Glenna's Biography
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Glenna Lee McConnell mother of three, has a B.A. in early childhood education from Concordia University in Montreal. She has a special interest in the deaf and has worked as an interpreter in the school system as well as interpreting (songs and speeches) at Place des Arts, Montreal. She is presently teaching at the Mackay School for the Deaf.
Her interest in performing started early in life. She wrote and performed in several plays and skits throughout elementary and high-school. She learned guitar and soon began to write songs revolving around her life and family members. She later took private vocal lessons with the internationally known vocalist Karmen Mehta and has since developed her own personal vocal style.
In response to the constant encouragement of Glenna's husband, she finally brought three original songs and her guitar to The Yellow Door coffee house, to sign up for the open stage. Due to the enthusiastic response from her audience, she was hired to open for Julia Rohan, three weeks later. The continued warm and supportive response from the audiences and volunteer staff of the Yellow Door, began a relationship with this historic folk club , which Glenna hopes will continue until she is perhaps the oldest living folk singer to ever perform there.( That's the wonderful thing about folk music, it is the love of music and poetry, not some flashy live fast die young image, that attracts the audience.)
In the process of jamming and performing with a variety of artists ,Glenna met Goran Petrovic. Although she had known of him in her school days and had performed in a musical production "Dark of the Moon" with him while in High School, this was her first encounter with him as a respected artist and producer.
Thanks to a friend and fellow singer/songwriter, Erik Hammerbeck, it was during the very first practice together for a gig at the Yellow Door, that Glenna became aware of Goran's ability as a musician/producer to use his skills and creative genius to add just the right touches and perform her music so that it surpassed what she had imagined it could be .( But she did not have the expertise to play herself ex) dobro, mandolin, lap steel, slide guitar..... the list goes on and on, when describing the magic he contributes to her compositions.) Performing with someone so talented and understanding gave Glenna the opportunity to grow as a performer and composer.
With this new found confidence, she became more daring and incorporated the language of Ellen Mitchell, her Grandmother (American Sign Language) into the show , secure in the knowledge that the musical accompaniment would be true to her vision.
The introduction of Sign Language, was the catalyst which eventually lead Goran's wife, Cari Jones Petrovic , to take private Sign Language lessons from Glenna and become an integral part of the group Folkus. (Bass, harmony vocals & signs) The harmonies nurtured while singing in Chateauguay's O.L.P.H. Church Choir, directed by Goran , combined with a shared love of Sign Language, made this development both natural and cohesive.
Glenna has been writing songs for over a decade and has more than a hundred songs to her credit. She is a regular performer at The Yellow Door, North America's longest running coffee house featuring live music both as a solo artist and with her group FOLKUS. She has performed at Rasputin's Folk Café in Ottawa, as well as various benefits for the Native Friendship Centre of Montreal, and at local schools. She has also appeared, as a musical guest, on CFCF 12's Montreal AM Live, K103 FM, and CBC radio's Day Break morning program.
For her grandmother's 90th birthday, Glenna composed a tribute song entitled "Beauty and Grace"which she sang and signed in performance so that her hearing impaired grandmother could see it performed. The response was both exciting and intriguing, as it sparked tremendous interest in Sign Language. She continues to explore this facet of performance.
Glenna sings of love, pain, joy, and sorrow. Her songs speak of her deep bonds of kinship and hope wrapped in a musical style influenced by all of her musical heroes from Joan Baez and Sarah McLachlan to country artists Mary Chapin Carpenter and K.D. Lang.
Glenna continues to write and has several gigs in the Montreal area planned for the summer and fall of '98. As well, she has just completed the recording of a new song," I Love to Read" promoting literacy in Quebec for the Chateauguay Valley Literacy Council, produced , arranged and performed by Goran Petrovic , Coolmoon Records.
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