Morningsong - a Cappella Community Choir, Bulimba, Brisbane

Morningsong is an adult singing group that meets weekly to share a love of singing. The choir is convened by Jane Becktel who has been involved in teaching music for many years. There are no auditions and you don't have to read music because all songs and harmonies are taught by ear. We sing unaccompanied.

For more information about the Morningsong Community Choir, Bulimba, visit:

http://www.morningsong.com.au

We primarily sing songs from cultures that have a strong tradition of singing in harmony: Africa, USA, Eastern Europe and the Pacific Islands. We also throw in a few traditional and anonymous songs from Europe/UK, and classical ones from Mozart and friends. We don't do pop/funk/rock/croon/musicals. Morningsong is a non-religious group, although there is always room for a beautiful gospel song in the repertoire.

Some of the songs we sing are showcased on this Squidoo lens in the YouTube videos produced by other community choirs and singers.

It is exciting to sing songs from different cultures and to experience the harmony, meaning and energy of those songs.

Morningsong is held in the mornings to give people who do not work regular hours the chance to sing. Singers are not expected to make a commitment to come every week. Most weeks we will sing new songs, some oldies and some we are in the process of learning. They will range from easy to challenging but we aim to always enjoy the process. If any song turns into mental torture we drop it.

All of our voices are valuable - community choirs work spectacularly well because there are so many different kinds of voices which all resonate together in a beautiful, harmonic whole. There are no performance requirments and all you need is a love of singing. Word sheets are available for members of the community choir at every session or via email but singers are encouraged not to look at word sheets at the sessions. Morningsong is based on fun and inclusion in a friendly environment. It is all about singing together and creating wonderful harmonies, rather than performing. Just bring your passion for singing, a love of learning and a sense of humour.

Communications outside Morningsong singing time occur by email, our blog, this Squidoo lens and the odd phone call. It helps for advance song planning to know if you are going to be away, so the singing leader will "love you to death" if you have time to slip a quick email to Morningsong.

Singers are encouraged to meet after each singing session for coffee or lunch at one of the many Bulimba restaurants. This is entirely optional of course - some people just want to be anonymous and some people like social interaction. We all understand peoples' different needs which may change over time. If you run a home or small business, you are welcome to bring any promotional business cards or fliers for the doorway table. A singing session break provides the opportunity for a cuppa and a chat.

Jane has a degree in music from the Elder Conservatorium (University of Adelaide). She has been involved in teaching music for many years. In 2007/2008 she worked for The Song Room, a philanthropic organisation dedicated to bringing music to less advantaged children and communities.

Jane has worked with the Mater Children's Hospital Special School - singing with children who range in age from 4 to Year 12. Jane considered it the most challenging job she has had but found it tremendously rewarding hearing very ill children sing in beautiful harmony.

In her early work Jane worked as a music teacher in Adelaide for 4 years before moving to California with her American husband. They had two children whom they homeschooled. The family choir Jane facilitated in California was a volunteer job for all homeschooling families and it was both a music and social event every week for over a decade.

Jane heads to Sydney

The Morningsong group was founded by Jane Becktel in 2009 and has grown from 8 singers to 40. At the start of 2011, Jane moved to Sydney and leadership of the Morningsong Choir was passed to Nicole Murray and John Thompson, who perform professionally as the duo Cloudstreet. Since late 2012, Nicole has worked as sole director while John is working with the Australian production of the theatre show, War Horse.

If only we could clap like this. I love the harmonies in this rendition of Huddie Ledbetter's song (1935 original was "Silvy", now "Sylvie"). This song has been recorded by the likes of Harry Belafonte, Rolf Harris, Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, & The Weavers - to name but a few.

The beautiful harmonies in this song are superbly presented by the Santini Telc Choir (Czech Republic). We can appreciate the difficulty of singing this song but the effort is richly rewarded with the stunning harmonies you can achieve. One of our choir members speaks Russian so we are working hard to pronounce the words correctly while mastering the music and the four parts. This is just one example of how members of the choir pool their talents to build our choir community.

Feel free to share your experience of being a part of Morningsong community choir or any other community choir. You can comment on what you like about singing or even what you like about the lens..