Rise and Sing

One year ago this week I led the last live indoor rehearsals of my 60-voice community choir. Despite the newly-issued lockdown orders, we were hoping to reconvene again in the coming months.

Then the dangers of super-spreader events caused by group singing hit the news. I took a deep dive into online community singing, launching a weekly session open to all voices called “Rise and Sing” led by myself and guest song leaders. Because of sound latency issues, all the singers had to be on mute except for the leader.

I took another plunge and learned how to use a looping device to provide the harmony tracks for the songs I led. This new creative tool inspired me to write a wealth of new singable songs for the growing and far-flung community of singers attending each week. We’ve had song leaders and singers from as far away as South Africa, the U.K., Canada and Australia and from as close as Glen Burnie.

As the year has progressed, this global community has supported each other in song through the heartache, humor, joy, highs and lows of the pandemic. We’ve raised thousands of dollars for local and national social justice and community improvement non-profits.

Although I’ve recently started to gather local singers outdoors to sing, “Rise and Sing” will continue as a unique online event. It’s been a soul-stirring and entirely unexpected path to forging global community connections that will surely outlast the virus.

Elizabeth Melvin, Arnold Director, The Freedom Choir