A Blog Space for Singers to Share Parts of Their Experience Singing in a Choir
When thinking about choir and the collectiveness that comes from singing in a choir, I felt like I could not write on this topic alone. I asked my roommate who is a previous SU Choir member and a singer about experiences she had had in her previous choirs and SU choirs that would respond to the feeling I felt in the collectiveness of choir (I felt like I needed back up to prove my point!). She first referenced the sociologist Durkheim and mentioned that this feeling is strongly connected to the concept he refers to as “collective effervescence.” She told a story in response to this feeling about how when she was in high school, she was singing “Snow” by Eric Whitacre and her director mentioned in rehearsal that they were not connecting and that they sounded like individuals singing the same song. So, her director closed the door and turned off the light so that they were all in the dark and had them sing without a conductor and without seeing each other so they really had to rely on hearing. She mentioned that their voices didn’t sound like they were coming from their bodies but rather like they were floating above them and they were able to realize the important parts and give space for them. She said that for about four minutes after the song had ended, they sat in silence and in the dark completely moved by the music they made. I had felt this similar feeling with singing “Snow” in 2018 at SeattleU. Both of us were in choir at that time, and there was a very connection to the music and the presence of the whole choir in connection to an audience. This of course could be credited to the amazing composing done by Whitacre on this piece, however, both my roommate and I agree that there is a power in singing in a choir that singing solo or even speaking does not have. The meaning of a piece is driven so much deeper and is so much stronger when sung as a collective. There is a combined emotion that we know can be impactful for so many people and that truly is the power of choir.
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