New singing experience makes its way to Torquay

A FUN and social singalong event is headed for Torquay next month.

Named Sip & Sing, the pub choir style activity will allow attendees to learn an arrangement of a single well-known song together, while they enjoy a drink and a chat.

The event will be hosted by musicians Teresa Duddy and Ben Talbot-Dunn – who also co-founded the Point Lonsdale-based community choir New Swell Choir – and will be held at the Bells Beach Brewery on June 15 from 7.30pm.

The duo has run several Sip & Sing events for the local Bellarine community, but this marks the first time the event has come to Torquay.

“We just wanted to start spreading the joy,” Talbot-Dunn said.

“Singing as a group is pretty special and I think the knowledge of that is out there.

“Community choirs are pretty big…but not everyone really wants to join a choir.”

The inclusive, relaxed and social event is ideal for those who love to sing, are unable to commit to a weekly choir or just want a fun evening, and no experience is necessary to participate.

“We hope that people are surprised at how quickly they’re singing in harmony. There’s a good feeling about that,” Talbot-Dunn said.

Next month’s event will be centred around Fleetwood Mac’s classic 1977 track “Dreams”.

Participants will first be led through a vocal warm-up before they begin learning the song by ear under the guidance of Talbot-Dunn and Duddy.

Song lyrics will be shown on a projector at the front of the venue, and once the full arrangement has been learned, attendees will sing through the song approximately three times.

Talbot-Dunn said people were “hungry” for experiences like the Sip & Sing event, and he and Duddy were trying to make such events “accessible to everyone”.

“Especially the people that have maybe been dragged along by friends, or have inhibitions about singing in public, I hope they takeaway a feeling that they can do it,” he said.

“That they really feel all that oxytocin that you get from singing, or doing something with a group, doing anything with other people, and feeling a part of a community.”

Duddy said pub choir events had recently become an “amazingly popular phenomenon”, with some seeing a turnout of more than 1,000 people.

“There’s something special about doing something with a whole lot of strangers all working together to create something that sounds really beautiful,” she said.

“It’s joyous and surprising.”

To book tickets to next month’s Sip & Sing event, or to learn more about the New Swell Choir, head to linktr.ee/newswellchoir