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Karly Loveling
"When I was a kid, my mom started a youth choir at our church," says
Karly Loveling, who grew up in suburban Garland, Texas. "She had no
musical training and she still can't read music. But she knew that, to
keep us active in church, she needed to bring kids together in programs
that are fun, uplifting, and community-building." Loveling sang with
the youth choir from age 10 through high school, then went on to
Stephens College, a women's college in Columbia, Missouri, where she
majored in dance. She spent ten years in modern dance performing groups
in New York City and in Austin, Texas. Loveling arrived in Eugene in
2004, along with a childhood friend from the youth choir. She stayed at
the Lost Valley Educational Center near Dexter and worked in the Heart
of Now personal growth workshop program. "We always sang before we
ate," she recalls, "but I got tired of the same songs every night, so I
started collecting songs from visitors. I got to be known as someone
who carries songs." Loveling has been leading songs at the Singing
Alive Cascadia annual song gathering since it began in 2007, and she
has since founded two local choirs. The Hummingbirds Girls Choir is
limited to 12 girls of ages 8-12 and practices once a week. The Singing
Heart Choir, open to all ages, welcomes drop-ins and meets twice a
week. Meeting times and locations can be found online; both choirs have
websites. They perform at community events like the Saturday Market and
the Oregon Country Fair. "The choirs were born out of the songs I've
learned at Singing Alive," she says, "community-singing songs, taught
by call and response, no books, no instruments (except as back up),
just the voice." |
happening peoplephotograph and story by Paul Neevel Eugene Weekly / 17 January 2019 |
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