Changemakers is a column that highlights the work of local nonprofit organizations serving Athens County.
ATHENS COUNTY, Ohio –– On a sunny and warm October day at the Indian Mound Festival in The Plains, about two dozen of the Athens County Community Singers finished a performance in the pavilion to a receptive audience. Among them was Katie Conner; she is wearing earrings made of guitar picks.
“I liked all the songs, but I really like ‘I Got Rhythm,’” she said of the old Gershwin tune. Choir members select the music they perform. Other hits included “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” “Rainbow Connection,” “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” and “Hakuna Matata.”
“I like being with my friends and just singing,” Connor said. She would recommend the choir to anyone. “I think the choir is great and it helps you fit in.”
When Katie’s family moved to Athens in 2016, her mother, Kathy Conner, sought opportunities for Katie, who is on the autism spectrum and has ADD.
“A lot of these people don’t have any other outlet where they can go and participate,” Kathy said. “I love the tagline of ‘A Choir for All Voices.’ I think that’s pretty sweet.”
“It’s a very positive group,” Kathy said. “They just add a lot to our community. We have several that are just community members, they have no disabilities. I think that’s always a plus when they’re wanting to participate. I think it gives them all a sense of feeling like they belong and they fit in.”
Every Thursday leading up to the Indian Mound Festival, the choir rehearses at Echoing Connections, a day program on Columbus Road in Athens for people with developmental disabilities.
One mid-September day, Stephanie Morris stood at a music stand, taking attendance. Morris, a licensed music therapist, is founder and director of ACCS. Over ambient noise, Morris used a microphone.
Taking attendance doubled as an opportunity to begin warmups. As she calls out a name, the choir used the name to practice scales, ascending then descending. Do re me fa so fa me re do becomes, Janey Janey Janey Janey Janey Janey Janey Janey, and so on.
Choir members hold notebooks with lyrics.
“We want to assume intelligence, they are adults –– choirs have notebooks, so it’s all about that,” Morris said. However, she adds, “If we want to learn new music, we have to learn it by rote. So it takes quite a while to learn something new.” That can mean up to six weeks.
The choir is, true to its tagline, completely inclusive. Morris points out that most music groups require skills like playing an instrument, singing, reading music or often a tryout. “You don’t have to have any of that to be a part of this group,” she said. “You don’t even have to be able to sing.”
Morris said most people in the choir would be categorized as having a developmental disability but notes that DD is a big umbrella that can encompass a lot of different things.
Additionally, others can gain unexpected benefits from the choir. “I had a lady bring her elderly mother who was showing signs of dementia. So the singing was really good for her,” Morris said.
“Music activates more areas of your brain than language,” Morris, who has a master’s degree in music therapy and is a Neurologic Music Therapy fellow, said. “Singing is a physical activity that involves not only your brain, but your lungs.”
Morris decided to become a music therapist in high school, long before she ever got married or had children. It was her son, Blane, whose experience informed her master’s thesis in 2014.
When Blane, who is on the autism spectrum, was in high school, he wondered how he was going to transition from school services to adult services. “I heard from Blane for two years, ‘Mom, who’s gonna be my friend? Where am I gonna work?’,” Morris said.
When Morris came to Athens following her husband Matt’s appointment to the Ohio University School of Music in 2009, she saw that there was no opportunity for people with disabilities to be part of a performance group in the community.
Morris started her master’s degree at OU in 2011; at the same time, she started volunteering at the old ATCO sheltered workshop, where people with disabilities had paid work, including producing Passion Works Passion Flowers.
For two years, Morris built up the ATCO Vocal Choir as a volunteer. By the time she graduated, she and others from ATCO had created a nonprofit organization: the Athens County Community Singers, which was made official in 2013.
“The Athens County Community Singers would not exist if it were not for three grant funders: Athens County Foundation, the ATCO Legacy Fund and the Ohio Arts Council,” Morris said. “We would not be able to function if it were not for those three.”
The ATCO Legacy Fund harkens back to the now-shuttered ATCO program, where Morris began the choir. The fund is administered by the Athens County Foundation in partnership with the Athens County Board of Development Disabilities.
Grants help pay for Morris’s services, choir t-shirts, mileage and other costs of running the program. Scholarships are available for anyone who needs help paying the $75 annual membership fee, and come from donations.
In 2016, the Athens County Foundation provided initial funding for Beacon Singers, a choir for students who attend Beacon School, which serves students with developmental disabilities.
“Beacon Singers is a transitional choir,” Morris said, harkening back to her expertise on transition from school services to adult services.
As students are aged 14 and up are working toward leaving the school environment, the group is “an opportunity for the students to learn about how to be in a large group, working towards learning lyrics, tunes, different genres of music,” she said.
Currently, a half dozen members of ACCS started out as Beacon Singers. Choir membership tends to average about 30 people, and there is a virtual option for weekly rehearsals, which allows people to be included if they have transportation issues, are sick, or otherwise can’t attend practice.
The virtual option was critical during the coronavirus pandemic.
“The Athens County Foundation supported us a tremendous amount during the pandemic,” Morris said. “We were one of the few things that kept going. I had many, many individuals and families tell me that when the world shut down that the choir was one of the few things that they could do during the week.”
Quite a few choir members have been involved for many years, some going back to its inception in 2011.
“It’s something they feel a part of, and they give back to their community. They can say, ‘I’m a member of Athens County Community Singers.’,” Morris said.
Learn more about Athens County Community Singers here.
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