Kinship Community Choir - Winter Season

A 6-week season of connecting with voice and community through joyful and whole hearted singing in the oral tradition, culminating with a Big Sing!!

Do you sing in the car? The shower? Always humming something?! Do you seek experiences of connection- whether with yourself and your own voice or with human community and the larger web of life? Do you want to cultivate a greater capacity for joy, embodiment, and aliveness?! If you said yes to ANY of these questions then this choir is for you!!

This is a community choir for all voices. No prior singing experience is necessary! This is a non-performing and non-auditioning choir, lead by Megan Eberhardt. The focus will be on the experience of group singing itself: the pleasure and power of sounding our voice in community, the connection we experience to ourselves and fellow singers, and the attunement we walk away with. We learn all the songs orally, call-and-echo. No sheet music!!

Come try it once before you sign-up!

“Singing is the language of grief and praise, wonder and wisdom; we sing the world we want to inhabit, and we sing to understand the world we live in now.” -Sarina Partridge

WHEN AND WHERE?

6 Wednesdays

Feb 4th-March 11th

6:30-8:00pm

@ 4251 N. Lincoln Ave. in North Center (Rudolf Steiner Branch of Chicago)

BIG SING
Sunday March 15th

3:00-4:30pm

A participatory community celebration of singing together! More details to come.

WHAT IS THIS?

Kinship Community Choir is rooted in the contemporary community singing movement. We will learn the songs orally, no sheet music, standing or sitting in a circle rather than in formation. This is community choir redefined. Our focus is the felt experience of group singing rather than perfection and technique. We will be together for an hour and a half which will include a simple opening song, a moment to connect with a neighbor, and then the rest of the time we sing.

WHAT SONGS WILL WE SING?

Most if not all of the songs we will sing are sourced from the contemporary community singing movement. We will sing songs that honor the natural world as well as the human experience. We will sing songs that layer melodies and harmonies and divide into different parts. We’ll also sing simple unison songs, rounds, and more. Meeting every week for 6 weeks means that we can build more complex layering songs over the course of our time together. Some of my favorite songwriters spent time in cultures that have ancient polyphonic singing traditions. They are catching and writing songs with beautiful complexities that are so fun to learn and sing together.

Your registration includes links to practice tracks of the songs we sing and their parts.

WHO IS THIS FOR?

Anyone who wants to sing! From new singers to shower and car singers to former choir singers looking for a relaxed environment to sing again.

“There is no good or bad singing, only free or less free.” -Orion Johnstone.

Not sure if this is for you? You are welcome to come to the first or second session to try it out before you sign-up!! You are also welcome to contact me with any questions: [email protected]

REGISTRATION:

Your registration includes 6 weekly Sessions, links to practice tracks of the songs including the different parts, and a community-wide Big Sing. Cost is sliding scale $120-180. Pay what is both generous and affordable to you. You can pay by Venmo @rootedinthestars or Zelle to avoid fees. A limited amount of discounted work trade spots are available as well as a low-income sliding scale. If you need one of these spots please reach out to [email protected].

5% of proceeds will go to a BIPOC-led organization serving youth on the south side of Chicago.

ABOUT MEGAN:

Megan Eberhardt is a community songleader and cultural activist dedicated to fostering aliveness, belonging, and connection within and among us and with the natural world. Some days this looks like leading a song circle, some days it’s facilitating community grief ritual, some days it’s teaching stargazing under dark skies around the midwest, and most days include singing up the sun, a good amount of heartache and joy, and homemade soup.

Did Megan spend her whole life in choirs and music rooms?! No she did not! Megan discovered group singing 10 years ago and the community singing movement in 2019. It's been a journey of heart, passion, and courage to get here. Megan's been leading community singing for 4 years, 3 years at the Old Town School of Folk Music. She's been teaching the stars to people for nearly a decade and more recently has begun facilitating community grief ritual.

Sign-up for Megan's email list here and check out her website here.

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