People want to sing, they’re just waiting for someone to start. That is my experience of the last few weeks of turning off my internal singing censor. Whether at the grocery store (finding other people also singing along with the background music), walking through downtown (people crossed the street to join our family singing Jingle Bells), or last night at the choir concert (where I co-led two songs with the audience): people want to sing.
This is one of the core messages of Alice Parker’s mission to reestablish melody as a core component of music. It was her inspiration as a song leader and melodic evangelist that inspired me to let the never-ending songs in my head come out.
It’s not about quality of voice, quality of arrangement, number of people.
It’s about finding the chances in our world to sing great songs, together.
People want to sing.
(And a happy 91st birthday to Alice!)