Edison Staine retires as choir master
‘Tis the season for concerts, and this weekend while the Methodist Chorale will be holding their annual performance…the Christmas concert will also act as a send off for the grandmaster of choral music in Belize. Patrick Jones reports.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
His antics keep the group relaxed; but Edison Staine is dead serious when it comes to directing the Methodist Chorale.
Edison Staine, Retiring Director, Methodist Chorale
“This is like a family. We won’t go home at nights after rehearsals. They stand out there still talking. And I think we really can’t break up, but I am leaving it.”
Leaving the chorale he founded twelve years ago. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but Staine says when the final note sounds on Saturday night it will mark the close of an era that spans an incredible fifty-three years.
Edison Staine
“When you combine all the years together I think it is time that I think I could step aside and probably allow some other younger people to take charge of the choir. People keep asking me what are you going to do when you retire from the choir, but I always have things that I plan to do with music.”
But the music will play on, and at a concert on Saturday night the Methodist chorale will send off their founder with a programme that will showcase their complete repertoire.
Edison Staine
“They will hear some religious pieces. We are doing Mallock’s “The Lord’s Prayer”, which is very popular. We’ll do a piece that I directed in Jamaica as a young man under my tutor, Lloyd Hall, called “All In The April Evening.” So I was asked by one of the singers, why April in December, I said the reason for it is you will see it in the programme why I’m doing it. It’s very special to me and since I am leaving I thought it would be best for the audience to hear “All In The April Evening.” We’ve never done a live performance, we did it for the Channel 5 Good Friday broadcast, and then of course we’ll do some spirituals as usual, as I mentioned, and “Elijah” by Mendelssohn.”
“Oh well this started from when I was boy. I was singing in the church choir at Ebenezer. I have always been a Methodist, and there was a director there by the name of Mr. Selvin Saldano. I think he in a sense was my mentor. And he introduced me to spirituals, and then when I grew older I became the organist of the church and then I became the choirmaster of the church. And then there were some friends who use to go carolling at Christmas time and I got the idea why not put this group together as a regular choir. And I did that in 1950. I was only twenty-one at that time.”
That group was called the Hormel Chorus, and holds the distinction of being the first Belize City Choir. Other groups on Staine’s resume include The Festival Singers, the Ebenezer Singers, a New York group he founded that is still going strong. And while his directorship spans over a half century, Staine recalls with vivid accuracy some of his most memorable moments on stage.
Edison Staine
“I think one was my tenth anniversary concert at the Bliss. At that time you would invite dignitaries such as his Excellency the Governor who was at that concert. And we did two remarkable pieces I think, that’s one of my memorable concerts.”
Staine says the members of the group made it easy to have lasted twelve years.
Edison Staine
“Once they sit there as choir members and I am out there the director, it’s a difference. You are a passenger on a ship and I am the captain. That’s the difference.”
And it is that firm, but gentle leadership that has seen this group of seasoned singers through years of fun and laughter.
Edison Staine
“Basically my choir is a part song choir. Let me explain that. We sing lots of part songs and we sing spirituals, Negro spirituals. I think that is a big part of our repertoire. Part song is a song just written for choir such as ours, it’s not a big work. This concert, we are doing parts of a big work.”
This will be Staine’s second attempt at staging a condensed work, and from what we saw at the rehearsal, it’s going to be an evening of music fit for a king. A world-class send off, for a man whose world revolved around choirs and the director’s wand. Good work Edison and on your farewell appearance we say: fare thee well. Patrick Jones, for News 5.
Staine says his successors have already been chosen in the persons of Kevin Campbell and Alice Williams, who are both singers in the Methodist system.
