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20
Sep
2020
I sing in a church choir. Correction: I used to sing in a church choir. Further correction: I used to sing, once upon a time…
Singing has fallen victim to the Covid-19 pandemic. When health regulations prohibited large gatherings, and when physical distancing precluded even small groups from getting together, choirs everywhere had to shut down.
My church chose to move its Sunday services to Zoom. Zoom is a wonderful platform. But you can’t sing together on Zoom.
On our first attempts at singing over Zoom, some singers ended a full line after the pianist had finished. It was chaos. Definitely not a unifying effect.
So we tried having just one person singing the words, while everyone else had their microphones muted. A few weeks back, I was the congregation’s “designated singer.” I did not like the sound of my voice. It felt raw, uncertain. I struggled to stay on key.
I realized I hadn’t done any vocal exercises. to warm up. I should have done at least ten minutes.
More than that, I hadn’t done any singing at all for several weeks. Not even in the shower.
Categories: Sharp Edges
Tags: singing, worship, choirs
28
Nov
2018
We had just arrived in the Okanagan. We moved in, unpacked, and went church shopping.
The first church we tried was Winfield United. The service itself was, well, so-so. Solid. Perhaps even stolid. Nothing exciting, but nothing offensive either.
Then, on our way out, Marg Kyle grabbed me. “We need you in our choir,” she insisted.
I’ve been singing in that choir for 25 years now.
In the church — and I guess in other contexts too — we talk a lot about community. We value community, even the virtual community supposedly offered by the internet.
And yet we often get it wrong. A seniors’ care home is not automatically a community. Neither is a housing sub-division. Both can become a community — but that will depend on the relationships of the people who live there, not just on living in close proximity.
And having a million followers on Twitter or Facebook does not create a community either.
Categories: Soft Edges
Tags: transcendence, community, choirs