Welcome to
Hamilton Sings! Community Choir
We are a non-audition, mixed-voice choir for adults and older youth. Our members may be new to singing or to choirs, or they may bring lots of musical experience. Everyone wants a fun and friendly place to make music together.
There is no audition! Choir membership includes healthy, functional voice coaching, and musical skills development.
Saturday Choir
Saturday Choir
Rehearsals for the regular Saturday choir are on Saturday mornings from 9:45 a.m. to 12 noon, with two sessions each year. Rehearsals take place at Sherman Boys and Girls Club (formerly St. Peter’s HARRRP), 705 Main St. E., Hamilton, Ontario.
- No musical experience is required.
- Our Fall session for the Saturday choir began on Saturday, September 14th, from 9:45 – 12:00 noon, and will continue weekly through to December 7th, 2019.
- Our first rehearsal on September 14, 2019 was open for everyone to try out the choir experience.
- We then closed registration for this Fall session.
now on the site
For Choir Members
- May You See Diamonds
- Soprano, alto, tenor & bass
- One Voice
- Gold (weeks 1,2, & 3)
- Soprano, alto, tenor & bass
- No I’m Not Talking
- By the Glow of the Kerosene Light
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- Soprano, alto 1 & 2, tenor, bass
- Temagami Round
- God Bless the Grass
- Starlight Tours
- Soprano, alto & bass chorus
- Alto & bass ooh & bridge
- Nu us din la buine sere
- Spoken, versions 1 & 2
- Brilliant Stars
- Melody, top, middle & lower voices
- Matlakala
- Choir, ensemble, pronunciation, soprano, alto/tenor/bass
Keep track of your choir!
The Musical Home of our Saturday Choir
Sherman Boys and Girls Club
(formerly St. Peter’s HARRRP)
705 Main St E, Hamilton
Hamilton Sings! spring concert, “Songs of Canada at 150 Plus” took place at Christ’s Church Cathedral, James St N. in Hamilton. This selection, Dave Gould’s “Starlight Tours”, was performed by Dave, accompanied by the choir and Stephen Fuller on violin.
Hamilton Spectator
Sue Crowe Connolly
Hamilton Sings! proves choirs are good for the body as well as the soul
Choristers not only fulfill their need to find joy in music; they also have ample opportunity to better appreciate the diverse talents and interests of other members of the broader Hamilton community.
NOVEMBER 12, 2019 –
Every Saturday morning through the autumn, winter and early spring, a diverse crew of about 70 Hamiltonians gathers in a drafty repurposed church hall on Main Street downtown. They chat quietly until the gentle singing of a leader invites them all to add their voices.
Our members come from every part of the city, run the age gamut from young adults to pensioners and comprise a charming and intriguing variety of backgrounds. Yet out of that diversity comes something very special, because we are drawn together by one compelling desire: to sing.
And sing we do, an eclectic mix of traditional, folk and community music, augmented by original songs written by members or local musicians. We endeavour to feature music that reflects the cultural variety of Hamilton and honours the heritage of our choristers, sung in languages ranging from French to Dutch to Mandarin to Swahili.
Through these weekly practices — two formal concerts a year and random other appearances around the city — our members scratch a deep, almost primordial, itch to make music together.
The poet was right when he said music hath charms to soothe a savage breast. Studies show that singing, particularly in concert with others, has extraordinary therapeutic effects for individuals.
Daniel Levitin, psychology professor at McGill University and author of This is Your Brain on Music, says group singing has been an essential element of community building for tens of thousands of years. “Still today,” he says, “you can go to hunter-gatherer societies, pre-industrial tribes, and everybody sings, everybody dances. “It’s a shame, he says, when people say they can’t sing or dance. “That goes against our evolutionary history.”
More than that, his work has revealed that choral singing isn’t just good for the soul — it’s good for the body. By analyzing the changes in people’s brain activity when they sing together, he’s found a biological link between communal singing and stronger feelings of belonging and measurable mood elevation.
Caroline Bithell of the University of Manchester agrees, citing a popular saying of African origin: If you can walk, you can dance; if you can talk, you can sing.
“This has been adopted by many community choir leaders whose work is fuelled by the conviction that singing is our birthright — a natural activity that should be accessible to everyone — and a powerful tool for building and celebrating community.”
That is exactly what we have discovered at Hamilton Sings!
Because we do not require an audition to join, we attract people with a wide range of musical knowledge and experience. So every week there is the challenge of learning and the satisfaction of acquiring new skills.
Plus, our veteran choristers take great pride in helping newcomers — and each other — gain musical skill and confidence. And, as any teacher knows, there is great reward in helping others grow.
“We meet so many wonderful folks and talented singers and artists along the way,” says member Lynn Watkins. “The choir has helped me through some hard times and it has changed my life. I was and still am a shy person, but they have helped me get out of my bubble. I’ve become more open to my surroundings and am a better person than the girl I was yesterday.”
Six years ago, we started this experiment in community building with a couple of dozen people. Thanks to their dedication, and the dynamic leadership of Hanna Bech Mathieson (my partner in this venture), and a dedicated board of choir members, Hamilton Sings! Community Choir has become a place where our choristers not only fulfil their need to find joy in music; they also have ample opportunity to better appreciate the diverse talents and interests of other members of the broader Hamilton community.
Sound interesting? Feel free to find out more about us as we continue to build bridges in the community between people who otherwise would probably never have met.
Recipient of the City of Hamilton’s 2019 Arts Education and Community Arts Award, Sue Crowe Connolly works with people to claim their own voice, and trains vocal teachers and choral leaders. She founded and co-leads Hamilton Sings! Community Choir (http://hamiltonsings.ca/) which is now rehearsing Saturday mornings for its winter concert — Light in the Night — on Dec. 7 at the Sherman Boys & Girls Club (formerly HARRRP), 705 Main Street East.
Who? Me?
Hello everybody. Last week’s rehearsal found us, by necessity, gathering in song in the basement level of the Sherman Boys and Girls Club. The acoustics were radically different,
Cut to the Chase
Fellow Singers, Rather than distract with my puny metaphors and ceaseless prattle, I’ve decided to cut to the chase with a calendar summary of what the next few weeks have in store for us:
Boo!
Boo! Very scary to think that this coming Saturday is November 2nd already! It’ll be Christmas before
Wild Blueberries
Dearest Fellow Trillers: A hard deadline looms folks. The Wild Blueberries for Wild Choristers initiative is rapidly
Wild Choristers
Greetings Welcome back after the long weekend. Trust you all ate too much, avoided a dining table shouting match
Sunshine & Dates
Greetings Fellow Choristers By now, you’ve found your preferred seat, sourced a bag big enough to tote your music folder,