The Second Five Years
Dynamism Out of Stability -- the Heckler Era
Whether in the world of engineering or the world of the performing arts, stability is an essential precondition for dynamic movement. The rocket must have a stable launching pad; artistic organizations need a stable base to support the creative ferment.
In the fall of 1977 the Society found the stability of artistic leadership it had been seeking when Elma S. Heckler of Hatfield was persuaded to become the music director. Elma holds a B.S. degree in music from Juniata College and a Master of Music degree in choral conducting from Westminster Choir College. She has been music director at Zion Mennonite Church in Souderton and at Pleasantville United Church of Christ in Chalfont.
During most of the same period the Society also enjoyed stability of administrative leadership. Audrey Close served as president from 1977 to 1981. Collaborating closely with Elma, and with the support of an effective board of director and other volunteers from among the singers, Audrey led the Society to a new state of organizational and fiscal stability. The Society was incorporated and ratified its bylaws in 1977. It established tax-exempt status in 1979. It recruited its first contributing patrons in 1977 and its first contributing business patrons in 1979. It received its first substantial grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts in 1979. Atlantic Richfield Corporation and the Prudential Insurance Company have also made substantial grants, beginning in 1980.
While the board of directors addressed the financial fundamentals, Elma was busily revolutionizing the Society's approach to musical fundamentals. Some of us learned for the first time that we sang with our feet and our shoulders and our belly buttons as well as with our vocal cords, lungs, and diaphragms. Consciousness of the whole self - physical, mental, emotional, spiritual - as a musical instrument soon followed.
