Why did we want to start a non-auditioned community choir for women?
UNISONg is part of the Wagga Women's Health Centre's well-being programmes and began in June 2021. The choir idea blossomed in the hearts and minds of a small group of local women who had been part of a short-term women's choir that came together each year to practise for 8 weeks. This short-term choir had been an iniative of women involved with WWHC. They invited women in the community to join the choir which then sang at International Women's Day events that were held by WWHC eg fundraising IWD dinners that raised money to purchase the current WWHC building, IWD morning teas and WWHC anniversaries (listen to the 40th WWHC Birthday Performance at Wagga Art Gallery HERE).
Members of this short-term choir, Dr Cate Thoma and Dr Annabel Bowcher, had also been members of the WWHC Management Committee and in early 2021 saw each other at a local sporting store. They reminisced about the women's choir they had both been part of and wondered if it was time to bring it back but as a community women's choir that met regularly all year. They knew how much the women in that short-term WWHC choir enjoyed singing together. They were also aware of the immense health and well-being benefits that group singing offers to communities. They formed a volunteer choir committee with Ruth Palmer who had also been in the short-term choir and approached the WWHC to see if they would be interested in supporting a longer-term choir programme that focussed on women's well-being, support, connection and community building. The Centre was incredibly supportive of the proposal as they had seen the benefits that the short-term choir had brought to the women who sang in it and the benefits that the choir brought to the WWHC through connection with community.
From their own experience and extensive reading of the research, the Volunteer Committee understood that group singing brings health benefits and also connection, healing, strength and harmony to a diverse community and provides a non-judgemental and supportive environment. This was truly needed when the Covid pandemic started in 2020 and continued into 2021.
The choir was officially formed in June 2021 after a group of interested women (many from the short-term choirs that had come together in previous years) were asked to meet together one evening at the WWHC. The WWHC was excited to support this well-being choir programme which was unable to meet at WWHC due to Covid restrictions on group singing spaces. The small group of singers met online for the next few months due to the Covid lockdowns. The first choir director was Judy Ferguson who had conducted the short-term choirs and also conducts a number of other larger choirs in Wagga Wagga.
The name, UNISONg was selected because every choir needs a catchy name and the aim of the choir was to bring the voices of women together in unison through song and enjoy the health and well being benefits of group singing.
In July 2022, Lynette Hogan became UNISONg's second choir director. In one year the choir doubled in size and the decision was made to move from the large room the choir had been provided during 2021/22 at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga and into a more central venue in town. In 2023, UNISONg began meeting at the Wollundry Dreaming Room near the Wollundry Lagoon. The central Wagga venue drew more members and the choir committee was encouraged and supported by WWHC to find an even larger venue to accomodate the growing interest in community group singing. In Term 2, UNISONg began singing in a room at the newly opened Wagga PCYC. More than 30 singers meet each Monday evening. In July 2024, a new venue, the Duke of Kent Community Hall, was found to accomodate the growing number of women who were joining the choir. There are at least 50 women who come twice a month to sing with UNISONg on a Monday evening. The number at rehearsals has tripled since it began in 2021.
WHY DO WOMEN COME TO UNISONg TO SING TOGETHER? Read some testimonials from choir members HERE
Wagga's UNISONg Women’s Community Choir aims to improve connection, safety, mental health and wellbeing in our local community. Professor Sarah Wilson, a leading researcher on the neurological benefits of music, says that “music is to mental health what sport is to physical health and it improves self-confidence, teamwork and social skills.”
The non-auditioned, 'come when you can' and performing is optional community women’s choir focuses on supporting, inspiring, empowering and building community in a safe and inclusive environment through meaningful and importantly, fun musical connection – regardless of musical ability.
The effects of singing are more powerful when people belong to groups. Research has clearly shown that singing regularly in a choir promotes social connection and cohesion. It makes people feel more supported and provides opportunities to improve empathy and understanding.
In 2018 research conducted by Moss et al. found that choral singers had significantly higher wellbeing than those who sing by themselves and had a more meaningful social group connection than players in a sporting team. These supportive community choir networks help people feel safe and less isolated.
Steward & Lonsdale (2016) have also demonstrated that singing together becomes an intervention or therapy which positively affects community wellbeing. It can improve: psychological and social functions; thinking; learning; literacy and numeracy; self-discipline; spatial abilities; executive function; self-confidence; and teamwork.
Australian soprano, Tania de Jong, said, “When we sing with others there is something really magical as we sing in harmony together. Not only do we breathe together, but studies have shown that our hearts start to beat together.”
