Point Loma residents will be breaking out in song Monday as they join the Peninsula Singers for their annual Summer Sing-Along at the Hervey Point Loma Branch Library.
The choir is inviting community members and amateur musicians to perform their favorite American standards and folk songs at the informal sing-along.
Sarah Suhonen, director of the Peninsula Singers, selected the theme of “The American Songbook.
“{It} generally refers to American classics, folk songs, everything before rock ‘n’ roll hit,” said Suhonen. “People use it as a general term just to mean Tin-Pan Alley, which is an area in New York where a bunch of songwriters wrote the American standards.”
The choir will select a variety of songs in the Tin-Pan Alley genre, including George Gershwin’s staple, “I Got Rhythm.”
“If you love “Shenandoah,” bring it along, bring copies with words, and bring music for the pianist,” explained Judy Edy, founding member and former president of the Peninsula Singers.
For the first Summer Sing in 2004, Edy recalls, “We decided to get together, sit in a circle and sing whatever we wanted.” The choir called this experiment the hootenanny. “It’s a term from the ’60s that basically means singing and playing instruments together.”
In the past, participants have brought flutes, drums and steel guitars to the sing-along.
Edy said she established the Peninsula Singers three years ago as an choir for the entire community. Today, members range from teenagers to 85-year-olds. Edy said that although San Diego is home to several church choirs, the Peninsula Singers is the only one she knows of that regularly rehearses in a public library.
“This is a wonderful library that allows a lot of spontaneous creative activities. It’s not the kind of library that sits quietly,” Edy said. “In fact, when we have our practices the doors are always open “¦ A lot of people will walk by, just coming to bring their library books back, and they will stop to listen to us.”
The Peninsula Singers boasts more than 60 members who rehearse Monday nights during the school year in the library but reunite during the summer for informal sing-alongs. Anyone can participate, said Edy. The Peninsula Singers Summer Sing-Along will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the library, 3701 Voltaire St. The Peninsula Singers will begin regular Monday night rehearsal sessions on Sept. 10. For more information or to join the choir, visit www.peninsulasingerssandiego.org.