A new community chorus open to singers of all levels without audition is starting in Davis, under the leadership of Laura Sandage and Katie Henry.

This local group, dubbed the Free Range Singers, will be part of the Ubuntu Choir Network, an organization of choirs from all over the United States and Canada that are reclaiming social singing as an innately human activity.

“Singing together is a potent tool for building community,” says the Ubuntu website, “and singing in harmony teaches us to celebrate diversity, and to practice deep listening.”

Free Range Singers director Sandage agrees.

“Like all Ubuntu-member choirs, this chorus will be inclusive and community-focused, and our first session will be completely process-oriented, with no performance at the end,” she said.

Those interested in joining the chorus are invited to gather from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Knox residence, 2505 Seville Court in Davis, or 1 to 2:30 p.m. Friday at the Sandage residence, 2905 Tiber Ave. in Davis. Rehearsals will continue on Thursday evenings and Friday afternoons (choose either time) through March 30.

“Try one rehearsal for free,” Sandage says. “Join anytime.”

A flexible fee of $8 to $12 will be asked per rehearsal, and scholarships are available. For more information, visit laurasandage.com.

Last fall, Davis musicians Sandage and Henry left the country to learn how to build community at home through choral singing. Paradoxical? They studied the latest techniques from a new, growing movement: a movement back to aural learning and song sharing as ancient as human culture.

“The program is called Community Choir Leadership Training,” Sandage explains. “It’s led by Shivon Robinsong and Denis Donnelly, and it was basically two weeks in Victoria, B.C., immersed in songs and songleading.”

Sandage has a bachelor of music degree in voice performance, but says this program offered her something different.

“In music school, I learned vocal technique and conducting, but not much about how to teach songs with my voice, without always using notes on paper, to groups that include inexperienced singers,” she says.

“This training was full of practical advice and all types of tools — musical, social, emotional — for working in a diverse community setting.”

Henry, a singer-songwriter and trained teacher of Education Through Music — a methodology that develops a wide range of skills in children through song, movement and interactive play — says that for her, “learning songs by ear is the most natural thing in the world. I grew up singing in my family from day one, and it was always by ear, learning in a group.”

Henry believes this kind of chorus is “about bringing down the boundaries between performers and audience members, and making musical experience available to everyone.”

Sandage and Henry already collaborate as two-thirds of the trio MudLark and as members of the Vocal Art Ensemble, as well as co-directing the Patwin Chorus, an elementary school chorus funded by the Brunelle-Harmony Choir Program, through the Davis School Arts Foundation. Once the Free Range Singers are established, Sandage and Henry have plans for a new local choir for kids as well.

“The Yolo Youth Choir will be similar in spirit to the Free Range Singers, but for kids ages 8 to 14,” Sandage says. “Inclusive, non-auditioned, lots of fun, and with plenty of local performing opportunities and skill building.

“I hope the flexible fees and scholarship program will make it possible for lots of kids to participate.”

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Katie Henry, at left, and Laura Sandage perform as part of the trio MudLark in Sutter Creek. Henry and Sandage have formed a new community chorus, the Free Range Singers, which will meet Thursday and Friday. Courtesy photo

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