Kinship Community Choir - Winter Season '27

🎶 Kinship Community Choir - Winter Season 🎶

Come sing away the winter blues in community as we welcome back the light from winter's clutches!!

Need we another reminder that singing in community is healing, powerful, connective, and fun?!? Not to mention the joy, the building of resilience, and offering of release in a world gone mad. When we sing together we resist the isolation of technology and reclaim our humanity. Singing is an ancient tool of belonging and a human birthright!! And this world needs our voices now more than ever. And all the human beauty we can sing into it.

What is Kinship Community Choir? Kinship Community Choir is rooted in the community singing lineage, a form of group singing in which all voices are welcome and no prior singing experience is necessary. Lead by songleader Megan Eberhardt, we learn all the songs orally, call-and-echo. There is no sheet music provided. Rather than a traditional choir's focus on technique, performance, and "doing it right", we focus 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 carry with us when we leave.

What will we do? We will gather every Wednesday evening for 8 weeks from 6:30-8pm and learn and sing songs from the contemporary community singing movement. You'll probably meet a few new cool people and talk with them. You'll probably feel some pleasure, joy, grief, or release. At the end of our 8 weeks we'll celebrate with a community-wide Big Sing Celebration. This is where we throw a big party and invite our friends and family and wider community to come sing with us. In between our gatherings you can access and listen to the recordings provided of all the songs we sing.

“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

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

WHEN AND WHERE?

8 Wednesdays

January 6th-February 24th

6:30-8:00pm

Doors open 6pm

@ Movement on Montrose - 2951 W. Montrose Ave

BIG SING

Kinship Community Choir's Winter Season culminates with a community-wide Big Sing Celebration. We will invite our friends, families, and neighbors to come sing our songs with us. More details to come!

WHO IS THIS FOR?

Anyone who wants to sing—whether you’re a “non-singer” or a new singer, someone who mostly sings alone or is used to singing with others, or a former choir singer looking for a relaxed environment to sing again. Because there is a focus on connection over perfection, many singers return because they experience a sense of community and belonging in Kinship Community Choir. Many singers return because they find it cathartic in the midst of a work week and a world in crisis. Many singers return because of the aliveness and sense of embodiment they feel during or after singing together.

WHO ISN'T THIS FOR?

People who want a tightly held technical experience of choral singing. People who know they don't want to feel feelings or be in their bodies. People who don't want to be around other people in their joy, grief, freedom of expression, silliness, etc.

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. Gathering every week for 8 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.

REGISTRATION:

Your registration includes 8 weekly sessions, links to practice tracks of the songs including the different parts, and a community-wide Big Sing. Cost is tiered pricing 150/180/210/240. You can pay by Venmo @rootedinthestars or Zelle to avoid fees. There are work trade spots available as well as a low income sliding scale and scholarships for BIPOC folks, and discounts for students. Please reach out to megan@rootedinthestars.com to inquire about those.

Not sure if this is for you? Email me if you would like try it out before you sign-up!! Or contact me with any questions at megan@rootedinthestars.com

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.