Point Lonsdale’s New Swell Choir is gearing up for its end of year concert, but organisers Teresa Duddy and Ben Talbot-Dunn are keen to see new faces.
Running every Monday night at New Hall on Kirk Street, it’s a little bit different to your usual choir.
There is no sheet music, no hymns, no baton tapping. Instead, the 80-odd singers learn pop, indie and folk songs by ear, accompanied by Talbot-Dunn’s electric guitar.
“Ben does the arranging of current songs, often by Australian composers,” Duddy said.
“At the end of year concert we’ve got a couple of people from bands in Melbourne, we’re doing their songs so they’re performing as well.
“It’s a different model to the choirs we’ve been in and the ones that we could see were on offer down here.”
Duddy, with a background in opera and musical theatre, and composer Talbot-Dunn formed New Swell at the beginning of 2023, “not knowing if anyone was going to be interested”.
However, interest spread quickly, soon drawing people from Geelong, Portarlington and Jan Juc.
“When we did our concert last year it just had that really lovely feel,” Duddy said.
“Kids were doing cartwheels outside, there were local people making pizzas, it was all the things that I’d hoped a community choir would be.”
She encouraged anyone who was unsure about singing in public to put their fears behind them.
“It’s that safety in numbers thing, when you have enough people and everyone’s having a good time, it’s going to sound good.”
Visit linktr.ee/newswellchoir to find out more about the New Swell Choir.
