HeartSong
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HEARTSONG
By Rex Gillit
long-time Gay Men's Chorus of Houston member
HeartSong
was "Houston's Women's Chorus." GMCH considered them to be our
sister
chorus. Founded
in 1986, they were at their strongest somewhere around 1990-1991.
Emceed
by then-councilwoman Sheila Jackson Lee, GMCH's first show at the Wortham
Center's
Cullen Theatre, "Out (Together!) & Proud," included HeartSong
as one of its five guest choruses
from Texas in June 1993. The program listed 34 singers for HeartSong,
and had this biography:
"HeartSong
began in 1986 when several Houston women discovered they shared a need
to sing the
songs of their heart (thus the name). After many potlucks and much practice
and vision,
HeartSong made their memorable community debut in 1987 opening for Kate
Clinton. In 1988, their
first solo concert was SRO. The following two years brought steady growth,
more and more
appearances for local, state and national gatherings, two more successful
solo concerts, and a
trip to Kansas City for their debut at the Fifth National Women's Choral
Festival.
"Hailed
for their spirit and sound, HeartSong members returned to Houston with
even higher
aspirations. In January of 1991, they proudly performed at the inauguration
of Texas Governer
Ann Richards. In November of 1991, with the support of their local fans
and friends, HeartSong
hosted the Sixth National Women's Choral Festival, featuring a public
concert at Jones Hall.
1992 brought performances in Dallas and at two national conventions here
in Houston,
appearances at numerous community events, and a grand Holiday concert
with the
Gay Men's Chorus of Houston to top it all off.
"True
to its roots, HeartSong continues to evolve as an all-inclusive group
of women singing
the songs of their hearts. As their audience expands, their hope is simply
to continue making a
difference by raising in song a collective voice of spirit and enthusiasm
for this life we all share."
Around
1993 their founding director Lynne Weynand left. Three women had assumed
joint
responsibility for musical leadership of the group after her departure:
Rawslyn Ruffin,
Denise Bullock, and Judi Messina (who was also the accompanist). Women's
choruses in
GALA tend to be introspective and consensus driven, and HeartSong was
no exception.
They had made a fatal tactical error right after the director's departure:
they decided to close their
doors to new members for a year so they could "heal." They never
recovered. We performed
together many times in the 1990s, but their programs more and more became
repetitions of
songs they already knew. When they finally dissolved the corporation in
2000, they donated
their remaining funds to GMCH. We dedicated our December 2000 holiday
concerts,
"It's a Wonderful Life," to them and the inside back cover of
the program contained the dedication.
HeartSong
did not self-identify as lesbian, but their membership was nearly entirely
so.
They included lesbian- and AIDS-themed repertoire in their programming
("Lesbian Second Date Moving Service," by gay composer David
Maddux, for example),
and from 1993 through 1996, were members of GALA, a nationwide association
of lesbian & gay Choruses.
The
women's choruses omitted "the word" from their names even more
frequently
than the men. They were less prone to draw sharp lines, in general, and
the difference
between a women's organization, a feminist organization, and a lesbian
organization
was often quite nebulous. It appeared to me at the time that they were
not as consumed
by the issue as the men were.
Photos and most clippings courtesy of the Botts Collection
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