Central Marin Singers
A Weekly Drop-In Community Choir on Unceded Coast Miwok Land in San Anselmo, California
Do you love to sing? While you’re driving, on a walk, or in the shower? Then this choir is for you!
Our drop-in choir is a joyful, soulful, inclusive, non-audition, non-performative, anti-perfectionistic group that sings easy-to-learn, non-religious, community-singing songs in harmony together.
At a time when so many of us want to return more resonance and community to our lives, singing together connects us so magically with each other. Plus, it’s just plain fun!
The rest of the Summer ‘24 Season of our weekly drop-in choir is TBD; and we’re over-the-moon excited to start with a special evening with Shireen Amini on June 5th!
Sliding scale; Try it FREE (except for June 5th) if you haven't sung with us before!
Summer ‘24
Thank you to the 65+ singers who sang with us during our Winter ‘24 Season! Our drop-in season will start up again in June; so far, we have just one date scheduled: a special evening with the amazing Shireen Amini joining Marv as Guest Songleader on June 5th! Click here for tickets. To keep up on the latest news, click here to join Marv’s email list.
And, you can sing with us before then! Click here to get tickets for our community-wide Big Sing!, hosted by our 35-member Joyful Voices Chorus, on Sunday, May 5th in San Anselmo,
Simple
Songleader Marv Zauderer teaches all the easy-to-learn songs by ear, which means there’s no music to read, no practicing needed between evenings, and you never need to have come to any of the previous evenings!
We sing contemporary unison songs, rounds, chants, layer songs, and 2-/3-/4-part harmony songs — songs like this one, this one, and this one, with the occasional old favorite, like this one. Songs are selected for their ability to rejuvenate, soothe, uplift and inspire!
We learn most of our songs in 5-15 minutes — you can see and hear us on our YouTube page; for example, four of our drop-in choirs singing songs they learned in 15 minutes here, here, here, and here. So juicy!
Accessible
All voices (including kids) are welcome; no singing experience is needed. And it’s drop-in, so come one week, some weeks, or all!
We co-create a safe, non-judgmental, anti-perfectionistic space with the freedom to allow our voices to emerge and blend just as they are.
We’re in the huge Duncan Hall auditorium space at First Presbyterian Church in San Anselmo, Wednesday nights, TBD in the summer, except we already know that Guest Songleader Shireen Amini is joining us on June 5th! We’ll have some fans/doors/windows open while the massive heating system keeps us warm. Our Covid policy is required reading before you attend.
Sliding scale cost per evening: $25 Supporting, $20 Standard, $15 Supported, kids under 18 (with accompanying adult) free. Try it FREE your first night (except for June 5th) if you’ve never sung with us before! (NOTAFLOF - No One Turned Away For Lack Of Funds)
We extend a special welcome, and opportunities for a limited number of partial scholarships, to People of the Global Majority (also referred to as BIPOC) and the LGBTQIA+ community. Ours is an anti-racist, anti-oppression space.
Community-Building
We connect with each other through the magic of singing together. And, because we’ve created such a wonderful, growing group of humans who love to drop in and sing together — and we have many new singers every night! — amazing Guest Songleaders want to join us, too! Like Shireen Amini on June 5th!
And, we create magical pop-up choirs! We form an optional, free pop-up choir at public places/community events, where our purpose is not performance; it’s connection and community participation. We invite passers-by to step into our circle at any time, learn a quick-to-learn song with us, and sing!
Our next pop-up choir: Saturday, April 27, 10:30-11:30am at Marin Country Mart (Larkspur Landing). Click here for details.
If the sliding scale cost is a financial hardship, please contact Marv in advance of a circle.
No One Turned Away For Lack Of Funds.
Central Marin Singers originates from unceded Coast Miwok land and we acknowledge we benefit from their displacement. To contribute to healing the continuing harms of the colonization of indigenous people, including through rematriating land, a portion of the proceeds are donated to Huukuiko, a local Coast Miwok organization.
Amazing Guest Songleaders, Too!
Because we’ve co-created a place where so many people love to sing, great songleaders from around the country want to stop in and sing with us! Like the extraordinary Noe Venable!
Singing in Community
This video is our Winter ‘24 drop-in Central Marin Singers Choir singing the final chorus from Ahlay Blakely’s song, “The Shame Song.”
Lyndsey Scott led us in a joyous, soulful, uplifting evening of song, wisdom, and inspiration on 7/11/23 — here’s Lyndsey leading her song, Oh Kin!
Shireen Amini returned to join us on June 9, 2023, leading us in several of her brand-new songs including this one, “You’ve Got Your Back.”
Te Martin led us in their wonderful song, Your Heart Knows The Way Home, on 11/15/23
Here’s Te leading us in Batya Levine’s amazing song, We Rise.
Kaitie Ty Warren led us in her & Amanda West’s powerful, inclusive song, Safe Here, on August 30, 2023.
Lydia Violet leading us through an arc of singing together based on Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects on November 30, 2022.
Here’s Lyndsey leading us in her song, Sing Upon Joy.
Susan Moren, who co-leads a song circle in Santa Cruz, CA, with Antonina Beyea, leading us in We Shall Sing by Laurence Cole on May 24, 2023.
Kele Nitoto leading us with joyous singing & drumming on Nov. 9, 2022.
What People Are Saying
“The love and connection and magic in the room filled my spirit!”
— Linda P.
“Wonderful, great, inspiring and hopeful!”
— Lolma O.
“I loved every minute of it! It fed my heart and soul.”
— Brooke G.
“I left feeling so nurtured by the wonderful camaraderie we all had with each other, and by your way of teaching us these heartfelt and loving songs that are filled with positivity and hope!”
— Lorna F.
“I’ve been talking to everyone about it all week!”
— Alexis A.
“I’m so thrilled to have found this! It’s such good medicine!”
— A.W.
“I could never find a group/choir to join which fit my vocal skill level. What you’re offering is just what I was looking for!”
— George C.
“The songs you chose were wonderful and easy to sing.”
— Jill S.
“I loved the uplifting songs.”
— Wendi K.
“Great fun and inspiration.”
— Maggie D.
“I love your modeling of accepting imperfections and accessing fun and joy.”
— Karen F.
“Given all the struggles we’ve all been through, and fears for the future, this kind of positivity and sense of community is vital!”
— Dodi F.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes please! I can totally understand if you're feeling nervous about it. We have many first-time singers, and we all co-create a safe, non-judgmental, anti-perfectionistic space with the freedom to allow our voices to emerge and blend just as they are.
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You don't! We welcome *everyone* who wants to sing, period! All the songs we sing are easy to learn, and in the case of songs that have multiple parts (eg. low, middle, high), you always have the opportunity to choose which part you'll sing.
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Nope, it's drop-in. And I always teach every song line-by-line, even if we've sung it before.
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The way I lead them, there's no difference, except that with our choirs you have the opportunity to take our singing out into the community with us in our (optional, free) pop-up choirs, which are kind of like musical flashmobs.
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I carry many songs that can be learned in 5-10 minutes. I teach some of those, and we invite passers-by to step into our circle and lear one, some or all of the songs with us! We sing for an hour; past pop-ups have been at the Marin Country Mart courtyard & the Civic Center & Pt. Reyes farmers’ markets.
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A list (with links, when available) of all the songs we've sung so far in my choirs and song circles is on the SingWithMarv website at tinyurl.com/SingWithMarvSongLibrary. Whenever I introduce a new song, I add it to the list.