“You have to do whatever you need to do these days, when it comes to singing, and that extends to Virtual Tour Guiding!” says the ingenious and unstoppable community choir leader Jeannie Marsh.
In conversation with Jeannie it is often hard to pre-empt what brilliant idea is going to pop out of her in-jeannie-ous brain next. Her latest iron in the fire is the Elwood Singing Walking Trail, cooked up in lockdown and coming to fruition a little more each day.
Jeannie Marsh and the Elwood Community Choir came up with the idea of the Elwood Singing Walking trail following last year’s lockdown when they were thinking up safe, physical activities for singers in their local community. The plan was to identify 12 locations along a route in Elwood taking walkers along the beach and the canal and around the streets while sharing stories and songs that reflect the history of this leafy hood, with its Art Deco flats; unfurling its rich Indigenous and settler history along the way.
The whole route covers around 6.5km in its entirety. It was conceived with the idea that people approach doing the walk in whatever way suits them, taking in however many locations they choose on any given day and – because it will be permanent – is something to be returned to and enjoyed multiple times.
Half way through next year, Jeannie and the team are planning to hold a big launch of the infrastructure. The research and development stage has been quietly ongoing throughout the turbulence of 2021 and was launched in April, funded by City of Port Phillip. Some surprising revelations about this quiet residential corner of the bay have come to light, in the process.
There used to be a dance hall called ‘Maison Deluxe’ located on the corner of Broadway and Glenhuntly Road where everyone used to go for dances with a live, very busy dance band who would travel all across Melbourne doing two or three dances a night.
As a local, Jeannie has lived near Elwood for over 20 years and had grown increasingly curious about the history of the area she was walking around.
“I would think ‘what’s the history of that little corner’ and ‘what’s that all about’ so it’s been really interesting to understand!”
The original focus of the project was to provide an activity for the Elwood Community Choir which Jeannie runs, with a weekly cohort of around 40 singers, as the research phase could be done throughout lockdown and a lot of the stories have come from the choir.
The next phase, currently underway in the planning, is to get all of the infrastructure in place. Elwood Neighbourhood Community Centre (where the Elwood Community Choir rehearses) will be assisting the choir in setting up the processes and infrastructure. The choir will be recording these songs early in 2022 and, if lockdowns continue to prohibit them doing this work in person, they will create the recordings remotely using their phones.
The intention is to get the whole community singing and aware of the history of the area. Some of the songs are traditional songs that people will know; some reflect and honour the local Jewish and Russian communities and there are also songs created by Jeannie, Tracy Harvey, and songs that members of the choir have created.
To celebrate Seniors Week this Friday 15 October from 1:30 – 2:30pm and again on Saturday 16 October, there will be a one hour ‘Musical Zoom’ session where Jeannie together with ‘local legend’ comedian, writer and radio/TV presenter, Tracy Harvey, will be joined by members of Elwood Community Choir to conduct a lively virtual stroll along the Elwood Singing Trail, singing along to a selection of simple songs on the way that capture the spirit and essence of Elwood. It’s also an opportunity for walkers to explore and support some of the local businesses along the trail, such as Elwood Sourdough which is owned and run by Tracy and her partner. Jeannie highly recommends stopping off there for a ‘Spotty’.
“A spotty is one of the most sensational fruit buns you will have in your life. They marinade all of the fruit and it’s like eating a full meal, it is spicy and fruity and unique!”
Jeannie and Tracy have filmed each of the locations and on Friday and Saturday will be using these clips and singing each of the songs, together with the Elwood Community Choir for everyone to join in with. Folks who register will be sent a word sheet to singalong to.
“It’s a teaser to get people ready for when we launch next year when we’ll have everyone out there walking along in real life, and singing!”
To join Jeannie, Tracy and the Elwood Community Choir for the FREE Musical Zoom along Elwood Singing Walking Trail, bookings are essential before 5pm on Thursday and can be made via esnlc@esnlc.com.au or leave a message on 9531 1954
Written by Deb Carveth, online editor for Community Music Victoria in conversation with Jeannie Marsh; thank you Jeannie!
Community Music Victoria 