NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — Letting their voices ring out in a chorus of sound and melody is a freedom this year felt by the North Kingstown Community Chorus as it resumes its public singing program for the holidays.
Canceled last year due to COVID-19 restrictions and precautions, this 55-member adult and 22-member youth chorus will resume its annual in-person choral event on December 5.
This year it will be at St. Bernard Church, 275 Tower Hill Road, North Kingstown. It starts at 5 p.m. and tickets are available at nkchorus.org.
“It’s so nice to be able to do this again,” Heather Skidds, choral director, told The Independent this week.
This marks the 36th year for a performance — with last year the first when the group was not together for the public, but the resilient group went online for its first virtual chorus.
The Chorus Songs
Skidds said that the group does a number of varied songs, with mostly holiday tunes for this concert. During other times of the year and at different locations around town their selections also include Broadway and patriotic songs.
“We like to mix it up a bit and give people with a variety of tastes songs that they like, said Skidds.
Usually the concert is held at North Kingstown High School, but this year some scheduling issues made it easier to have it at St. Bernard Church, she said, adding that COVD-protection suggestions will be followed as necessary for the singers.
The chorus before the pandemic had nearly 100 adult and 50 youth participating singers. They include young children in grades two through right to older people in the 80s, she said.
That number has dropped to about 55 members and 20 youth because some are still concerned about the spread of the virus.
Last year, Skidds said, that the global pandemic took the North Kingstown Community Chorus virtual with a commissioned song, “How Can I Keep From Singing.”
Although not exactly aligned with the pandemic, the song was sought before the COVID-19 took hold on restricting most events and all public gatherings.
It was written by Westerly-based composer Tom Kendzia to honor the group’s 35th anniversary and, according to Skidds, the name ended up being more fitting than she could’ve ever imagined.
“We chose the text ‘How Can I Keep From Singing,’ Skidds told The Independent last year, “because we thought it’d be a beautiful expression of the joy of singing.”
Skidds works with Kendzia at the Christ The King Church in Kingston. She said in that pandemic interview, “Little did we know that we really would be kept from singing in person, and so the text has a really poignant meaning now, because how can we keep from singing when we’re all separated at home.”
This song also highlights the purpose of the chorus as well as a reason more than 270,000 community choruses exist nationwide.
Chorus Singing Benefits
A study by Chorus America, a group dedicated nationwide to fostering interest in community choruses, found that an estimated 42.6 million Americans regularly sing in choruses today.
More than 1-in-5 households have at least one singing family member, making choral singing the most popular form of participation in the performing arts for both adults and children, the group said.
“These choruses perform music that provides a means of expressing something greater than each individual participant—whether in concert halls and churches, or pavilions and town squares,” the study’s authors wrote.
“The data indicates that choral singing is a thriving and growing form of artistic expression in America, and, in addition to providing great musical performances, it can be acknowledged for advancing many of the positive qualities associated with success in life both for children and adults,” they said.
The study also found that singing in these choruses “is strongly correlated with qualities that are associated with success throughout life. Greater civic involvement, discipline and teamwork are just a few of the attributes fostered by singing with a choral ensemble.”
It’s a sentiment that Skidds said she agrees with and touches on the purpose for which her group was formed.
In North Kingstown 36 years ago when this chorus came together to bring opportunity for singers of all abilities to sing, to learn to sing, to perform and, most importantly, to enjoy connection with each other, Skidds explained.
“I think that choral singing is so special because we’re all working toward a common purpose. You have almost 100 people in a room working together in harmony,” she said.
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November 27, 2021 at 08:00PM
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NK Chorus eager for return to traditional holiday program - The Independent
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