Community & Alumni Blog
Alumni in Toronto start CHOIR! to build community, have fun singing
Damaris Schmucker (left) and Sarah Quartel are the
co-directors of CHOIR! (Click photos to enlarge.)
When Sarah Quartel and Damaris Schmucker decided to start a community choir, they hoped at least 10 people would join. Imagine their surprise when nearly 40 people registered.
“We were pretty elated,” Quartel says. “The response from the community has been so amazing and positive.”
Quartel and Schmucker became friends while studying together at CMU.
Both graduated with music degrees in 2008—Quartel with a specialization in music ministry, and Schmucker with a focus on music education.
Both moved to Toronto in recent years, and both found themselves yearning for a choral experience similar to their CMU days.
They were also interested in getting to know people in their neighbourhood.
“We talked on and off about joining a choir or starting a choir,” Quartel says. “Eventually we said, let’s just do it.”
With that, CHOIR! was born. The duo put up posters advertising the new choir last summer and began their first session in October.
Choir members range in age from late 20s to mid-60s, and the musical ability is equally varied. At least one member has sung professionally, and some have never read music before and are trying choral singing for the first time.
“In my life, I’ve always sort of treated music as this thing you have to be really good at, and you really have to practice and get as close to that standard of perfection as you can get,” Schmucker says. “With CHOIR! we kind of put all of that aside. The point of this is that it’s a community venture to just really get to know people.”
The choir meets once per week for about two hours, starting at 8 PM in the evening so that parents with young children can participate. Each session is relatively short, lasting two to three months to keep the level of commitment manageable.
“The idea is to give people a chance to find somewhere to plug in that isn’t super high commitment or super high stress,” Schmucker says.
CHOIR! had its debut performance this past November.
More than 200 people attended the concert, which took place at Forward Baptist Church, where Quartel works as director of worship and communications.
The group performed a variety of secular, spiritual, and fun non-verbal choral pieces.
Afterward, those in attendance were invited to stay, mingle, and enjoy coffee and cookies—another effort on Quartel and Schmucker’s part to encourage community.
Moving forward, Schmucker hopes CHOIR! continues to be fun and light, with a focus on enjoying the music and enjoying the process of singing together.
The choir began its second session last month. Some 45 people showed up for the first rehearsal, roughly one-third of whom were new.
The choir’s second concert is slated for April 9. “Adventure” is the theme, and Schmucker and Quartel are looking forward to it.
Quartel is also excited that CHOIR! has become an extension of her work at Forward Baptist.
The church has been supportive and encouraging of CHOIR!, letting the group use its space free of charge to rehearse.
The church sees supporting CHOIR! as one way it can fulfill its desire to get to know the community and use relationships to share the gospel.
“It was neat being able to see the church say, ‘Yeah, that’s a part of our mission, and we want to support you and pray for you,’” Quartel says. “God has really blessed what we’re doing, so we’ve been really thankful for that.”
Print This Blog Post