Welcome to all choir members old & new.We are excited to begin our 4th session !!! Remember to be patient with yourselves & with each other in these first few weeks as we begin to learn new music. There will be moment along the way when we will all exhale & revel in the beauty of these songs! In a week or so we will have some parts to send out to you & some lyric sheets  for you to take home. We are off on a great journey!! Thank you all for getting on board. Peace, maggie ( please take a moment to read what follows)

Emile Hassen Dyer & Maggie Wheeler of the Golden Bridge Community Choir

Ubuntu choirs seek to create a world in which we listen deeply to those around us, celebrate diversity, trust in our voices and bring them forward on behalf of harmony, justice and peace.

In an Ubuntu choir, a person who initially sings timidly or off key is welcomed. In close proximity to stronger voices, a novice voice naturally grows in strength and beauty. Shinichi Suzuki, who espoused a “mother tongue” approach to music education, observed: “A child learns to speak in an environment which exhibits full confidence in his/her potential to acquire language.” And so it is with singing! At all stages of their musical development, each singer is a cherished member of the whole. A new singer may struggle to “carry a tune” alone, but when other singers are helping to carry it, she can sing magnificently!

We believe that:

·       singing is an essential human birthright and a powerful source of energy and connection.

·       singing together is a potent tool for building community

·       singing in harmony teaches us to celebrate diversity, and to practice deep listening

Ubuntu choirs are:

·       inclusive (open to people from all walks of life, all cultures, faiths, abilities)

·       non-auditioned (all voices are welcome: given the right conditions, all can learn to sing in tune and in harmony)

·       community-focused (singing to build community rather than primarily for performance)

·       socially engaged (actively involved in supporting local and global communities through vocal outreach and fund-raising concerts)

We sing songs from around the world, many from the oral tradition. Through singing these songs, we can honour and tap into the wisdom of other cultures. In turn we are moved to give back to those cultures whose songs inspire and nourish us.

the Ubuntu Spirit

“I am because we are.” This ancient concept, expressed in the Zulu word ubuntu, is at the root of many of the world’s wisdom traditions. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said so well: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. This is the interrelated structure of all reality. You can never be what you ought to be until I become what I ought to be.” The spirit of ubuntu reminds us of the power of joining soulfully with others.

The spirit of ubuntu has valuable lessons for us all. It’s about empathy and compassion for others, building community, appreciating diversity and knowing that our highest potential is ripened through our relationships.

New kinds of choirs are springing up in many corners of the world, embodying the principles of ubuntu. And so we call this emerging network of singing communities the Ubuntu Choirs Network.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu photographed by Mark Tompkins (co-editor of Illuminations)

Archbishop Desmond Tutu observes about the spirit of ubuntu:

“It is the essence of being human. It speaks of the fact that my humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up in yours. I am human because I belong. It speaks about wholeness, it speaks about compassion. A person with Ubuntu is welcoming, hospitable, warm and generous, willing to share. Such people are open and available to others, willing to be vulnerable, affirming of others, do not feel threatened that others are able and good, for they have a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that they belong in a greater whole. They know that they are diminished when others are humiliated, diminished when others are oppressed, diminished when others are treated as if they were less than who they are. The quality of Ubuntu gives people resilience, enabling them to survive and emerge still human despite all efforts to dehumanize them.

“A too highly developed individualism can lead to a debilitating sense of isolation so that you can be lonely and lost in a crowd… Ubuntu is not easy to describe because it has no equivalent in any of the Western languages… Ubuntu speaks to the essence of being human and our understanding that the human person is corporate. The solitary individual is in our understanding a contradiction in terms. You are a person through other persons. Ubuntu speaks about the importance of communal harmony… speaks about warmth, compassion, generosity, hospitality, and seeking to embrace others.”