Singing for Service
- Nov 22, 2020
- 4 min read
Location: Cambridge, MA
Date: Spring 2019 - Present
Following a desire to mix both my love for service and music, I founded an acapella group called Singing for Service to perform at vulnerable communities around the Boston area (i.e. retirement homes, shelters, and rehabilitation centers). As founder, I outreached to students, raised $1450 from the Center for the Arts at MIT, structured the scope and intention of the group, and served as music director for two semesters.
What I Learned:
How to initiate a project from the ground up
Juggling of logistics (room reservations, t-shirt acquisition, outreaching to shelters/hospitals)
Communicating expected level of commitment to an emerging group
The joy and gratitude of sharing music
Inspiration
One time while volunteering at a retirement home during high school, my mom thought it would be a good idea to bring an old record player and play some tunes. That day I observed in wonder how an elderly man sat next to the record player and would not leave its side for hours, exclaiming every so often how much joy it brought him to remember his music. Another time, my choir came and sang Christmas carols at that same retirement home, creating a joyous exchange of gratitude between us and the residents.
These experiences brought more purpose into my love for music. I began to see music as not only a way to bring healing to myself, but also bring connection and joy to others. During a particularly disillusioned day at MIT where I struggled to find meaning in the technical work assigned to me in my mechanical engineering classes, I decided to take a small step and start organizing a club dedicated to performing in these communities.
Breathe...
At the start, I realized I needed to create a structure to SFS (Singing for Service) that would allow people to be involved at a small capacity. A common obstacle for singers at MIT to join an acapella group was the expected time commitment, usually 6 hours/week or more. Learning from my experience of taking part in an acapella group my freshman year, I set guidelines for our new group:
No more than 3 hours/week would be asked from each member (2 hrs/rehearsal + 1 for practicing with the section).
No more than 5 performances per semester to keep our scope small.
No more than 15 people would be join the group to keep collaboration & team-bonding a priority.
And to encourage singers from varying degrees of music experience to join,
Passion for service and music experience would be weighed evenly in the audition process.
This structure would encourage members of the community to audition even if they had little experience or time and keep the level of informality high. I wanted the experience of SFS to be as organic as possible - the club only facilitating the connections we personally built with our audience.
Logistically, I organized auditions, applied for funding from Center for the Arts, reserved rooms for rehearsals, and chose music that would uphold a positive and encouraging message.
Spring 2019 - One of our first rehearsals as a group.
And then perform!
As Music Director, the main challenge I faced was commitment from my members. Because the club had explicitly been publicized as low-commitment, it became a struggle to keep members accountable for coming on time and committing to weekend performances. Also, by welcoming both experience and inexperienced singers, I didn't realize some members came to SFS with differing levels of expectation regarding the quality of our singing. A result of that was some members had to put more time into learning music than others, which became an issue in providing everyone support they needed without singling them out during rehearsal.
Establishing section leaders was an attempt at creating small spaces where singers with less experience could receive personalized attention.
Spring 2019 - SFS singers getting ready for first performance.
Spring 2019 - Performance at The Boston Home, a rehabilitation center for people with neurological disabilities.
Spring 2019 - SFS singers performing at Winchester Retirement Center "When I Was Your Man" by Bruno Mars. Diego Barea at the piano.
But once we managed these challenges, the joy and gratitude from the communities we visited were as vibrant as I remembered from high school. We performed in a variety of locations that semester - ranging from a crowded woman's shelter to an upscale retirement home. After every performance, we made sure to stay for a while and engage in conversation with the residents. At the Winchester Retirement Center, we met the first women to graduate from MIT with a mechanical engineering degree. At the women's shelter, we met multiple women who had gone through unimaginable pain and need who still smiled and sang along when we all harmonized to Amazing Grace together.
These experiences with SFS have taught me the importance of reaching out to the elders in my life to make sure they know they are loved and appreciated, as well as served as a constant reminder to my team and I of the privilege we hold inside our MIT bubble. SFS was also a way for me to connect with people who reminded me of the community I grew up in - my grandmother in LA and listening to her stories, women in my life who underwent painful obstacles, close family members unable to speak at rehabilitation centers but eyes gleamed at the sound of music.
In Summary
To mix my interests in music and service, I founded and managed Singing for Service starting in Spring 2019. As founder, I learned how to structure a singing group that would be welcoming to all different levels of singers while as music director, I felt challenged in encouraging commitment from the members. At the end of the semester, our group successfully performed at five locations in the Boston area ranging from retirement homes to women's shelters.
Singing for Service keeps growing as a club, recently receiving official recognition from MIT and now at 14 members. I currently aid the club as treasurer and advisor.
Spring 2020. SFS Rehearsal.
Thank you to Center for the Arts at MIT for funding our transportation and food costs in 2019.
Thank you to Diego Barea, Alyssa Wells-Lewis, Tim Gutterman and all the founding members of our group for making this project possible.
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