Songs in the Key of Love

MelloMacs Make Everyone Feel Welcome at Spring Sing-Along

By Jake Ten Pas

Members with songs in their hearts are invited to set them free at the MelloMacs Spring Sing-Along from 3-5 p.m. Sunday, May 5. Doesn’t matter if they can’t read music, and no experience is absolutely no problem. As the name implies, the MelloMacs are super chill, and the club’s coed choir is ready to open its songbooks to anyone who’s excited to find their voice.

“This is like a no-cut sport. It just happens to be music,” says MelloMacs Committee Chair Kirsten H. Leonard. “We’re all bringing something to the table, even those with no previous musical experience, because they’re so determined to get better.

“It’s no different than working hard on your tennis swing or your breaststroke. It’s just repetition that results in joy. The feeling I get now that I can deadlift 40 pounds is as palpable to me as the fact that I can now hit a high E. I’ve worked at it!”

Leonard says she likes to help others realize their potential, too, and it might be what attracted her to the MelloMacs. After singing in her Aloha High School and Stanford University choirs, she gave her vocal cords a healthy hiatus before finding her way back to performance.

“That’s a common thread for many members,” she says. “They sang as kids, they sang with their families, they went to church, all those kinds of stories. I can’t tell you the number of people I know who say they ‘can’t sing,’ but then you talk to them and realize they have in the past and are interested in doing so again.”

What better time than spring to let the buds of artistic ambitions poke back through the topsoil of everyday life? The annual MelloMacs sing-along isn’t just about showing off their constantly evolving repertoire and skillsets but also attracting new members. Songbooks are passed around, and all attendees are encouraged to add to the harmonious vibrations.

Even those with no intention of joining in can look forward to a treat in the form of a solo from new MelloMacs director — and acclaimed local blues, gospel, and jazz vocalist — Marilyn Keller. “She’s wonderful and always gets recognized when we go out and sing,” Leonard says. “Somebody who has worked so hard at her craft knows how to communicate technique, like how to place your breath and hold it. People are commenting that their voices are better than they ever thought possible.”

The range of pieces about to be performed reflect both this personal and group progression, as well as the theme, “What the World Needs Now … Is a Spring Sing-Along.” Featuring the semi-titular Burt Bacharach and Hal David composition, as well as Motown classics, contemporary throwbacks by Michael Buble and Harry Connick, Jr., and another apt-to-Oregon Bacharach/David number, Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, the songlist promises to be nearly as dynamic as local weather.

In addition to hosting karaoke at MAC and lending their voices to a variety of popular club events such as the Holiday Party, the MelloMacs — like MAC’s other singing institution, the Balladeers — regularly visit assisted living facilities and other external communities in need of beauty and connection. Wherever they go, Leonard notes the power of timeless music to bring people together.

“When we were at a recent concert, there was a young man who has a brain injury from an accident. He is evidently a phenomenal singer, and his joy was palpable to get to sing with us,” she recalls. “As he rocked along with our beat and hummed along, it just proved to us that music is one of the most bonding experiences that you can have.”