Squamish music teacher and folk singer, Joanna Schwarz, has been passionate about her craft for many years, and now her creations will find a voice - or voices - through two choirs. The B.C. choirs have bought the rights to perform two of Schwarz's West Coast-themed songs after she tweaked the tunes with the help of Vancouver composer and conductor Larry Nickel, who is nationally renowned for his arrangements with Canadian choirs."I feel excited that it's a window of opportunity to get [the songs] out to people, and it's an opportunity to have them performed. That will bring them to life, that's for sure," she said.Schwarz selected five songs originally written as solo pieces to arrange for chorals: Love Needs No Language, When Christmas Comes, Miracle At Play, Light The Flame, and Mountain, Sea and Sky.While Schwarz was unable to release the information on the B.C. choirs that have purchased her choral arrangements, she did say she was excited about one choir in particular since the group comes from her hometown of Parksville."[When Christmas Comes] was the first song purchased, and it was purchased by a Parksville choir," she said. "It was kind of symbolic to me."The song was brought to the Parksville choral director's attention by George Furniss, who used to work with Schwarz on the Howe Sound Performing Arts Board, and he passed the song on to his wife Pat, who sings in the choir in Parksville.Love Needs No Language will be performed by another B.C. choir in December, in honour of World Aids Day and the Montreal Massacre. And Mountain, Sea and Sky has already gained considerable international attention since it was made into a video, which references the sights and sounds of Sea to Sky Country on DVD, four years ago.Locals will also remember it being sung at the Howe Sound Brew Pub after the International Olympic Committee announced that Vancouver would host the 2010 Games. And the song's only gained in popularity since then, said Schwarz."People around the world have purchased it and taken it as a souvenir of Squamish," she said. "I was just trying in that one to evoke the spirit of Squamish."All of Schwarz's songs are inspired by the outdoors and the West Coast.Schwarz is also a landscape photographer and works hard to capture the spirit of the Sea to Sky Corridor in her songs."I hope people will feel it's a part of who they are," she said. Schwarz hopes to have community choirs purchase the songs and perform them, spreading the image of Squamish around the country. The songs can be found on Schwarz's website, homepage.mac.com/larrynickel/JS.html, and Schwarz charges a mere $1 per choir member for perpetual performance rights.
