By Scott Johnson, Founder, World Singing Day

I hear it all the time when I tell people about World Singing Day: “You don’t want me to sing. I’ll scare everybody away,” they say with a sheepish smile.  

And I reply “You’re exactly the person we want singing with us on World Singing Day. If you can speak, you can sing.”

It’s time we embrace singing as a universal human activity – a joyful experience for everyone, regardless of talent, experience or ability. 

Many people who say they can’t sing often had a friend, parent or teacher say something derogatory about their singing when they were young. And then out of embarrassment or shame, they simply stopped singing.

World Singing Day addresses those fears and concerns by providing a safe, inviting environment – a participatory experience for people of all singing abilities, where everyone is welcomed. It’s not about performing or competing but rather bringing people together for, as one participant said, “one of the most life-affirming experiences I have ever had.”

World Singing Day participants sing along to the recordings of popular songs played loud enough where individual voices aren’t necessarily heard, but where the group as a whole can be heard loud and clear.

“We humans are hard-wired to sing,” says singing guru Deke Sharon. “Throughout history, singing has been fundamental to the human experience, with people feeling a powerful connection to others through song.” 

Think of our ancient ancestors sitting around the fire and singing together. Everyone sang. Not just a select few. And this ancestral activity of communal singing is becoming a singing revolution of sorts, with groups springing up all over the world, from Australia and the United Kingdom to Belgium, Israel and the USA.

So you think you can’t sing? Well I’m here to tell you, yes you can. And each year on the third Saturday in October, people of all singing abilities around the world will be joining others in their communities for the pure joy and camaraderie of singing together. Join us.

Each year, volunteers from around the world serve as catalysts for positive human interactions as they host public sing-alongs on World Singing Day. Each host finds a place, sets a time and makes a playlist of their favorite songs so people can gather and experience the joy that comes from singing together. 

Last year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, host Shareen Yong Yong recruited a few of her students from the polytechnic school where she works to host a local sing-along. Shareen, who works full-time as an English language lecturer at the school, not only recruited some of her own students, but ended up recruiting over 20 students from different departments to be involved in organizing the event. 

Shareen and her “KL WSD Crew Family” worked together and involved other local groups in organizing their public sing-along at a local shopping mall. The team worked for weeks and months leading up to the event, creating signs, building decorations and even preparing a flash mob dance for their six-hour sing-along. They had team members assigned to different tasks, from going live on Facebook to putting up signs in the area. Their event brought hundreds of people together to sing. 

One woman, who showed up after the event had ended, was welcomed by Shareen’s crew as they sang three more songs together, including the 2018 WSD Song-of-the-Year. One student stepped up to help boost the woman’s spirits by buying her a World Singing Day t-shirt. She was moved to tears.  

Congratulations to Shareen and the entire World Singing Day Malaysia Kuala Lumpur 2018 Crew (pictured below) for creating such a joyful and inclusive sing-along. Each member played an integral part in bringing people together from all walks of life to experience the feeling of togetherness through singing and supporting the mission of World Singing Day: “Sing together. Unite the world.” Keep up the good work over there in Malaysia!  

Click here to see a photo gallery from the 2018 event. 

Click here to see a fun video from the 2018 event.  

Click here to visit their 2019 event page. 

Interested in hosting a World Singing Day event? Click here.

2018 LOT10 Kuala Lumpur WSD Crew Family (photo above)

Top row: Shafeeq, Ahmad, Leonard, Patterson, Md, Azhar (Mechanical Engineering)
Third row: Nur (Electrical Engineering), Shareen Lee Yong Yong (English Language Lecturer)
Second row: Nur (Civil Engineering), Abdul (Mechanical Engineering), Khairunnisa (Electrical Engineering), Nur (Business Management), Nur (International Business Studies), Nur (Electrical Engineering), Mahariee, Alif, Ilham, Hadi (Mechanical Engineering)
Front row: Siti, Puteri (Electrical Engineering), Nur (Packaging Engineering), Imran, Mirza (Mechanical Engineering). Camera person: Aiman