Melodears Stay With the Beat

The Melodears will never try out for the Juilliard School of Music. Nor will they ever sing at Carnegie Hall. But the senior citizens singing group has something perhaps more important in mind.

Its members are out to defy old age.

For two hours each Friday, members meet at the Anaheim senior center to sing show and old-time tunes. The group is mostly made up of women, and the average age is about 70. Most have sung all their lives, some with choirs and similar singing groups. Others were inexperienced performers until they joined the Melodears.

The group performs at retirement homes throughout Orange County. But the enterprise is about more than singing and performing.

It’s about keeping active through retirement and the deaths of spouses and friends. In addition to singing, several members dance and perform drama. They say the activities keep them lodged and present in this world, instead of thinking ahead to the next.

Jean Dunlop, 81, lost her husband seven years ago. She said the group helped her cope. Other Melodears offered her comfort. Director Paul Kubiak, 50--who had lost his spouse too--told her: “I know exactly what you’re going through.”

At a recent Friday rehearsal, the Melodears sang an oldie called “You’re Just in Love”:

I hear singing and there’s no one there.

I smell blossoms when the trees are bare.

I keep tossing in my sleep at night.

I wonder why. I wonder why.

Feet tapped, attempting to keep time with the accompanying piano.

“You’re getting behind,” said Kubiak after halting them mid-song. “You have to really push that.” The singers listened attentively.

The director has a practical approach to his duties, concentrating on making the singers work to their highest potential.

“I try to get them to perform as musically as possible,” he said.

Kubiak said he sees everyone involved, including his group’s oldest members, as young souls.

“We’re all kids together,” he said.

Judy Silber may be reached at (714) 966-5988.