Inspired by a love of music: Integrated choirs bring together kids with and without disabilities

You can feel the energy and excitement in the room at the last regular weekly practice before the big Christmas concert.

Two Saskatoon choirs been preparing since the beginning of September but it didn't feel like hard work — to their members, it was just fun.

Kids of Note and The Notations are both integrated community choirs. Some of the kids have disabilities and some don't, but none of that matters when it's time to sing, says founding director Brenda Baker.

"I have found over the years that the children who are typical, they don't really see the kids who have disabilities as kids with disabilities per se. They just see them as everybody else, and they're just doing this project together," said Baker.

Kids of Note includes youth singers ages seven and up, while The Notations, was formed in 2009 to give older youth and young adults who have "graduated" from Kids of Note a more age-appropriate group to sing with.

Baker founded the Kids of Note in 2005 after meeting Ali Cole-Johnson, a girl with Down syndrome who loves to sing but couldn't find a choir that was a good fit for her.

"When I heard her story — and at that time, I had given birth to a girl who had Down syndrome myself — I thought about my own love of music all my life, being in choirs, and just the pure joy of singing, and I just knew I wanted something for my daughter when she got old enough," Baker said.

Sadly, Baker's daughter, Tori Slade, never got a chance to perform in the choir. She died of leukemia just shy of her fifth birthday. Baker calls Kids of Note Tori's legacy.

'Make new friends'

Kids of Note has 25 members. The participants pay an annual fee (they can get help through a Creative Kids grant) to be part of the community group, but the choirs are so popular, there's a waiting list to get in.

Emerson Fiddler is in Kids of Note. She said she has been part of the choir for three years.

"I liked how you can see people who are different and you can let them into their life and everything. And I like how you get to meet new people and make new friends."

She said she enjoys practising for the concert, and learning new songs. This year, new songs the choir learned included Saskatchewan singer Andrea Menard's Sparkle and Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), a 1963 Darlene Love hit later covered by Mariah Carey.

Drake Dixon is a singer in The Notations. He says he has been in the choir for about five years.

"I do enjoy the singing," he said. "It's something I've been doing for many years, even before I joined this."

This year, he said he got involved with the planning for the concert by sending the organizers song suggestions. One of those suggestions was The Best Christmas of All, a song from a Disney TV special, which ended up in the set list.

Performers at heart

Baker founded the choirs and though she stepped away for a time, she returned because she said she "adores" working with the children and their families.

"Everyone should get a chance to be a performer if that's who they are in their hearts, and that's what these kids and these young adults are — they are performers."

The annual Kids of Note and Notations Christmas concert is this Sunday at 2 p.m. at Grosvenor Park United Church. It sells out almost every year, but this year it sold out three days in advance — a new record for the choir.

If you missed your chance to see Kids of Note and The Notations this time around, their next concert is in the spring.