The Gleaner

A knack for animal noises

le mardi 27 février 2018
Modifié à 10 h 30 min le 27 février 2018
Par Mario Pitre

mpitre@gravitemedia.com

Emily Southwood - Nora Claven of the Chateauguay Valley has two major life goals: one is to make people happy; and the second is to appear on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Nora’s unique skill to make people smile is by recreating uncannily convincing animal noises with only her voice. With the help of her community in the Options Class at Huntingdon Adult Education and Community Centre (HAECC), she recently produced a YouTube video to showcase her talent. Her hope in sharing it across the web is that her performance could reach the likes of Ellen DeGeneres, Boy George and Dolly Parton. Nora dreams of meeting any one of her idols, whom she admires, because they too make people happy. The entire community at HAECC has rallied around Nora. Her teachers, fellow students, and members of Melissa’s Sunshine Camp (a daily program for students with intellectual disabilities that also runs from HAECC) are all cheering Nora onward. Heidi Niven, Community Development Agent at HAECC, says, “We’re incredibly proud of Nora and want to support her anyway we can. She’s super talented!” As for how Nora discovered this particular skill, she explained that she grew up on a farm with animal noises all around and those sounds permeated her consciousness. One day, she felt compelled to try and recreate them. That was many, many years ago and she has been practicing them ever since, with an ever growing roster of mammals. On her list currently are: horse, rooster, goat, dolphin, wolf, kitten, puppy and last but not least, gorilla and elephant, which are the newest additions. She also explained that to really get the full impression of each animal, it’s best to close your eyes. Each incredibly convincing performance takes a great deal of effort for Nora who has tirelessly perfected each one of her animal sounds. Of course the best way to get the impression is to watch Nora for oneself! Her video can be seen below, or at: https://youtu.be/5laQcj6tQYI. With the hope of reaching 10K views, Nora and her community encourage viewers to like and share it on social media. Who knows how far and wide her performance might spread? One thing Nora does know for sure is that spreading happiness brings everyone joy—something we can always use a dose of. [embed]https://youtu.be/5laQcj6tQYI[/embed]