Community Singing ~ no experience necessary!

"There came a moment in the middle of the song when she suddenly felt every heartbeat in the room & after that she never forgot she was part of something much bigger"  Storypeople by Brian Andreas

The above quote come across my Facebook newsfeed this morning and PERFECTLY articulated what has been on my mind lately!
Over the last two weeks I have been able to attend concerts at Ellington High School and in Hartford where I have seen and heard children and youth choirs sing out with joy!  There is nothing like singing with a group of people, large or small.  Our voices are so personal ~ they are OURS.  We can't buy them at a music store, we are born with them.  We are also BORN with the ability to use them musically.  
There is a perception out there that not everyone can sing.  EVERYONE can sing.  There is actually a very small number of individuals who truly cannot use their voices to sing.  The rest of us fall on a bell curve with a small number at the bottom and a small number at the top and most of us somewhere in the middle.  When we are very small and our singing voice is nurtured and encouraged through singing and playing with music with the people we love, our musical "aptitude" is supported.  Unfortunately, our "musical muscles" are often left to wither.  Many adults who were not exposed to music and music making when they were young have grown up with the idea that they "can't sing".  Are you one of them?  While most of us will never make a living as a "singer", we all have a right to sing as members of our community and we have a responsibility to sing with our young ones ~ don't we all want to have that experience of being "one" with others?  If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then join a choir, or go to a local sing-a-long; you'll hopefully experience the same magic I do every time I sing with others!