When choirmaster and former
Opera Australia singer Jonathon Welch read about the Montréal
Homeless Men's Choir six years ago, he found it an inspiring
story.
That, he says, was the catalyst for starting the Sydney
Street Choir when he lived in Sydney five-and-a-half years
ago and, when he moved to Melbourne a few years later,
the Choir of Hard Knocks.
"I saw a need to bridge that gap in the welfare system,'
Welch says.
The formation and progress of the Choir of Hard Knocks,
which was set up with the help of Reclink, a recreational
program for homeless and disadvantaged people, is charted
in a five-part documentary series. The ABC approached
Welch in September last year about the program, and filmed
him for several months, observational-style.
"I've never done such an extreme project ... I'm
the Jamie Oliver of the music world: they call me the
Naked Clef!," quips Welch.
More seriously, he says he thought having a series would
give the audience an insight into the world of people
less privileged than most. Some have done prison time;
some are addicted to drugs and alcohol; many are homeless.
While singing is the catalyst, he says the choir is about
more than just the music. "The power of music and
singing can bring a great deal of joy and in some cases
can transform people's lives. It gives a real sense of
purpose and belonging."
When he began the choir, Welch decided anyone who wanted
to could join, and he was pleasantly surprised by the
results at the first turnout.
"It was quite an amazing thing: they could sing with
such gusto – they were a rough diamond but at least
a diamond in the making."
Welch had five rules for choir members: turn up on time
and regularly; turn up clean and sober; respect each other
("We've had varying degrees of success"); zero
aggro policy ("We won't tolerate physical, emotional,
or verbal aggression ... we've had a few issues with a
few people"); and above all, have fun.
On the whole, the 50- odd people in the choir have succeeded
in following the rules and have got a lot out of the experience
– and so has Welch. After four weeks of rehearsals,
they busked outside Melbourne's busy Flinders Street Station
to raise money to make a CD.
"That was one of the hardest days of my life,"
Welch says. "I was not well on that day, and Flinders
Street Station had trams, people walking past –
so much noise, but the group really rose to the occasion.
"If they can do that, they can do anything."
Does he think the choir can actually help people? "I
think some of them, yes. The reason for starting the project
... was to try to bring them some happiness through the
music. "Some, I think [those] on drugs and alcohol,
it's helped in other ways. They've discovered other ways
of having natural highs in life, other ways of being happy."
It is, Welch says, music therapy, and gives people a forum
to come together that in previous generations the church
might have provided, or for others, family does.
Music without words means leaving behind the mind. And leaving behind the mind is meditation.
Meditation returns you to the source. And the source of all is sound. — Kabir
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