Monday nights, I arrive at Chamber Singers of Iowa City rehearsal with 60 other singers. By the second warm-up, whatever I carried in from my day I’ve let go.
That release happens nearly universally because we’ve each decided, again, that two-and-a-half hours poring over music scores and running sections of a movement on repeat are worth it.
You may wonder what “it” is. Ask us why we choose rehearsal over everything else, and the answers transcend talent. “The people and making beautiful music,” one singer says. Another calls it “a break from the world and the busyness of home and life… a chance to enjoy fellowship with other singers doing something I love dearly.” One tenor admits rehearsal is how he gets out of the house to find social interaction. A fourth: “Sense of community, variety of ages, high expectations for a quality experience, great brain exercise.” For me, it’s the chord that delivers goosebumps, text that catches me off-guard with a tear, but mostly the profound truth we need each other to make this sound.
Turns out, there is science behind the pull toward group singing. A 2016 study in Evolution and Human Behavior found that group singing raises pain thresholds, a marker for endorphin release, and measurably increases feelings of connection in as little as 90 minutes, even among near-strangers. A 2004 study in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine found amateur choir members showed a rise in a key immune marker and a drop in negative mood after a single rehearsal. In 2013, researchers at the University of Gothenburg, writing in Frontiers in Psychology, found choir members’ heart rates rise and fall together during unison singing, synchronized by shared breath and phrase.
What’s astounding is that we depict these effects — we’re pretty much case study exhibits A, B, and C.
“The flow state I get into when we sing together,” one singer muses.
“Also the people.”
Another: “Getting together to make music. Leaving with my bucket filled.”
One credits artistic director Alex Koppel’s rehearsal style directly: it’s the “relaxed yet purposeful vibe” that makes it safe to sing something wrong in a “judgment-free zone,” without being “too embarrassed” to try again.
What we ask of ourselves isn’t casual. Rehearsals move fast: sight-singing, trusting entrances, holding my alto 1 line while alto 2s offer a fantastic, dissonant harmony. This rigor is the artistry our mission calls “an uncommon level of excellence,” carried by a commitment to prepare, listen, and learn. Under two back-to-back music directors, David Puderbaugh and now Alex Koppel, the standard has only sharpened. No other community choir in eastern Iowa mounts full masterworks concerts with a hand-picked chamber orchestra. It’s the result of 60-some of us deciding, season after season, that excellence is worth the work.
If your Monday nights could use some of that release, join us. Auditions for our 2026-27 season are from 1:45-5 p.m., Sunday, July 26, from 5:45-9 p.m., Monday, July 27, and from 5:45-9 p.m., Thursday, July 30. Sign up or express interest at icchambersingers.org/join.
Come sing. See if your pulse falls in line with ours.
Dana Gratton sings alto 1 and serves as board vice president for Chamber Singers of Iowa City. She’s a fractional Chief Marketing Officer by day, helping brands find their voice. She’s always working on nailing her own entrances — in rehearsal and in life.
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: A Monday night filled with singing | Music Column
Reporting by Dana Gratton, Special to the Press-Citizen / Iowa City Press-Citizen
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Dana Gratton, Special to the Press-Citizen | USA TODAY Network
