Coronavirus: Chorister housemates sing for their street every evening to help lift spirits amid lockdown
Group of singers hope to 'spread joy' during pandemic
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Your support makes all the difference.A group of choristers who are self-isolating together following lockdown to help curb the spread of coronavirus are attempting to lift spirits by singing for their street every evening.
The young quartet, who all live together, stand in their front garden and perform a number of songs for their neighbours to help “spread joy”.
Emily Risdon, 20, Adam Fyfe, 22, Horatio Carr-Jones, 25, and David Bevan, 25, are all trained vocalists and live in picturesque Vicar's Close in Wells, Somerset.
All four housemates are involved with the choir in the city's famous cathedral and make up four different parts of a choir by chance, including soprano, alto, tenor and bass.
“It gives people an emotional release, music is unique in that sense,” Risdon said.
“It's been really wonderful. We just decided to spread some joy and have a sing-song. The whole community has been supporting each other.
“We all live together so had the opportunity to uphold a cathedral tradition that has been going for hundreds of years: having music on a daily basis. We've got a pretty good stock of songs between us.”
A video of the group singing for their neighbours has since been posted on social media and has gone viral, reaching more than 300,000 views overnight.
“The online reaction has been insane. We woke up the next morning and my sister had messaged me. None of us expected it,” Risdon added.
Hundreds of people have also commented on the video with some revealing it had even brought them to tears.
The singing sessions come at a time when UK residents have been asked to stay at home, except for a limited number of reasons including shopping for basic necessities, one exercise outing a day, for medical needs and travelling to and from work, but only if this is absolutely necessary.
The nationwide lockdown has brought out the spirit of community and camaraderie among many, with supermarkets introducing dedicated shopping hours for elderly and NHS workers, people offering to run errands for vulnerable neighbours and strangers delivering books from their own collections to anyone self-isolating.
Boris Johnson has not said how long the UK can expect to be under lockdown but has advised that the situation would be reviewed every three weeks.
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