Joyful Voices Chorus -- Fall '24 -- San Anselmo

TL;DR: Want to get a ticket to our community-wide Big Sing with special guest Debbie Nargi-Brown on Sunday 11/24 in San Anselmo? Click the orange Get Tickets button!

Love to sing while you're driving? On a walk? In the shower? Then this joyful, soulful, uplifting community choir is for you! Our choir is:

• Easy to join in and sing because singing experience is never needed, and, because all songs are taught by ear, line-by-line, call-and-repeat-style, there's no music to read!
  
• Non-audition, non-performative, and anti-perfectionistic.
• Welcoming, accepting, and inclusive. We create a safe, non-judgmental, collaborative space that's supportive for all, especially if you're feeling nervous.
• SO. MUCH. FUN.

So...what kinds of songs do we sing?

• Led by Marv Zauderer, we sing short-form, non-religious, easy-to-learn songs mostly sourced from the modern community singing movement -- unison songs, chants, rounds, layer songs, and 2-, 3-, and 4-part harmony songs. With the occasional old favorite, too -- even a sea shanty!
  
• Songs are selected for their ability to rejuvenate, soothe, uplift and inspire! Songs of belonging, songs of healing, songs of hope, songs of joy.
  
• Feel free to check out our YouTube channel or our website for videos and audio of our choir and song circle, and our Song Library, which has every song we've ever sung so far -- and there will be a whole bunch of new songs this season!

And this season, instead of drop-in, we're doing a 7-week community choir, which, although similar in most ways to our drop-in song circle, brings you unique benefits that come from being part of a consistent group:

• Some of our songs can be juicier, richer songs that take parts of 2-3 successive evenings to learn. So juicy!
  
• We get to co-create and experience a deeper feeling of community with each other!
• Although there's no need to practice the songs between evenings, there will be practice tracks posted online for each part of every song if you'd like to practice.
• The 7th week, Sunday November 24, 3:30-5:30, we'll again be holding a Big Sing in San Anselmo -- a wonderful celebration of singing together and building community! This is NOT a performance -- we'll invite family and friends and the community to sing with us! (but no pressure, they can hum or just listen if they'd like!) I'll teach a couple songs that we've been working on (choir members vote in advance on which ones), and then I'll turn it over to our Guest Songleader, the extraordinary Debbie Nargi-Brown!! (pictured, see bio below)
  
                                               
  
  This Big Sing is going to be amazing! (Check out our YouTube channel and our Photo Gallery for videos and photos of a past Big Sing.)
  
• Singers who haven't sung in the choir before can try it FREE, only during Week 2 (October 23), before committing to the season. 
• Missed a week? (or any week) No problem! I always review what we're working on, we have practice tracks posted online so you can catch up, and every evening has songs that we learn completely that night!
  

Here are some of the comments from singers in past seasons of the Joyful Voices Chorus:

• "I felt invigorated, connected, peaceful, and nourished."
• "This kind of singing is my daily medicine to get through the hard stuff in life."
• "I was finally doing what my soul has been longing for: to sing in a playful, safe environment with community, where the songs were soulful and it stimulated excitement to try and get my part down well enough that I could feel the satisfaction of participating with others with a shared unperfectionistic goal of bringing the songs to life."
• "I felt a reconnection to a childhood love that I had lost touch with, and I felt joy, more openness, and a sense of community."
• "Marv's style of teaching was one of the best things about the chorus: his ease that let me feel at ease about not having to get it right, his positivity, his play, his energy, and his effort to want things to work for us all."
• "It was very uplifting -- we felt inspired and happier every single time."
• "I felt like I was a part of something larger -- it was very uniting and spiritual for me."
• "It touched my heart and soul!"
  

The details:

• We're in our usual big Duncan Hall auditorium space at the church in San Anselmo Wednesday evenings, 7:00-8:30 (until 9:00 on 10/16), October 16-November 20, plus the Big Sing in Duncan Hall on Sunday, November 24, 3:30-5:30. We'll have some fans/doors/windows open for airflow and the massive heating system going to keep us warm if needed. If you haven't been in Duncan Hall, you can check out our Big Sing Photo Gallery to get a good look.
• We are SO lucky to have, for the third year in a row, the amazing Guest Songleader Shireen Amini (pictured below, at center in green with drum; see bio below) joining Marv as Guest Songleader at a special open-to-the-community evening of the Joyful Voices Chorus on Wednesday, 10/16, 7:00-9:00! (note extended time)
  
                                                   
• Note that our special evening with Shireen on 10/16 is included in choir members' fee; for non-choir members, the ticket price is $15 Supported/$20 Standard/$25 Supporting. If you buy a ticket to sing with Shireen then decide to join the choir, you'll get a credit for your Shireen ticket towards your choir fee.
  
• And, we'll be hosting a special post-election night of drop-in singing and support on Wednesday, 11/6!
• Sliding scale cost for the 7-week series including our Shireen evening and the Big Sing with Debbie: $105-$175 ($15*7-$25*7). Lower amounts make the choir more accessible to more people, higher amounts support folks who need a lower fee at this time, you choose the fee that feels affordable and generous. Your payment is for the entire series, regardless of attendance. Although we'd love for you to be there every time, if you make it to 4 or 5 of the sessions because of vacation or whatever, it's still a great deal!
  
• Early Bird Discount for the choir if you register by Monday, October 7 at midnite: $90 (such a deal!).
  
• Kids under 18 are FREE with accompanying adult, except on 10/16.
  
• And, if you haven't sung in the choir before, feel free to try the choir one night FREE, only on 10/23!
  
• Community members who don't want to join the choir, but do want to attend the Big Sing, can buy tickets just for the Big Sing.
  
• Our COVID policy is required reading before you attend.
• Note that we're also scent-free, thank you!
• If you (ever) have a challenge getting to/from choir, or you can offer a ride to a choir member, please email me, we're setting up carpools.

Come and co-create the magic of singing in community with the Joyful Voices Chorus! Reserve your seat in the choir or get a one-time ticket to sing with all of us and Debbie Nargi-Brown on 11/24 by clicking the orange Get Tickets button -- I hope to sing with you!

Warmly,

Marv Zauderer

Joyful Voices Chorus Director & Enthusiator

pronouns: he/they (what are these?)

e: marv@singwithmarv.com  •  w: singwithmarv.com  •  t: 415.488.5969

Marv Zauderer (he/they) leads community choirs and song circles on unceded Coast Miwok land in Marin County, CA. He loves the magic of singing together, magic that can connect us deeply and uniquely with each other and exquisitely bridge so many divides in this more-than-human world. He is passionate about co-creating spaces for singing that are safe, welcoming, and easy for anyone to join in and feel alive, well held, and uplifted.

Shireen Amini (non-binary using she/her) is a queer Puerto Rican-Iranian American, earth-loving song creator, rhythm maker, and community facilitator based on unceded Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, and Grande Ronde territory, aka Portland, Oregon. As a human, she carries a deep commitment to her own liberation path and vision of a more just world. As an artist, she believes strongly in music’s power to propel cultural revolution. She blends pop, rock, hip hop, latin, and roots sensibilities with socially-conscious themes as a singer-songwriter and creates modern medicine music for community singing. In song circles, she holds transformational space, leading joyful, groove-based songs, evoking tenderness, and often engaging her participants in the rhythm and ceremony of it all. She also teaches drumming and facilitates ritual as part of her community-based music empowerment project, Shireen Amini Music Medicine.

Debbie Nargi-Brown (she/her) is a gifted community song leader, a dance teacher, and a talented songwriter, she offers her songs with love, compassion, and the hope of bringing joy and healing to others. Debbie’s lyrics and melodies are sung all over the world. She writes songs for the heart, healing, transformation, love, grief, and all that connects us as human beings. Bringing people together in dance and song is one of her greatest joys in life!