Editor's note: The original version of this story misidentified which choir Kenny Kabak is affiliated with. He leads the Queen City Chorale.
Joy Lacy stood among the crowd of unsheltered people outside the Venues Church in downtown Springfield Thursday afternoon with a worried expression on her face.
Lacy said she had a hard day and was not in a great mood. But her mood would change, she said, just as soon as she and the others got inside and began singing.
Lacy is part of the Springfield Street Choir, a singing group comprised of people who are unsheltered. They rehearse every Thursday afternoon at the Venues and then the church provides them with a meal. About 60 people attended the rehearsal.
“No matter what kind of day I’m having, it brings me a smile,” Lacy said. “It just brings me happiness.
“That’s how I got her here,” Lacy said, pointing to her friend, Jill, standing nearby. “I said, ‘Trust me, no matter how bad of a day you are having, you are sure to have a smile and a laugh.’ And now she comes.”
Jill, who declined to give her last name, nodded.
“It makes you feel good,” Jill said. “A smile and a laugh.”
Street Choir's first concert since 2020 is Nov. 4
The Springfield Street Choir is hosting a free concert next Friday. Thursday’s rehearsal was their final “dry run” for Friday’s event.
The Springfield Street Choir was founded in October 2019 by Katie Kring, a member of the Springfield Chamber Chorus, and Kenny Kabak, who leads the Queen City Chorale.
The choir had four or five good months of rehearsals and performances — including one at the Springfield Art Museum and a performance on the Mystery Hour — before the pandemic hit.
“We shut down for a while,” Kring said after the rehearsal. “And we were practicing in parking garages and parking lots. We were outside for a while, wearing masks for a while. We were kind of all over the place.”
In April, the choir was invited to have their rehearsals at the Venues Church on Walnut Street. Church members provide a meal after each rehearsal.
“We love this space. We love these people,” Kring said of the Venues. “We’ve been rehearsing since April. This will be our first big concert really since we sang at the Art Museum in January of 2020.”
Everyone at the rehearsal seemed excited about the upcoming concert.
Ivy Montgomery raised her hand at the start, telling Kring and her choirmates that her 2-year-old son is going to be at the concert. She later shared photos of her son with the Daily Citizen and explained that young Lucas would be attending with his adoptive parents. Montgomery said she gets to visit with him and has a good relationship with his adoptive parents.
“I’m excited,” Montgomery said, flipping through her phone for more photos of Lucas. “I want to see how he reacts to (the choir).”
Asked why she comes to rehearsal every week, Montgomery grinned and responded: “Just joy.”
Singing in choir gives joy, promotes health
That “joy” is exactly why Kring and Kabak formed the choir and why they volunteer so much of their time to the group.
“There’s nothing like it. I say to people, ‘Come to our concert. It will change your life. You will never see anything like it, and you won’t be the same after,’” Kring said. “On the one hand, it’s music. It’s frivolous. It’s not feeding anybody. But it’s giving people purpose and what is more important than that?”
Along with the meal, choir members get $2 and two bus passes when they come to a rehearsal.
But they get so much more than that, Kring said.
“Everything else in the homeless care system, sort of out of necessity, is utilitarian: We are giving you the food. We are giving you a place to sleep. And then it’s time to go and move on,” Kring said. “And there is nothing that is feeding the spirit or creating joy or giving people a reason to keep going. I’ve had people say, ‘This is the reason I can stay off drugs, because there is something that is good for me here.’”
And there is scientific research that points to the physical and emotional benefits of choral singing, Kring said.
“When they sing together, their heart rates sync up,” she said. “And beyond that, you are getting this sense of community. You are getting this bonding; it’s kind of hard to go fight somebody that you just sang with. And it gives people endorphins and oxytocin and all of the things, the good hormones and the good feels.”
Choir sings uplifting songs like, ‘Let it Be' and ‘True Colors'
Kring and Kabak choose songs with positive and uplifting messages like “What a Wonderful World,” “Let it Be,” “True Colors” and “Feeling Good,” as well as gospel music like “Amazing Grace” and “I’ll Fly Away.”
“It’s an outlet,” Kring explained. “We are letting people sing about their feelings and deal with things in a constructive way.”
Just moments after the rehearsal ended, a woman took Kring aside and told Kring she has cancer. The woman cried and hugged Kring before heading back out onto the streets.
Kring said interactions like that are not uncommon.
“People trust us and confide in us. When somebody has gotten housing or a job or something, they can’t wait to come in and tell us that,” she said. “When people have gotten absolutely devastating news, like just now, they come in and cry on our shoulder. This is an amazing group of people to get to be a part of their lives.”
But perhaps the most important benefit of the Springfield Street Choir is one of advocacy for the unsheltered community — particularly those who view an unsheltered person not as a person but as ‘just the homeless,’ Kring said.
“There’s so much dehumanizing rhetoric around homelessness,” Kring said. “And it is very difficult to watch someone sing and then deny their fundamental humanity.
“When you see these people experiencing music and creating music,” she said, and then paused. You know, music is such a human thing. We are the only creatures that make music. There are whales and birds that make sounds. But music is human. And you can’t dehumanize people who are making music for you.”
About the concert
The Springfield Street Choir’s concert begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4 at the Venues, 425 W. Walnut St.
The concert is free and open to the public, but there will be an opportunity to donate to support the organization.
Learn more about the Springfield Street Choir at springfieldstreetchoir.org.
Follow the choir on Facebook.
