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OVER THE PAST few summers, one of the big festival draws in Ireland has been Sing Along Social. The premise is simple: a ‘zero-commitment choir’ where people come together to sing along to their favourite bangers.
On stage, founder Aoife McElwain serves as a conductor of sorts, waving signs and encouraging everyone to sing at the top of their lungs.
The events allow people to express themselves musically without feeling self-conscious about their singing ability or lack thereof.
“You don’t have to practice and you don’t need to know the words,” says McElwain. “It’s more of a group karaoke session where extroverts and introverts alike can share the limelight.”
Being able to sing is not a requirement with awards often given to the “best worst singer”.
“Good singers come along too, and they’re very welcome – we’ve had real choir members come along and drop some mean harmonies – but the focus is more about gathering a diverse group of friends and strangers and encourage them to caterwaul along to their favourite songs as one big happy collective,” says McElwain.
It’s silly, it’s cathartic and it’s ridiculously fun. No wonder it has become a phenomenon.
The success of Sing Along Social reflects an increased interest in and demand for pop-up choirs of late.
Roisin Savage is the founder of The Line Up Choir, a community choir based in Harold’s Cross. She set up the choir at the behest of her sisters who wanted to join a choir with a pop-rock repertoire.
“I had spent time as a member of a gospel choir whilst I was in college and loved that – like traditional Irish music, this was an aural tradition where music was taught by ear and sheet music wasn’t used,” she says.
“There was an emphasis on performance and connecting with the audience. I realised that there are so many gifted singers who can’t read music who maybe don’t have the opportunity to sing, so I thought I could adopt this approach when teaching songs in my own choir.”
The choir quickly took off and she soon began to field enquiries from prospective members.
“As my choir started to grow, so did the waiting list for people wanting to join,” she says.
Due to space restrictions in the rehearsal venue, she couldn’t cater to everyone and held a series of one-off events to cope with the demand.
“I set-up some pop-up choir events to accommodate those who were on the waiting list as a sort of stop-gap until they could eventually join the choir,” she recalls.
The events were well attended, but sporadic due to Savage’s other commitments. It was when she held auditions for The Line Up Choir this year that she realised she needed a more permanent solution.
“My first auditions had nearly 150 people in attendance which was quite overwhelming for me,” she says. “I knew then that if this amount of people were prepared to audition, I would need to seriously think about creating more singing opportunities for them.”
In August, she took to social media to see if there was sufficient interest in a casual choir. She envisaged it being a fortnightly singing session with “no auditions, no commitment, and no concerts”.
“A singalong of sorts with some harmonies thrown in where the emphasis would be on fun,” she says.
She was swiftly inundated with messages and knew she had to put the idea into action.
“Within a couple weeks I had secured the venue, set up social media pages, put our first session on sale and Casual Choir was born,” she says. “Incredibly we’ve sold over 100 tickets so far which means we’ll have a mega choir for our first session.”
The first edition of Casual Choir is due to take place next Monday evening with the first song set to be a “a real stonker of a tune”. Where it goes remains to be seen. For now, Savage is focused on creating a warm, friendly atmosphere.
“I want this to be a really fun environment where for a couple of hours people can just sing their hearts out,” she says.
Another choir that has been operating for the past few years is The Lalala Choir. Its founder Sam Kavanagh set it up with the intention of trying something new.
“I wanted to test a theory that everyone can learn to sing and that using improvisation would be the best way to do that,” he says.
Like The Line Up Choir, The Lalala Choir quickly took off and soon had a large waiting list. To deal with demand, Kavanagh set up the Lalala Pop Up Choirs, which take place in venues across the city.
The choirs are open to everyone and no two sessions are the same, he says.
“They’re always different. Usually we’ll pick a time and a place and tell everyone who wants to meet us there, by social media, word of mouth or our mailing list.”
“Sometimes we partner with guest artists and learn and perform one of their songs together,” he says, noting that they recently worked with David Kitt.
“Other times it’s music that the weekly Lalala Choirs are working on. Increasingly I try to improvise as much as possible, which means planning very little and relying on the musicality of whoever shows up.”
When it comes to the choir, Kavanagh’s mantra is “music is for everyone”. He disputes the notion that you’re either born with musical talent or you’re not.
“It is possible that musical ability is innate and that there is a predetermined limit for some people, but that hasn’t been my experience,” he says.
More often than not, people who think they can’t sing have been taught to think that. A lot of people that join The Lalala Choir or come to the pop-ups have told me stories about being asked to mime or sit out of their school choir. This is crazy to me. You’d never tell a student who got a maths question wrong to close their book and wait until the end of class.
“The idea behind using improvisation as a way to overcome these sort of blocks is it allows people make their own musical decisions. In theory, even if we didn’t like the results of an improvisation, nobody could say they were wrong.”
“Because improvising means everyone gets to choose their own note, everyone becomes invested in choosing a note they’re happy with, which means listening to the group and adapting. Before you know it the act of learning to sing has become fun.”
Both Kavanagh and Savage believe there are huge benefits to communal singing.
“Communal singing is such a powerful thing,” says Savage. “A group of people from all walks of life and different backgrounds coming together to work towards a shared goal – even if that shared goal is singing out to support your local football team.”
For his part, Kavanagh believes that there’s “definitely something primal” about the act of singing together. It serves as a reminder that we’re all part of something bigger than ourselves, he says.
I think it’s worth remembering that you can be the most successful person in history by any measure you can think of, but you’ll never be a choir by yourself.
And there are the post-choir endorphins, of course.
“There have been numerous research studies that show that, as well as being good for your emotional, mental and physical health, being in a choir can regulate your heartbeat and alleviate stress,” says Savage. “Sometimes just focusing on something as simple as singing for a couple of hours can take your mind off other worries in your life – a meditation of sorts.”
That’s precisely why Aoife McElwain often holds her Sing Along Social events on Sunday nights: to help counteract the dreaded Sunday night fear.
People often leave the event feeling lighter and cheered up, and that’s a wonderful part of it. I’ve experienced that myself. Perhaps I’ve been a little down leading up to the event and then I’ll get my heart filled by a bunch of friendly strangers singing along completely without inhibitions. It’s a very joyful thing.
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I doubt if FFG has any more room under the carpet
@Shakka1244: There’s a swing somewhere no-one uses anymore, could hide it there!!!!
@Will Thompson: It’s a magic swing, makes people disappear!
@Will Thompson: Yeah and still get well paid at the same time.
The lack of transparency shows a lack of respect for the public which is disgraceful!
@Nuala Mc Namara: the electorate aren’t worthy of respect. It doesn’t matter what FFG do, they get voted back in again. The public doesn’t hold them to account so why treat them with respect?
The government parties know that they can do whatever they want, whenever they want and get voted back in irregardless so I doubt they care too much.
what happened to the, nothing to fear ,nothing to hide mantra that we’ve been hearing from fg about this card…. publish the report if there’s nothing to hide
The Government need to seriously examine why they are held hostage to bad or unworkable ideas like this one, the National Broadband Plan, the Children’s hospital, the strategy in the MauriceMcCabe saga, the Housing policies that are making things worse, etc, etc, etc. They defend these bad ideas to the death and line up ministers to defend and deny until the bitter end. Admit mistakes were made, learn from them and move on. It’s Ireland anyway. It’s not like admitting mistakes will cost anyone their job.
@Sean: all governments use thinktanks as their special advisers, usually made up the topdogs in finance, media and so forth….it is they that run countries.
@Sean: this government’s broadband, hospital, hse and homeless strategy is going exactly to their plan
@Sean: Everything the FG government does, in collusion with it’s coalition partners FF, is done according to policy decisions driven by FFG’s political dogma. FG are hostage to nothing but their political dogma.
FG have always despised the poor, the low paid, the less well off, the unemployed. They don’t govern on their behalf, they rule over ordinary people for the benefit of the rich, foreign private investor corporations, corporate interests. The IMF oversees any decisions the FG minority government makes. The IMF, the world’s privateers and asset strippers, dictate policy as agreed with Noonan to sustain the rotten and corrupt banking system in the country.
FG have no mandate to force such policies on the country. When you go into a GE after being part of a coalition government and you lose 26 seats in that GE you have lost any mandate to govern. This FG minority government is sustained by way of secret backroom deals made with a party that is bound by the constitution to oppose the government and hold it to account for the decisions it makes. That makes a total mockery of the democratic process in the country. FG and their partners in government,FF, don’t make mistakes. Everything is deliberate and according to plan.
This is ridiculous at this stage, whos behind this? Whos benefiting? I guarantee there is absolutely no benefits to the taxpayer but someone is benefiting. Fg are so belligerent about this and it stinks of a scandal and/or tribunal down the road
@Thomas Maher: it’s definitely gonna cost the state in payouts.
@Thomas Maher: If you say nothing I’ll give you half of this big brown envelope I just happened to find!
@Thomas Maher: The benefit for government is the potential for control over the lives of the citizens of Ireland.
@Thomas Maher: A great FF benefactor is the beneficiary!
Why would they . They are spinna gael
@Leo Lalor: Another minister incapable of the position they were appointed to.
It will be interesting to see how the Facilitraitor Party reacts?
Time to remove FG labour FF from Irish politics, 10 years this has gone on and now the countrys data protection agency is being attacked by them for telling the truth, they have behaved illegally.
@@mdmak33: What are they hiding??? Who got the contracts?
@TamuMassif2019: the same people that make the passport, the very thing they are making it compulsory for, how odd!
@Commentator: So you think that they be charging a massive fee for these cards next??? lol.
@TamuMassif2019: @ 60 mill I reckon they’ve already done that!
Can I ask a question. Maybe I’m totally off the wall but what are peoples problems with having a card with all their information on it ? Wouldn’t it make it easier for dealing with all depts eventually and rather than having to fill out forms and bring lots of stuff with you all you would need is the card ? I know there is a fear of the information being accessed improperly but surely if this was safeguarded everything would be ok. Move with the times and all that
@Declan Moran: you’re new here, aren’t you?
@Declan Moran: most people don’t have a problem with such a card. What most people have a problem with was the PSC’s compulsory nature; the fact that passports or driving licences – both legal and valid forms of ID – were to no longer be accepted; the way it was handled in that it was de facto a national ID card but without any legal basis; the fact that the government refused to debate it in the Dáil; and the fact that the government has already proven that they cannot safeguard the privacy of the information held on these cards. As for “rather than having to fill out forms and bring lots of stuff with you” – well, you still had to do that.
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: thanks Brian. I hadn’t the energy.
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: if you’re not adopted, an immigrant in dp, etc etc
@Mike Rugby Nuts: I feel like I’m missing the entire second half of your sentence. What point are you making about if “you’re not adopted, an immigrant in dp [sic]?”
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: dp is Direct Provision, I was too weary of FFG to finish that sentence.
@Mike Rugby Nuts: I figured that much out the first time around. Your sentence still makes no sense to me. What about adoption or immigration are you trying to say, and how do they relate to the PSC?
F them all out.
Everyone should just sue the department and the government.
@The Irish Bull: Good man and make all our lawyers billionaires.
Remove FFG..
It’s all very clear since the report went into the hands of the government that they intend to continue on with this illegal instrument. It didn’t matter what the DPC had to say in the report, it never mattered that legal experts told the government time and time again that there is no legal basis for this card, that people’s right to protection on their private and personal data and it’s abuse by this FG minority government was being ignored.
FG want this Biometric National ID Card by the back door as the means to control the lives of its citizens. Just as in India, the Aadhaar Card, the nation ID card there is being used illegally by the Indian government. The card has put the people of that country under the most draconian and intrusive surveillance. It will be put to the same use in Ireland if this government isn’t stopped.
It is as clear as day that this PSC is no benign instrument in the hands of this minority government and they will fight tooth and nail to keep it and to hell with the legalities.
Keep the Peasants in the dark
@Geoff Bateman: Under foot in the mud?
Sure why would they do the right thing, these mutants of FFG know full well that the deluded supporters they have who are stuck in the me fein, parish pump minset, will still vote them in no matter what
So much for our democracy! Openness, transparency my foot!!
So how much can I sue them for?
@Harry Trafford: The legal eagles reckon the payout for anyone that sues over the PSC is in the region of 15,000 euro.
Another mess covered up
There’s a great book called IBM and the Holocaust by Edwin Black. It describes what happens when the government knows too much about the citizens.
This govt believe they are answerable to nobody. Who Fianna FAIL. Sure they say nothing. Toothless. And the rest. Hmmmm
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