hull, and she likes to use the piano a lot in teaching…we decided that an ideal thing to buy would be an electric piano that she could stand and teach at chat, and we can take it with us for performances,” Semmens said.
The community-led choir recently performed to audiences at the SelbyFest music and arts festival and Tecoma’s ethical twilight market.
“It’s great because we can be outside with a piano and everybody can still hear us, we couldn’t have done that before at all with an ordinary house piano,” Semmens said.
“It’s got a variety of tones, so [Susy] can find an organ tone, celeste or glockenspiel… we tend to use it just as a straight piano, but recently she’s been using as electric…
“It gives us the ability to have a variety of sounds to suit different songs.”
The new piano has also lifted the choir’s morale, Semmens said, with three new people joining the choir in the last fortnight.
“People have heard us and like what we do, so they decided to join,” he said.
Sweet Sassafras Community Choir members meet at the Tecoma Uniting Church on Monday nights during school terms, and perform a mixture of classic music, modern pop songs, African freedom song, soul and rythymn and blues.
The choir is open to anyone who loves to sing, and those interested in joining are advised to visit the Sweet Sassafras Community Choir Facebook page.
