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The Chouinard Family invites the Chisago Lakes community to join them at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 24, when four generations of Chouinards gather to celebrate what they love and do best—making beautiful music together. The free concert at St. Bridget of Sweden Catholic Church in Lindstrom is open to everyone. 

Five members of the Chouinard family are professional musicians. All of them are involved in music in some form.  Patriarch John Chouinard, describing himself as “an overly proud parent and grandparent,” says musical accomplishments deserve, but often don’t receive, the same recognition given to sports, for example. He would like to change that. 

 

How did it all begin? 

The Chouinard family has lived in the Chisago Lakes area for close to 50 years, but their family story began in Minneapolis where John and Joan had their first date, arranged by Joan’s sister. They married 66 years ago, and the family grew to four sons and two daughters born between 1960 and 1974. 

Both of John’s parents had played the piano. He remembers them as “the life of the party,” playing piano in the family living room while friends gathered around it singing as he listened from the stairway. 

Both John and his brother played trumpet in high school, but John didn’t learn to play the piano as a child, and didn’t start singing until he joined the Minneapolis Commodore’s Barbershop Chorus in the 1960s, after he and Joan were married.

Trained as a lab technician, Joan became a stay-at-home mom. The family home was quickly filled with both children and music. 

“We always had music playing in our house,” says John, “Classical mostly,” played on records on the stereo. “We also played some fun stuff,” adds Joan, “We played all sorts of music.” John recalls their children as toddlers marching around the table to the rhythm of an energetic tune. 

Joan’s family shipped their family piano to her, and the second oldest son, Dan, began  playing it by ear, picking out the tune to “Alley Cat” at the age of four.

The Chouinards decided it was time to begin piano lessons and found a teacher who had experience teaching piano to children not yet able to read the words in their piano book.      But Joan says they didn’t feel right offering lessons for Dan before his brother Joe, who was one year older.  The two oldest boys started piano lessons together, and the seed for the Chouinard family of musicians was planted. Eventually, the Chouinards would have as many as four of their children in piano lessons at any given time. 

Practice makes perfect

As his oldest children started taking piano lessons, John decided it was time for him to learn to play as well. “When Joe, Dan and Bill were put to bed,” Joan says, “they would listen to their dad practice his piano lessons.” 

When the kids started grade school in Richfield, Joan says that they walked right past the Northwest Piano and Organ store on Penn Avenue. Third-oldest son, Bill, would often stop, go inside, sit down and start playing the organs, After a couple of years of these visits, the store owner asked the family if they would like to keep a Hammond organ he’d had on display for a while at their home “until it was sold.” Of course, they said yes.

 The Chouinard boys also sang in a boy’s choir at their Richfield church. When the choir performed at other churches, Bill, age 8, was in awe of the massive pipe organs he saw. He wanted to begin organ lessons immediately but was told he would have to wait until he became more proficient at the piano.

 In 1976, after the Chouinards moved from Richfield to a farmhouse outside of Lindstrom, they began driving their children to the Twins Cities every other Saturday to take piano lessons from Dr. Edward Berryman at Westminster Presbyterian Church. By the time Renee, their fourth child, started piano lessons, the lessons took the whole day and practicing at home became a bit of a challenge.

 The family had a grand piano in the living room, but with so many pianists, one piano wasn’t enough. To solve the problem, they padded the walls of a large closet and added a second piano so two people could be playing  at the same time. 

Not only did the Chouinards foster a love of music in their children, they extended it to the community. Within a year of moving to the Chisago Lakes Area John started a barbershop quartet with Jim Iverson, Romaine Nelson and Eugene Anderson. The following year, Masquers Theatre in Forest Lake was producing “The Music Man” and recruited them to perform for the run of the play. 

In 1982, the Chouinards formed the Chisago Lakes Children’s Choir and also played a role in launching an areawide adult choir, “Unexpected Company,” where Joan was pleased to be able to return to singing again. 

Putting their talents to work

 When young Bill started organ lessons with Dr. Berryman in 1977 at age 14, his feet could still barely reach the pedals, but he had already taught himself to use all of the organ stops.  One year later, Bill became the church organist at St. Bridget’s Catholic Church in Lindstrom. He served as substitute organist during the.summers at Elim Lutheran in Scandia and St. Michael’s church in Stillwater. 

After the three oldest boys went to college at St. John’s University, Bill was recruited by Dr. Frank Bencriscutto to play the bass at the University of Minnesota. Bill still plays the bass, and serves as resident organist at St. Andrews Lutheran Church, Mahtomedi, performing on the largest pipe organ in Minnesota.

Joe, the oldest of the Chouinard children, went on to become a sought-after keyboardist and composer with many CD credits prior to his untimely death due to pancreatic cancer in 2018.

Second oldest son Dan began his performing career playing for dinner cruises on a riverboat on the St. Croix River while still in high school. He composed an original song for his own graduation ceremony at Chisago Lakes High School and went on to host radio shows, produce special broadcasts, organize singalongs, and accompany Garrison Keillor on “A Prairie Home Companion” locally and around the country. Today, Dan also appears with his father, Jim Foy and Bob Dowma as the River City Barbershop Quartet performs at various locations.

Daughter Renee Chouinard Braun recently retired from 20 years of teaching middle school music near Milwaukee,Wisconsin, and is a sought after soloist and accompanist.

The next generation

Youngest Chouinard son Paul, lives in Maple Grove with his wife Amy and sells bio-medical equipment. Paul plays both piano and trumpet and has been known to perform amazing piano duets with his oldest son, Charlie, a trombonist with the Marquette University band. Paul, Charlie, and Paul’s younger son Henry, also a brass player, and daughter Marie, a dancer, will be part of the July 24 show.

Daughter Cathie Chouinard Hendren serves as music director for St. Gregory’s Catholic Church in North Branch. Her son Kyle plays the saxophone, holds a degree in music from the University of River Falls and teaches music. Her daughter Abby will have a role in the performance of Lyda Rose at the July 24 concert. Abby’s young sons, ages 4 and 2, will make a concert appearance. 

Other Chouinard grandchildren on the concert program include Cathie’s daughter, Brianna, a music major at St. Scholastica; Bill’s son Matthew, performing in the Lyda Rose quartet, and his daughter performing a French horn solo accompanied by her mother, Kristin, at the piano, and daughter Leah, a percussionist.

The Chouinard clan last performed a public concert in Lindstrom in August 2019 as a fundraiser for a pancreatic cancer support group as a fundraiser in honor of their son Joe. “It’s been six years since the last concert, and we aren’t getting any younger,” said John. “We felt it was time we put this all together again,” and include the next generation.

For this talented family, “Music is like a cement.” says John.  “It’s like a glue” that brings their family together.    

Join the Chouinard Family at 7 p.m. on July 24 at St. Bridgets Catholic Church to share in the product of their innate talent and decades of hard work and dedication to performing the music they love. 

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