Living Room Choir is a culture of joy, stress-reduction, and meaningful connection with self and others.

About the Living Room Choir – Ever-evolving, it has some sustaining characteristics:

  • Non-audition, no musical experience ever necessary
  • We sing as communal experience; this experience is far more important to us than the proficiency of the musical outcome. We are striving for co-regulation and a communal experience: in a sense, energetic and emotional harmony. Fortunately, musical harmony happens along the way.
  • Kids are welcome and accepted
  • So is neurodiversity
  • We are an all-gender choir
  • We don’t allow for bigotry within our community
  • We strive first and foremost for a harmonic environment, both musically and energetically. We work to correct disruptive behavior over time. No one will be kicked out for making a mistake
  • No minimum attendance requirement in order to be involved
  • No one turned away for lack of funds; we are collectively funded so everyone is encouraged to give what they can
  • The leaders are involved in continual anti-racism learning (and un-learning)
  • You’ll never be reprimanded for arriving late
  • We believe in and refer to neuroscience as well as other physiological realities, and how singing affects our physical bodies, brains, and emotional states
  • We utilize teaching tracks and our Song Library as learning tools; if sheet music is available you’re welcome to print it off. We know everyone has different learning styles we just want us to be present when we’re with each other
  • We teach local and non-local music that has traveled to us. We care deeply about doing this as well as possible, and why it’s important. See our Song Library for more info on how and why we share songs from across the world
  • We protect our vulnerable: we always have Wellness Guidelines in place and these change over time as needed
  • We are socially engaged but this is not a discussion group. We sing our feelings and try our best to hold room to acknowledge the complexity even in seemingly black-and-white circumstances
  • Once you’re in the community, you’re still part of our community, even if we go a long time without seeing you
  • No required musical homework, ever

Living Room Choir is part of the international Ubuntu Choirs Network. It was started in 2015 by Kaitie Ty Warren* and Co-Led by Sara Stutz. Our goal is to create a safe, holistic, musical space of harmony – between one another, in our hearts, and with our voices. Inclusion is key: not only for all parts of ourselves, but for each other, regardless of background, age, creed, ability, race, and other identifications. We value diversity and expression. Our concerts range in size, are gifts to the community, and we always get the audience singing. We like to partner with  local musicians and other local choirs, seeing fellow singing groups as allies, to be greeted like neighbors. In community, as the song by I-cheie Greentree says, we will lift each other up, higher and higher.\

This is an explicitly antiracist, queer-friendly, trans-affirming space. People of all backgrounds and identities are welcome

“I am, because you are. I need you to be you so that I can be me. A choir is a choir only because its different parts work together harmoniously. Yes, a person truly is a person only through other persons. God bless you in your noble endeavour.”

— Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
regarding the Ubuntu Choirs Network

Ubuntu
u·bun·tu
o͝oˈbo͝on(t)o͞o/noun

  1. A quality that includes the essential human virtues; compassion and humanity.
  2.  I am, because we are.

“We cannot all speak at once, but we can all sing at once.” – musician Zwai Bala.

Living Room Choir was started in 2015/2016, led by Kaitie Ty Warren with Sara Stutz as assistant and Andrea Lappen as executive assistant.

The 2020 events moved us to Zoom and overlapped with Kaitie’s parenting leave. Sara held the virtual Living Room open throughout, with support from Deborah Leeds.

In 2022, we began meeting in person again, but things were different. The world was different, so were each of us, and so was our choir. But at the heart of things, the Living Room Choir felt and feels very much the same. Returning to it feels very much like coming home. (Maybe after a little reconstruction.)

Now Kaitie and Sara co-lead and Deborah is the musical assistant. Several choir members continue to act as volunteers and support when its needed, to help keep things running as smoothly as possible as we navigate changes related to Covid safety and becoming more inclusive of the new children and parents in our choir.

We have re-dubbed ourselves Living Room Choir ANEW (which stands for Approaching Necessary Evolution Willingly) as of Fall 2022.