May 26, 2026 · 18 min · 10 segments
Send us Fan Mail In Episode 3 we talk about what makes community singing more than a weekly rehearsal and how choirs become places of real support…
Kerry PolkinghorneHostNo entities detected.
When I first formed Vocalise Choir, which is the community choir I direct in Adelaide, South Australia, the things I was thinking about at the time were the logistics of getting a rehearsal venue, getting a piano player, getting sheet music, and all those sorts of things, getting someone to do receipts or welcoming people, all those sorts of logistics to make it happen, and that's absolutely needed, and we managed to do that.
But the things I didn't really think much about was the community that would actually start to form as soon as people started coming together, rehearsing together, seeing each other every week, or performing together or doing trips together where funny things happen or we have to get through a really weird performance, and all those sorts of things that bring people together.
But now having done this for a little while now, some of those stories of community have been really humbling and really wonderful.
When you create community, there is something about it that is really out of your hands.
So for Vocalise, we've had lots of stories of people who have gotten together and formed their own little friendships and communities, and it's been really great.
Our tenor section gets together fairly regularly, as does our altos and sopranos.
Pretty much all of our groups gets together, you know, separately in small groups and goes out for brunch or has drinks together and hopefully rehearses at some point, but who knows? [laughs] And they do things together that I'm not a part of.
It's something that they do, and it's really amazing, and I, I, I love hearing stories of friendships blossoming and things that groups have done together that have been outside my jurisdiction and outside of the, you know, official hours of choir-ness.
A couple years ago, I heard that one of our singers who, um, was battling cancer, she was needing to go into the hospital for treatment, and instead of taking her partner, she decided to take a friend from choir as her support person, and that was just such a beautiful thought to me.
Like, that, that someone she had met during choir and made friendships with had grown to be so strong that, that this person was the one she chose to take to her treatment.
There's some great things that come out of community, not only in the choir, but when we do things with other communities.
When I first formed Vocalise Choir, which is the community choir I direct in Adelaide, South Australia, the things I was thinking about at the time were the logistics of getting a rehearsal venue, getting a piano player, getting sheet music, and all those sorts of things, getting someone to do receipts or welcoming people, all those sorts of logistics to make it happen, and that's absolutely needed, and we managed to do that.
But the things I didn't really think much about was the community that would actually start to form as soon as people started coming together, rehearsing together, seeing each other every week, or performing together or doing trips together where funny things happen or we have to get through a really weird performance, and all those sorts of things that bring people together.
But now having done this for a little while now, some of those stories of community have been really humbling and really wonderful.
When you create community, there is something about it that is really out of your hands.
So for Vocalise, we've had lots of stories of people who have gotten together and formed their own little friendships and communities, and it's been really great.
Our tenor section gets together fairly regularly, as does our altos and sopranos.
Pretty much all of our groups gets together, you know, separately in small groups and goes out for brunch or has drinks together and hopefully rehearses at some point, but who knows? [laughs] And they do things together that I'm not a part of.
It's something that they do, and it's really amazing, and I, I, I love hearing stories of friendships blossoming and things that groups have done together that have been outside my jurisdiction and outside of the, you know, official hours of choir-ness.
A couple years ago, I heard that one of our singers who, um, was battling cancer, she was needing to go into the hospital for treatment, and instead of taking her partner, she decided to take a friend from choir as her support person, and that was just such a beautiful thought to me.
Like, that, that someone she had met during choir and made friendships with had grown to be so strong that, that this person was the one she chose to take to her treatment.
There's some great things that come out of community, not only in the choir, but when we do things with other communities.
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