Being a member of a choir can be a deeply spiritual experience.

Every choir is an intentional community of individuals with a common purpose. We come together to inspire and be inspired, to create music, and to be moved. The choir seems the perfect metaphor or symbol of community and shared vision.

We come to rehearsal as a single voice, then merge it with others to create something powerful. A single voice is amplified in when we sing together, but the choir doesn’t exist without each and every voice. Breathing together, speaking together, moving together, becoming louder… together.

The five lessons we can learn from being in a choir:

1. Show Up

It’s impossible to have a choir with just one or two or even three people. Choir requires personal commitment and trust. We have to trust that our friends are also going to show up for rehearsal. Members must be reliable and committed. It’s a good place to develop and practice grit, which has resonance in other areas of life.

2. Be Prepared

The singers sitting next to you will appreciate the time and effort you have put into preparing your part. Perhaps more importantly, you will have confidence and will enjoy the rehearsal better. When the director doesn’t have to teach the notes, she can use rehearsal time to craft a musical performance. Together, we can study the phrases for the proper dynamics and breaths. We can discuss the words and the text painting the composer used. Music is so much more than the right notes and the right rhythms. Your home practice will make rehearsal easier and the performance more meaningful.

3. We Need Every Individual Voice

A choir needs the high voices and the low ones. We need the ones that project and the voices that blend. Directors love the folks who sight read flawlessly and those that practice the music at home. Sometimes a young, clear voice is right for the solo; other times we want the voice that is a bit rough around the edges but experienced. Each week, the choir sound may be slightly different depending on who is singing (and who has a cold.) But that’s the beauty of the choir: it is a living, expressive entity that requires a crowd and always has room for one more.

4. Synergy

The choir is much more than the sum of its parts. We blend our voices and are carried by the music. We’ve all had the experience of a performance that was astonishingly better than the practice. “Performance magic” is one of the most spectacular things about being a member of a musical group. I don’t know where the magic comes from but without warning it tuns a song into a holy anthem.

5. Make the World a Bit More Beautiful

The choir is a microcosm of the world we want. It is a group of individuals coming together, people transforming dots on the paper into art that resonates in the soul. We sing when we are happy, we sing when we are sad, we sing when we are angry, and we sing for inspiration. We lift each other up in a spirit of caring and of shared purpose.

When we raise our voices together, we can change the world. And when the revolution comes, I’ll be singing with the choir.