Get The Ink Out:

“Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops.

Weakened by my soulful cries.”

Maya Angelou

“Still I Rise”

“Lovely as the moonlight

Bright as the stars

From Heaven you were

Sent as a present to me”

“Sheyn vi di Levone”

It’s no secret I’m the only female front-page columnist at the Pilot.

As such, there seems to be some expectation that I’ll focus on what young women are up to each week. That was never my aim. In fact, I really have no aim.

As I discussed with the Girl Scouts last week, sometimes story ideas just fall into our laps. That’s been my M.O. from the get-go. That all said, this week’s column is about more women doing something really great — singing.

Eliza Rubenstein called me twice last week about the Orange County Women’s Chorus concert. I decided I’d like to go, so I dragged my 18-year-old sister and her boyfriend along.

The OCWC joined Sage Hill School Women’s Choir and Valley High School Women’s Choir in bringing music from all over the world, except Australia, to Orange County, said Rubenstein, who is OCWC’s artistic director.

The reason I brought my guests was because I figured they could try something different and possibly educational with me. Don’t tell them that, though. I presented it more as a date night under my watchful eyes instead of either set of parents. Good thing they forgot I’m far more strict than our parents.

The evening in the Barclay Theatre at UC Irvine sure did deliver. We learned that Yiddish is a combination of German and Hebrew from Stephanie Feder before she sang the beautiful love song “Sheyn vi di Levone,” accompanied only by percussionist Angie Tabor.

We also had the chance to hear a traditional Indian percussion instrument called a tabla, played by Rahul Iyer, who just so happens to be married to one of the sopranos in the chorus. And lucky them, he speaks Tamil, which was used for the song “Ödi Ödi.”

Let’s back up to Tabor. Rubenstein was looking for the perfect percussionist: preferably female, great with scores and improvising, and knowledgeable on a variety of instruments. As impossible as the request was, Tabor fit the bill perfectly, she said.

All the women of OCWC are like Tabor. They have vivacious lives as professionals, moms, retirees, students and volunteers.

Feder is one of the few professional musicians in the group.

“I became associated with the OCWC while I was getting my master’s in conducting,” she said. “My mentor professor introduced me to Eliza, and I became the conducting intern.”

Five years later, the second soprano is sharing her heritage and keeping it alive by singing a Yiddish folk song.

She learned most of her music from her bubby, Yiddish for grandma.

“Yiddish is a dying language,” she said. “It’s falling by the wayside, but that doesn’t mean the music has to.”

Mary Watson-Bruce, one of the founding members and the woman in charge of the yearly auditions for new members, did a powerful reading of Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise.”

From Saturday’s concert, the ladies received an apropos evaluation.

“They liked how we engaged the audience to have as much fun as we were having,” Watson-Bruce said.

That person was correct. The next performance isn’t until May, but you can volunteer, even if you’re like me and can’t sing. Visit ocwomenschorus.org.

JAMIE ROWE is a copy editor for the Daily Pilot. She may be reached at (714) 966-4634 or [email protected]. Squee is in love with his catnip pillow.