Got the blues? Maybe it’s time to check in with the Love Choir, where even the worst of moods have little chance of survival, once the music starts.
Imagine 50-plus songsters singing in harmony, backed up by acoustic guitars, a piano, drums, a ukulele, accordion, fiddle, banjo and a harmonica, as people dance, clap, or sit back and simply tap their feet in sync with one upbeat melody after another.
Then as the night goes on, throw songs like Jim Croce’s “Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown” into the mix and feel the energy in the room rise to a whole new level.
That was the scene on a recent Wednesday evening when Love Choir Director Jim Corbett joined dozens of others who come out weekly to participate in the joyous event that many consider not only fun, but therapeutic.
“Singing with the Love Choir is great fun and a helluva lot cheaper than therapy,” Corbett said. “With vocal expression comes a natural high and joyous feelings. Personally, I have come to choir on a number of occasions with a bad attitude and a funky mood. Ten minutes into singing all is lifted off me, as the joy returns,” he said, adding, “Most everyone does Love Choir because it is fun.”
There are only two requirements to join the Love Choir: “Show up with a loving heart, and sing,” Corbett said, noting the music is kept familiar with strong choruses that people can easily jump in on, and the format is intentionally loose and unstructured.
“We don’t pass out music, relying on listening rather than reading. We don’t have tryouts or judge how people sing. Everybody sings, that is a given, but willingness to sing is all that is required,” he said. “Many have come to the Love Choir having been told sometime in their childhood that they should not sing. When they come to Love Choir they are healed of that false notion.”
Take Santa Rosa resident Ellen Draper, for instance, who prior to joining the group
five years ago, had no confidence in her ability to sing.
“I didn’t think I could sing at all when I came here and now I can sing a cappella solo,” she said. Asked why she participates, Draper said: “It’s fun. It makes me feel good. It makes me happy.”
Mary Luttrell, of Forestville, has been singing with the Love Choir almost every Wednesday for the last 13 years. “I have sung all my life and this has been the most fun I have had singing, and it’s been an opportunity to overcome a lifelong fear of singing solo,” she said.
“You don’t have to try out, you don’t have to be soprano, alto or bass. You just come and do whatever is comfortable for you – sing, dance in the background and be part of the family,” Santa Rosa resident Ani Weaver said. “There’s no judgment and no evaluation. People come out here because they feel comfortable. Singing lifts up the spirit,” she said.
Which was evident by 86-year-old Phebe Sorensen’s attitude. “I am the oldest one here and I have been coming here for years. I am having the best time,” Sorensen said, as she did a quick little dance in place, by twisting her waist back and forth. “This is a great group. Everybody is accepted … You don’t have to have a good voice, luckily,” she said.
Healdsburg’s Tim Fox likely has a good voice, as he has been singing all his life, but he never really got over his fear of performing solo in front of a large audience until he started singing with the Love Choir about 11 years ago.
“It’s been an opening, a healing … I really believe I am not unique in this. I like to sing, but I was terrified to have my voice stand out. Now I actually do solos,” Fox said. “I won’t say I am not nervous when I sing in front of 200 people, but I am not terrified,” he said.
“It’s like little kids; everyone gets in here and starts singing and they grow,” said Sebastopol resident Terry Drury, a founding member of the Love Choir and president of the Mr. Music Foundation, who was standing next to Fox.
“They blossom,” Fox said, expanding on Drury’s comment.
And apparently some heal.
“Everybody has a voice and people are able to find it in singing with the Love Choir because it’s a nonthreatening, accepting environment,” John Duran said. “For me … I lost my wife to cancer six years ago and like a lot of people, I came to the Love Choir as a way to express my grief through singing,” he said.
Planting a Seed
The seed for the Love Choir was planted in 1997 at the Apple Blossom Festival. Corbett was booking music for the festival and wanted to have a gospel choir singing on the Sunday morning of the event, but most gospel groups were committed to their churches at that time, he said. So he called a dozen friends, they rehearsed a couple of times and then went on to perform a variety of gospel, inspirational rock and country tunes, backed by a swinging band, he said.
“When we did the show, folks in the audience began singing along, which made for a very inclusive musical gathering. The group had so much fun performing that we decided to meet once a month to continue making a joyful noise. We met under that schedule for several months in my home studio, with a few more folks showing up at each meeting. Shortly thereafter, when the group had outgrown my studio, we began singing at Subud Hall and meeting every Wednesday night,” Corbett said.
Since that time the group has grown to more than 100 regular members. On any given Wednesday, 50 to 60 people show up “to be fed by the music,” Corbett said, adding, “The group has also become a strong family that celebrates birthdays, sends healing songs to loved ones, and always steps up to help a fellow ‘Lovee.’”
In addition to the Wednesday night gatherings, the Love Choir also sings at the Sebastopol Community Center’s First Friday Live shows and serves as the hosts and hostesses of the event. Members also travel together. Every March the Love Choir performs at two churches in Elk and Pint Arena on St. Patrick’s Day weekend. The Love Choir has been a regular feature at the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival in Laytonville in June, and in January a contingent will be vacationing and singing in Yelepa, Mexico, according to Corbett.
Lastly, the group just presented the second annual Peacetown Summer Concert Series at Ives Park, where on Wednesday evenings people brought lawn chairs and enjoyed free music in a tranquil, outdoor setting. The Peacetown series ended Sept. 4, and the choir’s regular gig (resuming Sept. 11) opens on Wednesday evenings from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., at Subud Hall, 234 Hutchins Ave. in Sebastopol.
Jim Corbett leads the way
Sebastopol’s beloved Jim Corbett has been playing music and performing professionally since 1972, but he got involved in the music scene when he was just a child.
“I took piano lessons from when I was 6 to 16 years old, for a dollar a week from Mrs. Mulligan, who lived down the street. My mother always said, ‘practice your piano, some day you will thank me,’” Corbett recalled.
“I liked the piano, but I always wanted to go out and play baseball,” he said.
In college, he took up guitar and then took what he knew on the guitar and went back to playing the piano, which he said is when “the light kind of came on.”
Corbett started out playing in bar bands in San Francisco and continued doing the same when he arrived in Sonoma County in 1974. Then he started playing music with school children, when his daughter was in kindergarten at Park Side in Sebastopol, where he volunteered.
“The word got out and it progressed from there,” he said. “I have been a music teacher in Sonoma County schools for over 25 years. I currently contract to 10 local schools for music services and employ eight professional musicians as teachers in these schools,” Corbett said.
Why does he like what he does?
“I take my guitar and keyboard to work and hang out with little kids. There are not many jobs where you walk in the room and 40 people cheer, so it’s a pretty cool gig,” Corbett said.
The Love Choir was a natural evolution, he added. “I really just enjoy singing and getting other people to sing and play. The kids are really easy and the adults are kind of just kids with wrinkles.”
Corbett currently plays with the Luv Rustlers, the Country All Stars, and he performs solo as well as with small ensembles as needed. He also produces, with the Sebastopol Community Cultural Center, the First Friday Live shows that feature a different theme each month.
