Hi there!

It’s Andy Rush here, writing a blurb for the new Open Voices web site (2025) , on the topic ‘Notes from the founding artistic director of Open Voices Community Choir.’

As l look back on the whole thing… there are SO many wonderful musical moments, community moments and personal victories. That’s for me… you will have your own. For me it was always ‘unlock the song’ first. If we can get clean harmony vocals, the meaning of the song across, and have fun doing it, that is where 98% of my effort was going, and I think a good percentage of choir member energy. And we achieved that time and time again.

I introduce myself as a father and husband first, a teacher second, and a musician third. To get our results I poured myself into problem solving (effective or not) through targeted arrangements, practice tracks, extra rehearsals at my place and always adding something fun or new to the mix… like ukes, or member conductors, or kids, or special guests, or member accompaniment in the “house” band. A lot of this was compensation for my being an average musician. But I am not an average dreamer and doer about taking a gang of misfits and creating a choir, concerts and a community that rocks. Knowing that helps me meditate on our golden 24 years of friends, support, loyalty, effort, learning and fun.

For a very accurate history on how this all came about, the introduction and first two chapters of my master’s project “Open Voices: The Genesis of a Community Choir” are a solid read. It will take you about 20 minutes and you’ll be right in my head about lots of this. You can see if that resonated, or if Open Voices, moving into its future, chooses a different direction.

I am thrilled to see what comes next for Open Voices and for Liam—the new AD—and to see if the founding principles you’ll read about in my master’s project continue to flourish.

Andy, 2025