Don’t tell Shawn Vomund and Zachary Stelzer sea shanties are a fad.
The TikTok trend may have come and gone in 2021, but two years later, the two are filling Springfield breweries with people eager to sing maritime tunes.
“This isn’t about trying to capitalize on a trend,” Vomund said. “It’s about giving people an experience to share with the people around them. After the pandemic, that’s what people have been yearning for, and this gives them permission to do just that.”
Shanty Choir isn’t a traditional choir. There are no rehearsals, no tryouts, no auditions and no concerts. People show up and sing, or enjoy everyone else singing.
Its next singing session will be held from 7-9 p.m. Saturday at Great Escape Beer Works, located at 4022 S. Lone Pine Ave.
Soon may the shantymen come
The two men, both music educators, lead the crowd in a series of sea shanties, pirate ballads and sea folk songs such as “Wellerman” and “Drunken Sailor.” The call-and-response songs (as music educators, Vomund and Stelzer would say they are antiphonal) give everyone a chance to contribute as they see fit. Singers who want a larger role are free to take on one of the solo verses, as well.
Stelzer said the two landed on these unique songs after participating in a beer choir with other music educators. While those sessions were fun, they required too much knowledge of music, from being able to read music to needing a piano player on hand.
“Especially since we are both music educators, we were passionate about getting people involved,” Stelzer said. “With sea shanties, people didn’t need to read music.”
The two met as members of the Springfield Chamber Chorus. Stelzer taught at Reed Academy and is now teaching in Liberty, Missouri. Vomund teaches band students in grades 6-12 for the Fordland R-3 School District.
TikTok trend lights a fire
In early 2021, singer Nathan Evans posted his version of “Wellerman,” a folk song from 1970s New Zealand, to TikTok. The antiphonal style was perfectly suited for TikTok’s Duet function, where another user could record something on top of a user’s original video — people use the feature to harmonize with each other.
Vomund and Stelzer threw together a few test sessions, at first with their friends then with a few more. They received a loud, welcome response to their call.
They had challenges setting up those first few gigs, however. Their requests were not typical of normal bar entertainers.
“When we were originally looking to perform somewhere, it was difficult to describe what we were doing,” Vomund said. “We said that we wouldn’t be performing, but we would be singing, and everyone else would be singing. We didn’t have any videos to show what we meant, though.”
Great Escape Beer Works gave them their first shot. Co-owner Jake Duensing said he approved of their first gig with barely a second thought, after it was brought to him by a co-worker.
“I kind of forgot about it, to be honest,” Duensing said. “Then I got a call from one of my bartenders on the night they were playing. Then I got a video of them doing what they do, singing, clapping, stomping their feet. It was just wild. I couldn’t believe the turnout.”
Joining the choir, singing with the crew
Duensing saw the popularity of the choir firsthand while covering an open shift, and found the singing, cheering, yelling and thumping and exciting.
“It was interesting to see the people who weren’t there for the choir initially,” Duensing said. “You’d watch them look around with funny faces at first, but by the end of the night they were singing along with everyone else.”
The two Shanty Choir leaders are particular about where they hold their singing sessions. They choose only locally owned breweries, and try to find a middle ground of not too big or small of a room. They generally prefer to be inside, and want people to be only barely cramped — if people are too spread out, the choir members don’t get the big, enveloping sounds they love.
Vomund said the songs offer the chance for communal singing, something that is done across the world, but not in America, unless a church is involved.
“People are really craving this,” Vomund said. “It’s not uncommon for people to talk about musical experiences they had in school, and most people miss creating music … Most who come used to sing a lot, but haven’t sung in years, and they say it’s great to have that opportunity again.”
