What’s it like to sing your heart out with total strangers? I joined this unique community choir to find out

On a Monday night in a former school foyer, some of Singapore’s best-known musicians gathered with a group of a hundred strangers, this writer included. “Walk around the room and take up as much space as possible,” instructed singer-songwriter Benjamin Kheng. “Inhale, and as you exhale, sing ahhh...”

We complied, creating a surprisingly beautiful sound that echoed through the lofty space. That was just the warm-up. Two hours later, our motley crew would have learnt and sung a pitch-perfect (at least to my untrained ears) six-part harmony to Jordin Sparks’ 2009 break-up anthem, No Air.

You may have seen clips of one-day choirs circulating on social media, usually of participants strolling around an event space singing a popular song in angelic multi-part harmony. If you haven’t experienced it, let me tell you it is as blithe and cathartic as it looks.

Thanks to a tip from my neighbour, I managed to snag tickets to the past two sessions of Sing Song Social Club, the community choir started by singer and multi-hyphenate Aarika Lee.

She, too, had seen those clips on Instagram and forwarded them to her friends, hoping someone would organise something similar in Singapore. “Then it just got to a point where I was like, hey, if I want to go for something that doesn’t exist, maybe I can just do it (myself),” she chirped over French fries and green juice one weekday afternoon.

All she needed were a venue sponsor and other musical facilitators who could lead the soprano, tenor and bass sections. “So basically, I needed four yesses in order to make this work,” she said. Lee got a quick yes from lifestyle destination New Bahru and her friends Benjamin Kheng, Nathan Hartono and Sandra Riley Tang (aka RRILEY).

The next step: Gathering a group of people who love singing. “Nathan did the arrangement for I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston, and we asked our friends and family to come. We even grabbed some friends we ran into (at New Bahru). We said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna do this thing upstairs later. Wanna come?’”

CAN YOU HOLD A TUNE?

You don’t need singing experience to sign up for Sing Song Social Club. The only prerequisites are an interest in singing with others and being okay with putting your phone away for two hours. To warm up, we formed a large circle and sang arpeggios in increasing range. When the range became too high, we stepped back, allowing the facilitators to group singers into bass, tenor, alto, and soprano.