Singing circles, such as the one that met at the Arboretum, are centered around a form of mindfulness -- a group meditation with the intent to build community, not perfect pitch, at a time when many people are still reeling from the isolation of the pandemic.
"I just started them out of my living room," said Milly Roberts, co-founder of the Boston-Area Singing Circles, who first encountered communal singing in California. She credits the work of the late Larry Gordon, a Vermont legend known as the 'Johnny Appleseed of community music making' as a major inspiration for starting her own group once she moved to Massachusetts for grad school.
Boston-Area Singing Circles are held in Cambridge, Jamaica Plain, and -- when the weather permits -- among the maples at the Arboretum.
Participants, who pay on a sliding scale to take part, don't need any musical instruments and there's no need to memorize any lyrics. The songs are not religious in nature and are usually straightforward, a simple call and response, repetitions that rise and fall in volume. The group has also experimented with bilingual singing circles, singing in Spanish and welcoming new members.
People of all ages and backgrounds show up, even -- or rather especially -- those without formal musical training.
"However you sing, here's space," said Lise Stern, a long-time singer who joined the group after hearing about it through friends. "We're not looking for opera singers or anything."
During the pandemic, Stern sang with an online choir through her synagogue but missed the experience of meeting in person.
Stern and about thirty others joined together on Election night. Participants left their shoes and their phones at the door, opting to find comfort in song rather than scroll social media or watch television for political updates.
"I want to be using song as a way of reweaving threads," said Jordan Mudd, co-founder and song leader. "Building more community infrastructure makes the moments of political turmoil easier to weather because we have a foundation of trust and connection."
Adam Conner-Simons, a communications professional turned mental health counselor who was also in attendance on Election night, said the beauty of singing circles is the spontaneous creativity and connection they elicit.
"The things that have been nourishing for my soul, for my mental health [are] being in community with others, and feeling part of something larger than myself," he said. "Something that allows me to kind of get out of my head and be truly present."
Roberts said she hears from participants how powerful the experience can be, especially for people who were affected by the pandemic.
"People really need a singing community," Roberts said. "They're finding a lot of spiritual healing and social support from it."
Last year, the US Surgeon General issued an advisory noting that one in two Americans reported experiencing loneliness even before the Covid-19 pandemic. Isolation can have physical effects on individuals with economic consequences such as increased healthcare costs and lost productivity.
That's why singing can be so helpful, said Kei Slaughter, an associate professor of music therapy at the Berklee College of Music. Slaughter points to research that shows singing in community helps by "reducing feelings of isolation or loneliness, building social bonds, building stronger connections between individuals."
And that can lead to physical benefits too, improving feelings of anxiety or depression.
"I might talk about it as joy, like singing brings me joy," explains Slaughter. "What's happening physiologically and neurologically in some cases is we're making our brain start to produce more dopamine. We feel more satisfied, more pleased and it can elevate our mood in some instances."
In group settings too, singing can be used as a tool for pain management. For people with asthma or chronic pulmonary disease for example, singing can be helpful as it's similar to controlled breathing exercises that can improve respiratory issues according to the American Lung Association.
For Sage Voorhees, an urban planner, the singing circles are a way to manage stress.
"They're able to facilitate a certain grounding energy," she said. "I want to be in that."
The singing circles are often intergenerational, with children as young as 7 as well as older adults who find meaning in the practice.
The organization currently has a 200-person email list though it has also grown through word of mouth and a Whatsapp group.
Some members are starting to branch out and form their own song circles in their neighborhoods -- exactly what Mudd and Roberts have hoped for.
"So much more becomes possible with a healthy, vibrant community and a community that knows how to be witness to each other," Mudd said.