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Sound of music stirs urge to break out in song; Amateurs gather to lift their voices for the joy of it.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Raymond M. Lane, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

"Blessed are they," sing out some 200 motley men and women gathered on a Tuesday evening in April in the choir stalls at Washington National Cathedral. "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted ..."

Their song: Brahms' monumental "Ein Deutsches Requiem," in English "German Requiem."

Their leader: J. Reilly Lewis, Washington choral legend and music director of the Cathedral Choral Society since 1985.

Their training, experience, professionalism, sound: Who cares?

This is "Cathedral Sings," the Choral Society's come-one-come-all songfest that, twice a year, gives even the tone-deaf the chance to sit in the cathedral's Great Choir section, take cues from a master choir director, back up world-renowned soloists (in this case soprano Harolyn Blackwell, baritone Gordon Hawkins and organist Eric Plutz) and sing their hearts out all for a charge of $7 plus $1 to rent a score.

It's one of dozens of organized opportunities for amateurs in the Washington area to sing informally, without pay and often without an audience. And each day hundreds of people who love to sing take advantage of these chances in styles ranging from gospel or blues to classics and show tunes, to country and western, pop and karaoke; in places ranging from back yards to church basements, pubs and singing schools and even cathedrals.

Below the cathedral's leaded rose windows and soaring stone columns, the vast Gothic space that President Theodore Roosevelt helped dedicate when construction began in 1907 is nearly empty of visitors. Few have come to hear the voices of lawyers, computer programmers, teachers, students, stay-at-home spouses and retirees. There has been no rehearsal, no auditioning, no artistic temper tantrums or histrionics over money or top billing none of the tension associated with elite professionals.

Instead, there simply comes sound and yes, it's sometimes muddy, but that's not the point.

"We must sing," Mr. Lewis had told the group as its members warmed up, trilling la-la-la-las and humming hmmn-hmmn-hmmns up and down the musical scale.

"It's important, and to be here singing in this great building, with the cathedral's glorious organ accompaniment, is something I hope you can treasure."

Never would singing in the shower be the same for these lucky 200.

Wendy Boyd is one of the group. The U.S. Forest Service employee from Corvallis, Ore., first visited Washington in 1976 and dreamed of coming back to see what she missed at the museums the first time.

"I was chatting at the Smithsonian Castle," she says, "and one of the docents told us about the Brahms singalong and I decided to try it. I used to sing at my church choir, and know the music."

Describing the power that singing holds over her,...