On a Monday night in a former school foyer, some of Singapore’s best-known musicians gathered with a group of 50 strangers, this writer included. “Walk around the room and take up as much space as possible,” instructed singer-songwriter Benjamin Kheng. “Inhale, and as you exhale, sing ahhh...”

We complied, creating a surprisingly beautiful sound that echoed through the lofty space. That was just the warm-up. Two hours later, our motley crew would have learnt and sung a pitch-perfect (at least to my untrained ears) six-part harmony to Jordin Sparks’ 2009 break-up anthem, No Air.

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You may have seen clips of one-day choirs circulating on social media, usually of participants strolling around an event space singing a popular song in angelic multi-part harmony. If you haven’t experienced it, let me tell you it is as blithe and cathartic as it looks.

Thanks to a tip from my neighbour, I managed to snag tickets to the past two sessions of Sing Song Social Club, the community choir started by singer and multi-hyphenate Aarika Lee.

She, too, had seen those clips on Instagram and forwarded them to her friends, hoping someone would organise something similar in Singapore. “Then it just got to a point where I was like, hey, if I want to go for something that doesn’t exist, maybe I can just do it (myself),” she chirped over French fries and green juice one weekday afternoon.

All she needed were a venue sponsor and other musical facilitators who could lead the soprano, tenor and bass sections. “So basically, I needed four yesses in order to make this work,” she said. Lee got a quick yes from lifestyle destination New Bahru and her friends Benjamin Kheng, Nathan Hartono, Daphne Khoo, and Sandra Riley Tang (aka RRILEY).

The next step: Gathering a group of people who love singing. “Nathan did the arrangement for I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston, and we asked our friends and family to come. We even grabbed some friends we ran into (at New Bahru). We said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna do this thing upstairs later. Wanna come?’”

Of course, they did. Who declines an invitation to an evening with some of the country’s best-known names in music? By the time the night was over back in January, everyone was raring to do it again. A month later, Lee organised another session, which drew 56 participants. That number has since doubled. Today, a spot in Sing Song Social Club is one of the hottest tickets in town.

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CAN YOU HOLD A TUNE?

You don’t need singing experience to sign up for Sing Song Social Club. The only prerequisites are an interest in singing with others and being okay with putting your phone away for two hours. To warm up, we formed a large circle and sang arpeggios in increasing range. When the range became too high, we stepped back, allowing the facilitators to group singers into bass, tenor, alto, and soprano.

Depending on the musical arrangement, your part can be as simple as singing most of the melody or as difficult as holding tricky chords. But the beauty of a community choir is that everyone has a different ability. If you’re unsure of a note, just lower your voice and join in again when you’re back on track. That said, group singing is about community, listening to one another and breathing together. Before you know it, the music carries you along.

Learning parts can feel difficult if you’re new to it, but the payoff when the entire choir comes together is priceless. That soothing, ringing sound of so many voices in harmony is an instant mood-lifter, a joyful salve in our fractured world.

There were moments when some of us got lost in the complicated backline of Natalie Imbruglia’s Unwritten, but we sang our hearts out anyway, looking at one another and giggling through the tune. We’d only met for the first time two hours ago, but our connection was palpable and pure in the way only music can bring about.

“Better than therapy,” commented one participant on Instagram.

“This has become my monthly non-negotiable! I’ll leave my husband and kids every month to do this again and again! Everyone is so friendly and fun!” wrote another.

The most common comment is, of course, “How do I join?”.

EVERYBODY’S FREE TO FEEL GOOD

While Lee drops the sign-up link on Sing Song Social Club’s IG stories several weeks before each event, previous participants get it first on the private Telegram channel, which helps keep the numbers manageable.

“The main interest is to grow the community slowly because that helps set the culture and tone. We really want to cultivate this safe and collaborative space. There should be no egos about what’s happening for the night, and I feel we can only manage that if we grow it slowly,” Lee explained. “The bigger the group, the harder it is to hear sectionals and things like that. If it’s too big and there are not enough facilitators, it won’t be fun.”

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Lee and her friends take no money for this work. And make no mistake, putting together a one-day choir is plenty of work. Music must be arranged and scored, and schedules must align for rehearsals before the choir comes together. Then there are the logistics, social media, ticketing, and sheet music printing, which Lee handles on top of her job as an adjunct lecturer at LaSalle School of the Arts and mothering three young children.

“But you know, the main takeaway is that everyone’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re doing this for free?’” Lee laughed. “And they feel like they want to give back, which is awesome. We’ve had people volunteer to come and take photos or videos. When we needed help with scoring, someone immediately said, yes, I can do it. And then there are people who say, ‘Hey, I can’t contribute with music but I can help with registration and stuff. That’s really sweet.”

“I like the idea of dispelling the notion that if I’m going to enjoy something, I need to pay for it,” she added. “I really hope it can always be free so it’s accessible for more people. As long as we can sustain it as a free event, I would love to (keep it that way).”