No accompaniment needed: Global Warblers, Wingspan come back from pandemic

It doesn't take instruments for a choir to sing songs from madrigals, folk, world music, jazz, pop and even rock.

Sara Angharad Bishop, a former music educator, guides two a cappella singing groups that do just that. The groups are Wingspan, a quartet, and the larger Global Warblers. Just because COVID-19 blew in she wasn't going to stop.

"Originally, we were just going to see about singing bluegrass or Americana folksongs," she said in an email. But then she and three other singers in the group that's morphed into Wingspan dipped into other genres.

"And as people threw out band names, I thought, 'I'll make some medleys.'" So they did covers for groups including the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Tears for Fears, Queen, Electric Light Orchestra.

The four Wingspanners are in their 30s and 40s; Global Warblers' singers range between 32 and 69. "We're all children of the '80s and '90s, but who love a lot of music from the '60s and' 70s, too."

So far the Warblers' biggest audience was around 250, when they did a pre-pandemic benefit concert for the Nest at New Hope.

"(We were) trying to raise money for (Nest), as it helps struggling families to be able to stay together in times of financial hardship. We raised just under $1,000."

Wingspan was one of 12 acts in 2019 that performed at Marengo Caves' "Caroling in the Cave." An audience of more than 500 attended.  (The Warblers had performed the year before.)

During the pandemic, Wingspan was able to keep rehearsing since it's just the four singers. All of Wingspan and the Warblers caroled together last winter.

A group effort

Although Bishop is the groups' director, she relishes the variety of input from members of the two ensembles and talked about immense collaboration.

"We have so many people with different musical experiences and expertise that just about everyone weighs in with ideas as to how we should perform a piece, or brings an arrangement that they made or found and want to share with the group," she said.

"I'm not the strongest reader or instrumentalist in the group by any means!"

Sometimes the Warblers invite singers to a rehearsal for an audition. The singer performs alone and with the group, to determine if he or she can maintain a harmony.

"It's been hard to find men to sing with the Warblers, so I'd always try to talk to men at other choral concerts, and for awhile, I was going out to karaoke places in Bloomington to look for men who enjoyed singing to get them to come audition," Bishop said.

How it began, and is growing

Bishop came to Bloomington in 2003, after graduating from Earlham College in Richmond. Her singers have been tra-la-ing in one form or other since then. Taking a break before starting graduate work at Indiana University, she found herself without any collegiate vocal ensembles.

"I've been singing in ensembles since I was 3, so I needed (that) to live!"

In fact, since she was 15, in 1996, she's been caroling with other singers during the winter holidays.

When she came to Bloomington, Bishop wasn't accustomed to that lack of altos and sopranos, baritones and bases. She longed for harmonies. "In high school it was choir, the Oberlin Choristers and a barbershop Quartet." In college she sang in five groups simultaneously.  And she served as assistant director of the women's chorus.

Between colleges, she may have been without an ensemble, but she wasn't without friends, particularly those who enjoy improv and theatrical role playing. She encouraged a few to sing with her and formed a group (ConChordia) with any of them "who could carry a tune." They didn't even have to read music or know about theory. She arranged the pieces, teaching the singers by rote. The group expanded and became more professional as time whistled by.

At IU she recruited further and by 2006 ConChordia was renamed EnCoro.

"It was exciting. I had loads of other people bringing cool repertoire and bringing more talented friends. I even had local folk legends Grey Larsen and Cindy Kallet in the group."

About 13 years ago the singers renamed the group again, as the Global Warblers. "We do music of the world, for the world," Bishop said.

Now they had vacated the mainstream. "We like to mix up modern pop with 15th century Frottolas:  'In My Life' by the Beatles and 'El Grillo' by Josquin Des Pres.

"But we have been doing concerts locally for years, and I was thrilled when we were able to get everyone back together this year to start preparing for our first concert (barring our impromptu caroling) since 2019."

Wingspan has no true basses or sopranos, so Bishop knew she would need to do a lot of the arranging, for those close harmonies. Most of their songs are arrangements she created specifically for their voices.

COVID-19 continues to darken the schedule a little. And Bishop is expecting a baby this fall. The two groups' upcoming concert at 7 p.m. June 15 at the FAR Center for Contemporary Arts will be followed by more, but dates are not yet set. Wingspan may try some farmers' market gigs and some other outdoor events this summer, which will be posted on the group's social media. And, of course, there will be caroling in December.

Anyone interested in listening to the group can find more at globalwarblers.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Global Warblers, Wingspan are back singing songs of the world