Oakland Girls Choir Inspires Young Singers, Led by Forest Hills Woman

Kathryn Barnard placed a marshmallow on each chair before beginning the latest practice session for the Oakland Girls Choir.

“It helps them to learn how to sing with a more open vocal cavity,” Barnard of said.

The founder and director of the choir hurriedly prepared for the practice with training choir one, a group of girls from first to third grade. The young vocalists peered through a window to the room, pointing and smiling at the sweet treats that sat on top of their name tags in each of their spots.

“I guess the marshmallows won’t be a surprise now,” Barnard said with a laugh.

Every week, the choirs gather for practice at the Church of Ascension in Oakland. While Barnard’s choir creation has been operating under the umbrella of Oakland Service Ministries, it has just been designated as its own nonprofit with 501C3 status.

“There is the artistic satisfaction and I can say across the board, one of the things I really enjoy is the strength of community among the girls and watching that evolve, develop and grow,” Barnard said. “These girls are really close and it’s a really positive environment. I enjoy facilitating that and encouraging that—I love to teach.”

During the weekly practice sessions, the girls complete vocal exercises, some of which allowed them to name their favorite month of the year.

“How many of you chose your birthday month?” Barnard asked.

The majority of the young singers raised their hands with big smiles.

Barnard graduated from Concordia New York with degrees in church music and piano performance and received her master's of music from the University of Texas. She then taught at the Peabody Preparatory School in Baltimore while studying vocal development at Westminster Choir College and the Eastman School of Music.

She has conducted numerous children's, youth and adult ensembles in Baltimore, Buffalo and Pittsburgh.

“I got carpal tunnel in both wrists about 12 years ago and had to redirect what I was going to do and I have always been interested in working with children’s choirs,” she said. “I have three daughters, so it was natural for me to start with a girls choir.”

There is a total of three choirs in the group, including an original group with older girls, training choir one, with students in first to third grades, and training choir two, with girls from third to fourth grades.

“I think it’s interesting because it tends to attract a particular type of girl—when I ask them to name their favorite something, all but one girl said reading and the other said drawing,” Barnard said. “They’re more artistic and it’s a rare school that feeds that.”

Heidi Hauser Green of Forest Hills said her daughter, Katie, has loved being involved in the Oakland Girls Choir. Katie is in first grade at the . She joined the group’s training choir after participating in its week-long summer camp in July.

"The choir provides a good opportunity for her to sing, which she loves," Green said. "As an added bonus, the all-girl membership is a nice change from her brother-centric home."

Green also said Barnard is a great conductor and mentor for the girls.

"I had the opportunity to be 'parent on duty' during practice last week, observing and providing as-needed assistance with materials and so on," Green said. "I was amazed at how much content and fun Ms. Barnard packed into the 90-minute session."

With recent budget cuts made to arts programs across the country, choir groups are more important now than ever, Barnard said.

“For schools that do have programs, it’s unusual for it to be a really strong singing program, and there are girls from all over Allegheny County and it brings girls together that may not have known each other any other way,” she said.

And together, the girls have a chance to create something beautiful.

“It’s a great thing—the unity that comes from singing together,” she said. “Singing in a choir really brings to light that the total is greater than the sum of its parts.”

The Oakland Girls Choir is holding a fundraiser from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 23 with a special performance by Andres Cardenes, a violinist. For more information on tickets, visit www.oaklandgirlschoir.org.