Every composer hopes to one day create a masterpiece, their magnum opus.
It’s no different for Bob Smart, who was commissioned by Vancouver’s Playland to be the choir master for the world’s first scream choir. Yes, a scream choir.
“I was inspired by the energy, the smells, the joy, the fear,” Smart explains in a PNE interview.
“I wanted to take the essence of Playland and turn it into something beautiful.”
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Inspiration? Check. Now for the screamers.
“The first thing I needed were the right people and we went through a very thorough audition process to find these people,” Smart said.
“And I think that we’ve got the best screamers in town.”
So what makes the best screamer? Hard to say or tell… but Smart said it all starts with the rehearsal and “you get out of it, what you put into it.” That and asking each choir member to try to imagine their greatest fear before letting that scream fly.
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Not your everyday choir, feedback from Smart can include anything from “You’re screaming like a bunch of wimps” to “It’s got to be more scream-y.”
A short video released by Playland on the weekend shows Smart taking his choir of locals from two weeks of rehearsals to a day of live performances throughout Vancouver. The choir was chosen through an online audition process, where the public had to submit videos of themselves screaming the classic tune, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
WATCH: Online Audition Videos
With choir members decked out in yellow robes and Smart in black tie, tails, shorts and yellow socks, they performed in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Kitsilano Showboat stage and Playland.
Judging by the video, reactions to the scream choir appeared to be confusion, amusement, finally followed by laughter.
“We jumped at the opportunity to turn screams into classical music,” Kim Madu, director of marketing for Playland said in a statement.
“It’s a fun idea that makes a whole lot of sense for the park. Screams are just part of the Playland atmosphere.”
Playland hopes the video will inspire people to visit the park to test out their own screaming abilities.