Joyful Voices Chorus -- Fall '26 Season -- San Anselmo

TL;DR: Want to become a member of our 7-week non-auditioned Joyful Voices Chorus community choir? Or just get a drop-in ticket for our Opening Night with Kira Seto on 9/16, try-it-free night 9/23, or season-ending Big Sing with Debbie Nargi-Brown on Sunday 10/25? 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 Joyful Voices Chorus is: • So 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-auditioned, 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 about sharing your voice. • SO. MUCH. FUN. So...what kinds of songs do we sing? • JVC Director Marv Zauderer (see bio below) teaches the most amazing songs by the most amazing community songwriters from around the world! • 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. Songs that take parts of 2-3 evenings to learn, like this one, this one, and this one, and also quick-to-learn songs, like this one, this one, this one, and this one. 3- and 4-part harmony songs, layer songs, rounds, and more! • Songs are selected for their ability to rejuvenate, soothe, uplift and inspire! Songs with beautiful melodies, meaningful words (but not too many!), and accessible harmonies. Songs of resilience, songs of belonging, songs of hope, songs of joy. • We sing songs by widely-beloved songwriters like Melanie DeMore, MaMuse, Debbie Nargi-Brown, Maggie Wheeler, Laurence Cole, Lyndsey Scott, Ríomas, ahlay blakely, and Heather Houston, and songs by amazing lesser-known songwriters like Katie Sontag, Julianna Zarzycki, Helen Yeomans, Sheniqua Trotman, Kira Seto, and Susie Ro Prater. • This season we'll be focused more on the songs that have been most beloved in my groups over the years, although we'll learn some incredible new songs, too. And as always, I'll be teaching every song even though some folks may have sung them before. • Feel free to check out our YouTube channel for videos and audio of us singing, and our Song Library, which has every song we've sung so far -- and there will be a whole bunch of new songs this season! This 7-week non-auditioned, non-religious community choir, although similar in many ways to our drop-in All In Song Circle, brings you unique benefits that come from being part of this consistent (membership) 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 our core songs if you'd like to practice or you miss a week. • We are SO lucky to have Kira Seto (pictured, see bio below) joining me as Guest Songleader at a special drop-in, open-to-anyone Opening Night on Wednesday, September 16th, 7:00-8:30! • You can see and hear Kira in video clips here and here -- she clearly loves to teach her favorite songs by amazing community songwriters from around the world! -- and she also loves to teach her own songs: three of my favorite Kira songs are here, here, and here. Kira is a rising star in the community singing world: she's being invited to lead all over the U.S, and recently returned from being invited to lead in the U.K. We're so lucky to have her with us for the very first time! • The 7th week, Sunday, October 25th, 4:00-6:00, we'll again be holding an open-to-anyone 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.) We'll teach 1-2 songs that we've been working on (choir members vote in advance on which ones), and then we'll turn it over to our Guest Songleader, the one and only Debbie Nargi-Brown (pictured, see bio below), who returns, by popular demand, for her second Big Sing! Debbie is one of the most beloved leaders of the community singing movement in North America. Singing with Debbie is always -- always! -- full of her incredible lovingkindness, her deep soulfulness, and her infectious desire to...ROCK!! We will definitely be movin' our bodies! You can see and hear Debbie in video clips here and here from our Big Sing two years ago, and you can hear five more of my favorite Debbie songs here, here, here, here, and here. This Big Sing is going to be amazing! Check out our YouTube channel and our Photo Gallery for videos and photos of our previous Big Sings. • If you haven't been a member of the Joyful Voices Chorus before, you are welcome to try it FREE, only during Week 2 (September 23rd), before committing to the season (and of course you are welcome to buy a ticket to our Sept. 16 Opening Night as well). Snag that try-it-FREE ticket! • 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: • "Uplifting in every way." • "I felt invigorated, connected, peaceful, and nourished." • "This kind of singing is my daily medicine to get through the hard stuff in life." • "The deep and beautiful songs have been running through my head and keeping me balanced and positive during this very strange time." • "I felt a connection to a childhood love that I had lost touch with, and I felt joy, more openness, and a sense of community." • "All my wife knows is that I come home Wednesday nights feeling better than when I left." • "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." • "Marv holds the space so well, with love, kindness, openness, and intuitiveness." • Marv sets such a glorious tone of non-judgment and self-acceptance, And joy!" • "I felt different feelings throughout: sometimes deeply touching my heart and soul, sometimes very playful." • "Sometimes I'm feeling kind of down and I don't really want to come to choir, but I just know 10 minutes in, I'm already going to feel better." • "The specific words of songs in what touches me the most, all wrapped up in the heartfelt community you have brought together, and the ease and intention of meaning and joy you create for the singing experience." • "You have created a beautiful community experience that my entire family can enjoy." • "It's the highlight of my week!" • "Joyful and enchanting -- and precious moments aplenty!" • "I felt like I was a part of something larger -- it was very uniting and spiritual for me." • "Singing with you always makes me feel gloriously alive and full of joy." • "I feel renewed every week, and I leave with a smile on my face." The details: • We're in our usual big Duncan Hall auditorium space at the church in San Anselmo, across the courtyard from the sanctuary, Wednesday evenings, 7:00-8:30, Sept. 16 - Oct. 21, plus the Big Sing in Duncan Hall with Guest Songleader Debbie Nargi-Brown on Sunday, October 25th, 4:00-6:00.