When Jo Montgomery showed up for her first Shoreline Soul rehearsal, it felt a bit like walking into the unknown. She had never been in a choir before. She didn’t know any of the other participants. She didn’t know what to expect.

“As soon as I walked in the door, the energy was high, everyone was greeting each other like they were old friends—they even greeted me and I didn’t know anyone,” says Montgomery, who lives in Madison. Angela Clemmons, who created Shoreline Soul, and who directs the chorus, “took her place in front of the church, gave a warm and friendly welcome and introduction, and began. Her high-energy style of teaching is captivating and entertaining. From that moment it was pure joy. We sang. We praised. We clapped. And we raised the roof!”

Shoreline Soul is celebrating its 15th year anniversary with an expanded format designed to better fit the needs of the increasing number of children and adults who want to participate. In addition to many new participants in each workshop, there are many who choose to return year after year, such as Montgomery who first joined in 2003. “I’ve done one or both of the workshops almost every year since then,” she says. “It’s addicting.”

This season, there will be two workshops for adults—one in Madison presented by “Music at the Meetinghouse” and another in Branford. Shoreline Soul is also introducing the start of Shoreline Soul—Kids! for singers in grades 4 through 8, which will also be offered in Branford and Madison. More information about both is available by emailing shorelinesoul@comcast.net or visiting zip06.com.

Clemmons says she, too, didn’t know what to expect before the first workshop series in the spring of 2001. Clemmons and her family had just moved to town, and were getting to know their neighbors and new friends.

“As we were getting to know one another, I would mention my father is a pastor of Pentacostal church. I’d mention gospel music, and their eyes would light up,” she says. “They would have these stories. ‘When we were on vacation…’ ‘When we were in the south…’ ‘I was walking by this church and I heard…’ and ‘Why can’t we have that at our church?’” she says. “It just hit me, what if I were to bring this genre to the area. I thought it would be a fun thing to do. I thought 15 people might be interested.”

About 115 people signed up for the first workshop, and there have been more than 1,000 participants since then, with people coming not only from all over the shoreline, but also the Connecticut River valley, and other parts the state.

During that first session, Clemmons says, she was surprised to hear how quiet 115 people could be while they were singing. She likes to teach people how to sing from their heart and soul, mouth wide open.

“First of all, gospel music is placed pretty high in the range...and you’re belting it out. It’s not a controlled head voice. You are singing in your chest. That is how you do gospel music,” she says. By way of example, she says, opera singers usually use their “head voice,” while singers like Chaka Khan and Aretha Franklin sing using their chest.

“It’s louder and more soulful,” she says. “I don’t know how else to describe it. I just encourage them to sing out.”

No Fear of It Anymore

Over the years, Clemmons has learned that she can ask the group to tackle challenging songs. This is because she has participants returning from one year to the next, and because she has learned that even the beginners “can handle the load.

“There is no fear of it anymore, they dig in,” she says, adding that in addition to songs in English, they might sing in Spanish or Swahili.

Clemmons says, when she started, she was confident she’d be able to teach people how to sing, but participating in the group “has had a tremendous impact, in a way that I didn’t expect,” she says.

“I knew it would be fun. I knew that, it’s just the nature of it,” she says. “But the surprise, the nice surprise, is how it really reached people. I get people with tears in their eyes, in the produce section of Stop & Shop, saying, ‘You have no idea what I was dealing with.’ Maybe it was a divorce, cancer, whatever. When I see how it’s touched people, and how it’s helped them, that’s such a blessing for me. It went far beyond what I had planned. That’s enormously gratifying. It really does have a purpose beyond fun.”

Phil Lebov, a New Haven businessman who travels from his home in Woodbridge to participate in Shoreline Soul, says he agrees that it’s fun, and that the experience goes beyond that. He’s the kind of guy who doesn’t have much to say when the conversation turns to sports or politics. But bring up music, and he’s right in his element. After he attended a concert performed by Shoreline Soul about a dozen years ago, he thought it was both amazing, and that they needed a new sound system. So he asked if he could bring his to the next workshop. Clemmons gratefully agreed. Lebov then recruited some other people from his area, so that he could carpool with them to rehearsals. And he says the entire experience has allowed him to surround himself with people who are “upbeat, friendly, and happy to be there.”

The Magic That Music Brings

As someone who is Jewish, and a bit pragmatic and skeptical, Lebov says the experience has also allowed him to wrestle with the term “spirituality,” and what it means in his life.

“If I had to say...it’s the magic that music brings to people’s lives,” he says, adding, as someone who runs a business and has an active life, that two hours every Monday for five weeks is manageable when it comes to a time commitment. About halfway through the five weeks, “I’m going, ‘I don’t know how we’re going to be able to pull this off’...and then, magically, around practice four or five it starts to gel, and it gets a little bit better during dress rehearsal, and the day of the concert it comes together, and when you’re standing there on stage, and in the middle of a four-part fabric of harmony, it’s mind blowing.

“Every single time, I leave 10 feet off of the ground,” he says. “And I love to brag that I’m part of this, so it’s always a topic of conversation.”

As for how his Jewish faith meshes with gospel, which is often associated with Christianity, he says, one of the basic tenets of his faith is something called tikkun olam.

“It is an obligation to do works of kindness to make the world a better place,” he says. “Angela, being this one super-talented, very compassionate and charismatic person, is teaching us the songs and transferring her talent to this group in the choir. And we are exponentially passing it onto the larger audience. And what could be better, in terms of that act of kindness and making the world a better place?

“During the concert, you are looking out at the people, and seeing the expressions on their face, and they are getting into it, and clapping along and singing and, as Angela always says, there are people in the audience who need an uplifting thought and moment. And, how that is transferred to the audience in a positive way is just wonderful.”

Both Lebov and Montgomery encourage people to join in, either as a choir member or by attending the concert at the end of each session.

Lebov says there are so many great reasons to join in, but one of the best is getting to work with Clemmons.

“Think about how many times someone might have a germ of an idea, a ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if I got this thing together?’ And she went ahead and found a church, and put ads in the paper, and got people to show up, and break the songs down, and teach them. She’s superhuman. And she does it with grace and she just sparkles,” he says. “She does it with humor and I never leave there without having had a good laugh about something she said or did. Every practice leaves you with a smile.

“If you can carry a tune in any way, do it,” he says.

Montgomery agrees.

“Do it! Don’t think about it, don’t wait for the right time, just sign up and show up,” she says. “I promise that you will leave each Monday night practice with heaps more energy and joy than you came in with. There’s not one of us who couldn’t use more of those!”

For more information about the workshops, which start in September, and the concerts, along with fees and registration call 203-619-1415 or email shorelinesoul@comcast.net.