Singing- a Community Event for Adults and Children

One week ago, I held an event in Lexington, Ma at Cary Hall. This was the Winter Concert of The Children's Chorus which I started 5 years ago in my basement. It now has about 60 children ages 5 - 12 and we do concerts a few times a year.

Last week's theme was "Let the Sunshine In - Music from the 60's". The kids sang "Happy Together", "Monday, Monday", "Up, Up and Away", "Good Morning Starshine" ,"Downtown", "Leaving on a Jet Plane", "It's a Shame" and "Aquarius". It was a lot of fun. For some of the numbers, I asked parents of the children to sing. They sang "Turn, turn, turn" and "Born to be Wild".

Onto the next performance, which was my a cappella group The Wicked Pitches. We are a six-voiced mixed group that sings pop/jazz songs with a unique twist. We sang four songs and I think the audience (including the children) really enjoyed it. In addition, we hired David Thorne Scott, associate voice professor at Berklee to do a song with the kids. This was definitely one of the highlights of the show.

Although I happenned to be pretty sick the night I was conducting this concert, I felt that it was a great community event. The children sang with the adults. They were accompanied by stellar musicians in the band. The children got a chance to hear another adult small chorus and to hear an awesome featured soloist. Then the whole audience was invited to sing a long for "Let the Sunshine In" at the very end. I think it was a really positive event for everyone. I hate to use the expression "feel good" but that's really what it was. People of all ages coming together to feel connected and to sing their hearts out. Music is powerful, comforting, beautiful, fun and most of all, expressive. It expresses our humanity, our frailty, our strength and our beauty.

Music is for everyone - young and old (or older).