After pandemic break, Dream Choir resumes concerts
A sign hanging on the hood of Cat Guthrie’s stove reads “SING” in 3-inch letters. After belting out tunes her entire life, does she need a reminder?
“I forget to sing all the time,” she says, despite leading a cover band in her 20s, performing in a duo that traversed 29 states and joining a three-part harmony jazz group, the Satin Dolls, for 17 years. “I sing in my head but not always through the vocal cords.”
In 2013, Guthrie opened her Philipstown home to lead the Dream Choir, an informal ensemble that meets weekly and performs twice a year. With a limit of 35, it’s first come, first served — there’s no need to audition or read music. Parking around her little cul-de-sac driveway requires precise choreography.
After taking a forced break during the pandemic, they resumed in early 2023. Guthrie says the goal is to have fun and sound like angels during their concerts, which are held at the First Presbyterian Church in Cold Spring.
She got hooked on choral singing in high school and aspired to lead her own choir. Four decades later, she directed up to seven at a time before the shutdown in 2020.
The Dream Choir’s name reflects the achievement of her choral goals and dreams for a better world, exemplified by rotating activist songs into the repertoire.
During a rehearsal on Sept. 17, Guthrie balanced levity and rigor. “It’s not fun to try for perfection, but I do want to sound great,” she says.
During the vocal warm-up, choir members barked, meowed, oinked and fluttered their lips as if blowing into imaginary brass instruments.
Assistant Director Tom McCoy played an electronic keyboard and tapped out parts to moor the singers. During a tricky passage, one of the three men (who joined a dozen women) quipped that he “might lip-sync that note.”
Guthrie speaks through a microphone, her voice echoing from two pole-mounted loudspeakers. The atmosphere perked up when her puppies, Lulu and Buster, joined the session.
In addition to playing guitar, her flute comes in handy during the solo in “California Dreamin,’ ” a call-and-response song by the Mamas & the Papas written in four-part harmony.
Other pop tunes in the upcoming winter concert’s program will include riffs on Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” and “September,” by Earth, Wind and Fire. Activist pieces “We Shall Be Known,” by MaMuse, and Melanie DeMore’s “Lead with Love” are in the mix and the group will also perform seasonal fare such as “Sleigh Bells,” “Winter Wonderland” and “Happy Christmas,” by John Lennon.
During the session, singers sat on folding chairs and navigated deceptive key changes in Lennon’s song, along with parts calling for tongue-twisting phrasing and back-and-forth handoffs of the melody. During a listening session, Guthrie dialed in a video performed by a Canadian choir to drill down on passages where harmony and melody seemed to meld.
“It’s exciting when people reach heights they didn’t think they could reach,” she says. “I always hear, ‘I haven’t done any singing in 30 years,’ but they sit in on a Tuesday night and realize, ‘Hey, I can do this.’ ”
Wendy Sanderson, an eight-year veteran, says that “in the beginning, it’s a miasma, but when the concert comes around, we’re together and sound great, every time. It’s like a miracle.”
The choir binds three generations of the Allen family: Judy Allen, her daughter Rosie and her grandson Elliott, 14.
“We’re the Trapp Family Singers of the Dream Choir,” says Judy, who attended the first rehearsal. “All three of us worked on arranging ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ [performed at a Hudson Valley Renegades’ game in 2023]. There’s something transporting about singing harmony. It makes you smile.”
For information on the Dream Choir, email [email protected].
