Help me find drop-in pop choirs.

July 8, 2016 1:44 AM

This post featuring Choir! Choir! Choir! reminded me of Pop Up Chorus (also featured on the blue). Are there other drop-in, no-commitment pop choirs like these two? How should I search for them? I'm particularly interested in the San Francisco Bay and New York City areas, but would love to learn about these sorts of groups anywhere.
posted by jdherg to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (5 answers total)

Check the Vocal Area Network (NYC) weekly. A couple of years ago I noticed a pop-up choir on the VAN taking place the next day, and got to sing in a Philip Glass world premiere in the middle of Times Square.
posted by JimN2TAW at 8:17 AM on July 8, 2016

At Folklife in Seattle, several pop-up singings occur, usually packed with enough regular choir members who know the songs to absorb those of us who are reading as fast as possible.

For something very different in style, I would look into shape note singing. It is not a choir, but it is four part vocal music with no commitment.
posted by batter_my_heart at 9:57 AM on July 8, 2016

Durham has another one in addition to the pop up chorus: Flash Chorus.
posted by melodykramer at 12:29 PM on July 8, 2016

So this is not quite what you are looking for, but if you can't find a popup choir and still want to get together and sing with other people without committing to an ongoing rehearsal, you could try (in NYC) singing workshops at Jalopy in Red Hook, or Sacred Harp singing.
posted by bunderful at 4:41 PM on July 8, 2016

To avoid confusion with two terms posted here: Sacred Harp singing is either an instance of shape note singing, or the same exact thing, depending on who you ask. Shape note refers to the notation (normal staff, normal notes, except the note heads are various shapes), and The Sacred Harp is the most popular book written in this notation. Other books include the Cooper book, Shenandoah Harmony, etc.

But anyway: BASH (Bay Area Sacred Harp); NYC (there's a weekly Wednesday singing in the West Village, if that's convenient)
posted by batter_my_heart at 12:52 AM on July 11, 2016