“Choir is our date night!”

Meet Jannie and Paul Mills One of UCC’s long-standing couples… and supporters!

Jannie and Paul, 2005

Jannie and Paul Mills have been part of Upper Canada Choristers longer than most of its current members. Jannie joined first, in the spring of 2001, when the choir was based at Timothy Eaton Church. 

Jannie’s introduction to UCC was through a social work colleague at work, who told Jannie that being part of the choir was a hugely important and enjoyable part of her rather challenging life. “She said you gotta come, we do lots of community service,” recounts Jannie, “and I thought it sounded perfect as I was about to retire. I have always loved to sing but my only choir experience was as a teenager in a church choir. I tried others, but never made it past the auditions. Although never soloist material, I thought I wouldn’t be a bad chorister!

Her next step was to persuade husband Paul to join – although by the sound of it, he didn’t require much persuading! By the fall of 2001, Paul was a UCC chorister as well.

“I also loved to sing,” says Paul. “ I sang in the choir at high school and was Yum Yum in the Mikado.  I really enjoyed being in HMS Pinafore as a youngster . And I was a boy soprano at St. Simon’s Anglican Church on Bloor Street East. It was known for its high standards, and I sang there for three or four years until my voice broke. We had a martinet of an English choir master. I walked in fear of him and didn’t dare step out of line but, nonetheless, it was fun! So, when I saw how much fun Jannie was having after joining UCC, I wanted to sign on too! “

During their first few years with UCC, the choir led a rather peripatetic existence, moving first from Timothy Eaton Church to Davisville Junior Public School, then to the North Toronto Citadel of the Salvation Army church – UCC’s home until we finally settled at Grace on the Hill Church in September 2011. 

“In the early days,” says Jannie, “we didn’t have an accompanist, so Laurie had to take on that role as well. Finally, in 2004 we hired a wonderful young woman, Nicole Bellamy, who accompanied us until December 2012 (except for her maternity leave when she was replaced by Jo Greenaway). Having an accompanist allowed Laurie to focus on being our Artistic Director and Conductor. When Nicole left, Ayako stepped in until we hired Blair Salter, who was our accompanist for the 2013/14 season (which included our 20th-anniversary concert). Natasha Fransblow then joined us for the 2014/15 season, and finally, in September 2015, we were lucky enough to find Cecilia (Hye Won Cecilia Lee), who I am happy to say is still with us.” 

Getting involved

As anyone who knows Jannie and Paul will NOT be surprised to hear, once they were both members of UCC, they quickly became involved in the running of the choir. Jannie joined the board first, becoming Chair, and then Treasurer. After her terms were completed, Paul joined the board and became our Controller. 

“I helped to put our bylaws together and get our operations on more of a business footing,” says Jannie. “That included encouraging donations from choir members, soliciting corporate concert sponsorship as well as donations specifically to fund our community concerts, and selling program ads. Previously we had a rather loose process to deal with all things financial!”

One of Jannie and Paul’s goals was to make sure that Laurie was paid appropriately for her impressive knowledge of choral music, her talent and professionalism, and her extraordinary dedication to the choir. “We’ve really been working to bring her salary up to an acceptable level, but we still have a way to go,” says Paul, “and I think the choir is now on a pretty solid basis, thanks to the willingness of a lot of good volunteers in the choir who step up and work very hard.” 

Both agree that the fact that the choir has kept on singing throughout the pandemic, putting up with the challenges of Zoom, should be credited to the constant effort of Laurie and co-founder Jacqui to make it work.

Highlights

Before boarding to Japan

“How could UCC’s trip to Japan not be top of the list?” asks Jannie rhetorically. “I remember when we first talked about it I was pretty skeptical as I just didn’t see how we could pull it off. And we wouldn’t have without Ayako’s tremendous hard work. It was a great experience.”

After that, the concerts Jannie recollects most fondly featured the music that she really loves – spirituals, folk songs, familiar classics like Faure, and all the concerts UCC has performed with other musicians. She also continues to love the community concerts.

Singing in the community is the biggest highlight for Paul. “I love going into all the long-term care homes, retirement homes and other places, singing for people who are often marginalized and isolated. They are always so pleased to see us, whether we sing well or not! Both Jannie and I are firm advocates of this type of community work and find this along with our regular, more formal, concerts make for a lovely combination.”

Getting to know fellow choristers is also important to Jannie. “I especially enjoy the friendly banter and rivalry  between the sections, the interactions and friendships that evolve.” Paul appreciates getting to know people who he would never have met otherwise, such as the numerous choristers with a connection to Hospital for Sick Kids (thanks to Bill Logan), most of the singers in Cantemos, and the Japanese choristers.

Speaking of Cantemos reminds Jannie that initially, she was unsure how having an auditioned chamber ensemble within UCC would work, but now she believes that it has been a fabulous addition “I think it’s made a huge difference to Laurie and to the choir to have a core group of excellent singers and performers to work and sing with. Because of Cantemos, we have all been stretched and grown musically.

Looking ahead

Both Jannie and Paul feel that the choir should continue to seek and reach out to people who love to sing and who are equally committed to high-calibre choral singing and taking our music out into the community. “Some choirs ask their members to sell a specific number of tickets for each concert, but we prefer to pay established membership fees, encourage donations, and put our energy into the community work,” says Jannie.

Paul concurred, saying that they have brought in a number of friends, acquaintances and family members who have enjoyed UCC’s music and want to continue supporting the choir’s vision and mission.

Final words

Jannie had a request. “I’d like to remind choristers that Laurie gives fabulous one-on-one lessons, and I think many of us would benefit from having a few lessons with her, even just before a concert. I don’t know how many choristers know about her lessons, and I’m very happy to endorse them.”

Returning to the “couple” theme, Paul had one more comment: “What I enjoy about singing as a couple is that it’s a great weekly event where we are committed to spending time together – and for me, it’s a time when I don’t think about all the other worries and cares of the world, I just think about music.”

Jannie agreed. “All the marriage gurus say you should make sure to have a date night every week, and we don’t have to come up with an idea! We share choir time, and outside of that time, we talk a lot about choir matters. It’s a good thing to do, and I recommend it!