Album Release - City Singers Youth Choirs | Winter is My Friend

                                      

“…Instead of less singing around the house, there was MORE!  My kids were singing non-stop, and learning music in a way I didn’t think was possible.  What a gift in these hard times.”

City Singers Parent 2020

“The world needs music because It needs it to create more happy faces, even when bad things happen. To me, singing means being able to create smiles and joy throughout the world.” 

City Singers, class of 2025

“When everything else shut down, City Singers was still there for me every Tuesday. Even though it was online, I looked forward to our meetings more than almost anything else.”

City Singer, class of 2026

                

This collection of six songs, plus activity songbook, was created through remote collaboration during the COVID-19 pandemic to bring beauty out of uncertain times. City Singers Youth Choirs joined with musician friends Frankie James, Rosette, Moruza, and members of No B.S. Brass Band to create Winter is My Friend—a festive project for the young and the young at heart.

“Almost immediately, voice professionals across the globe became aware that singing together poses a very high risk of transmission,” says executive and artistic director, Leslie Dripps. “The very fabric of what we do--sing together--came unraveled.  Even now, choirs everywhere don’t know how they’ll survive.”

 

Read on to learn the inspiring story behind “Winter Is My Friend” released by Leslie Dripps and the City Singers Youth Choir:

• In 2020, while choirs shut down all over the world due to COVID-19 transmission risks, Richmond’s City Singers Youth Choirs innovated a creative solution.
• City Singers Youth Choirs created Winter is My Friend, a collection of six winter holiday songs + activity songbook, illustrated by Dexter Santos, remotely recorded from each singer’s home, and featuring professional musicians who call Richmond home.

Everything on the spring events calendar for City Singers Youth Choirs was cancelled in 2020 thanks to COVID-19. The non-profit arts education organization halted all in-person programs, from rehearsals, to free concerts, to fun community events.  Even though they met online, the future of City Singers, along with choirs around the world, was looking dire.

“Almost immediately, voice professionals across the globe became aware that singing together poses a very high risk of transmission,” says executive and artistic director, Leslie Dripps. “The very fabric of what we do--sing together--came unraveled.  Even now, choirs everywhere don’t know how they’ll survive.”

But Dripps wasn't down for long, thanks to creative thinking and teamwork. Together with City Singers Director of Voice Pedagogy Margaret Woods--also a professional soprano on voice faculty for VCU and the University of Richmond--they developed plans for their next season, plans characterized by the innovation and flexibility needed during a pandemic.

 

 

They decided to view this time of uncertainty as a time of opportunity: what had they always wanted to accomplish? Combining the most important values of their organization, high quality music making and joyful appreciation of diversity, an idea was born. City Singers Youth Choirs would produce a professional album partnering the choir with the variety of musicians who call Richmond home. 

“Research shows that singing in person was not responsible while virus spread was high, so we needed to create a project which checked a variety of boxes: something that was artistically strong, provided unique instructional value to our singers, expressed appreciation for the beautiful diversity in Richmond, and could be executed as remotely as needed,” says Dripps.  Collaborators included singer Frankie James, string quartet Rosette, members of No BS Brass Band, guitarist Andrew McEvoy, and indie band Moruza, in a collection of winter and holiday songs featuring the voices of City Singers Youth Choirs. Thus, Winter is My Friend, a collection of 6 holiday songs + activity songbook, was born.   

City Singers has a history of showcasing for their singers the full variety of musician role models: from African-American conductors to Swedish folk fiddlers, and this project furthered this by including R&B, jazz, folk, and pop musicians from a variety of backgrounds, ethnicities and cultures. But this wasn’t even the best part! The best part was that the very circumstances which shut down choirs in March 2020 made it possible for anyone with a voice and an internet connection to be a part of it. Singers as far away as Australia and Great Britain joined in on the project, and created a lasting contribution to the world of holiday music. “Kids who love to sing aren’t kept from singing together even by something like a world-wide pandemic,” says Dripps, “This is the power of song.”