A love for singing is bringing a group of residents together while they are keeping apart during the pandemic.
“We’ve been joking lately that the Guelph Community Singers is that, ‘We spread joy and not germs,’ and that’s the way we’re thinking about it during this time," said Kira Vermond, Guelph Community Singers board chair.
The Guelph Community Singers have kept rehearsals going through the power of Zoom after making the initial decision to switch to online in the fall of 2020. Expecting a lower number of participants with their online format, Vermond said the participation results over their first year have been surprising.
“It’s been more popular than we were expecting," said Vermond, “In the first full year (fall of 2020 to 2021), we had 204 different people show up."
Vermond said the Guelph Community Singers had 105 unique members within their first year online, though 204 had signed up. For comparison, she said in 2019, the maximum number of participants the Guelph Community Singers could have was 110.
“We couldn’t believe it, we couldn’t believe just how many people we’re trying it, because if you think about it, virtual singing is really strange.”
Besides welcoming new residents in the group, Vermond said the online format has allowed them to gain members from across Canada.
“The benefit about having this virtual choir is that people can join in from anywhere, you don’t have to be in Guelph," said Vermond.
When it comes to singing, Vermond said it is considered a high risk activity in a pandemic.
"It's one of the highest risk activities, which is why we haven’t bothered to open, because again, we want to make people safe," said Vermond.
As a board, Vermond mentions it was a "huge challenge" for them to pivot their in-person rehearsals.
“The whole board was like, ‘How do you go from in-person choir to a whole new way of doing choir?’" said Vermond. "It was so hard, but I’m glad that we did it.”
Speaking with their members and doing surveys, she said many are enjoying being part of the Guelph Community Singers.
“The number one reason why people were joining us, they were saying in these surveys, is because they love to sing and the second biggest reason is for their mental health,” said Vermond. “Everybody keeps saying they just feel so much better after they sing, so I think the mental health aspect of it is so important.”
“Since the pandemic started, we started to say, ‘We’re Guelph Community Singers and we discovered that the word community is the most important part of our name,'" she said. "It really turned out to be that we didn’t know how much of an impact we had on our community and our members until the pandemic happened.”
On Wednesday, the group is planning to start its Winter 2022 Session online for eight weeks. Rehearsals will take place on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. There is a $40 fee which covers the entire program.
For their virtual sessions, Vermond explains the musical director, Henry Muth, and instrumentalist, Grace Peters, will help members practice their parts over Zoom.
“You’re singing at home and everybody is muted, that’s the weird thing about it is you’re singing alone, but you’re also singing with Henry, but you can’t hear anyone else," said Vermond. “We almost recommend that families get together and do it together because it's more fun that way."
Despite not hearing other people, Vermond points out the Zoom setup has lots of benefits for those who are shy by allowing them to practice their vocal skills without fear of being judged.
“Hopefully, when we can all sing together again, they can come out of the woodwork and feel more comfortable and confident.”
Those who are interested in joining the Guelph Community Singers can go to guelphcommunitysingers.ca.