The Choir changing the way you view the world

Transcriber: Phuong Thao Le
Reviewer: David DeRuwe

(Choir) (Peek Whurrong)
Nuunbee tuumba, nuunbee tuumba

Nuunbee tuumba, nuunbee tuumba

(Soloist) (English) Hold onto your breath.
Hold onto your tears.

Let out your emotion.
Let go of your fear.

See it through our eyes.

See it in our hearts.

Doesn’t matter who you are.

Welcome with open arms.

(Choir) Oh - Oh - Oh

Can you feel it. Can you feel it.
This is our day.

Can you feel it. Can you feel it.
This is our time.

Can you feel it. Can you feel it
This is our family.

Can you feel it. Can you feel it.

This is our moment to shine.

(Soloist) Rise on your wheels.
Rise in you shoes.

Throw your hands in the air

This is our gift to you.

(Choir) Oh - Oh - Oh

Can you feel it. Can you feel it.
This is our day.

Can you feel it. Can you feel it.
This is our time.

Can you feel it. Can you feel it.
This is our family.

Can you feel it. Can you feel it.

This is our moment to shine.

(Musical interlude)

(Choir) Oh - Oh - Oh

Can you feel it. Can you feel it.
This is our day

Can you feel it. Can you feel it.
This is our time.

Can you feel it. Can you feel it.
This is our family.

Can you feel it. Can you feel it.

This is our moment to shine

(Soloist) (Peek Whurrong)
Gnaatu’hnat wallawar kakoo

(Choir) (English) Our moment to glow

(Soloist) (Peek Whurrong)
Gnaatu’hnat wallawar kakoo

(Choir) (English) Our moment to glow

(Soloist) (Peek Whurrong)
Gnaatu’hnat wallawar kakoo

(Choir) (English) Our moment to glow

(Soloist) (Peek Whurrong)
Gnaatu’hnat wallawar kakoo

(Choir) (English) Our moment to glow

(Applause)

Tom Richardson: All right. We’re going
to try something together here.

I’m going to play a rhythm
using my hands and my body,

and I’d like you to repeat it back to me.

(TR: Clapping)

(Audience: Clapping)

(TR: Clapping)

(Audience: Clapping)

OK.

Current vulnerability levels
maybe around a six out of ten.

I’m going to sing something now,

and I’d really like for you
to sing it back to me.

TR: Heyyo

(Audience) Heyyo

TR: Heyyo

(Audience) Heyyo

TR: Heyyo

(Audience) Heyyo

TR: Vulnerability levels
maybe dropped to about a two.

(Laughter)

That was a little bit
more scary, wasn’t it?

Kylie, how are you feeling?

Kylie Thulborn: Tom, I’m not going to lie.
A little bit nervous. It’s TEDx.

But I am fully pumped,

and how could you not be pumped

after being in the heart
of a performance like that?

We all need to find our voice.

Some of us have lost it along the way;
others unsure if they ever had one.

Whether you’re in the car, in the shower,
in a group, or on stage,

singing feels good.

It’s been said that speaking
comes from the mind,

but singing, singing comes from the soul,

and there are few choirs in the world

with as much soul
as the Find Your Voice Choir.

TR: So the performance
that you just experienced

was an original song,
an original piece of music

called “Moment,”

written entirely by Find Your
Voice Choir members,

many of whom identify with a disability,

but solidifying all the reasons

why a choir of this nature
deserves to be performing

on a global platform such as TEDx.

The song also featured lyric translations

in Peek Whurrong - a Maar nation
aboriginal language

from what is now known
as southwest Victoria in Australia,

arguably one of the oldest
indigenous languages on the planet.

Now, during the performance,
you may have felt this …

overwhelming sense of emotion

but were unable to pinpoint
exactly why that was.

The Find Your Voice Choir
asked two very important questions:

the first, “How do I truly view myself?”

and the second, “How is it
that I truly view others?”

An audience member, perhaps,

most recently articulated
that a choir of this unapologetic nature

then allows audience members

to examine and question
their own vulnerability.

What we found, that by embracing

each member exactly who
and exactly how they are,

then exposes their true nature,
their true passions,

and also instills a real
deep sense of belonging.

Since the beginning of time,
music has helped define who we are.

As humans, we’re
the only species on the planet

that can spontaneously join together
in coordinated songs,

regardless of having ever met before.

And whether it was
your grade five music teacher

suggesting, “Probably best
that you just mime in the school play”

(Laughter)

or some greater misguided cultural belief,

most of us are … we’re afraid
to express ourselves creatively,

even though we know how good it feels.

KT: In 2017, Tom and I traveled
around the southwest of Victoria,

singing around tables
of five or six people at one time.

No audition, just an open invitation
to anyone who wished to share in music.

The Find Your Voice Choir
now welcomes over 250 members

of all ages, abilities,
sexual preferences, races, religions,

and backgrounds,

uniting over a dozen communities
across southwest Victoria and beyond.

On stage earlier, you saw
First Nations people, fathers, daughters,

friends, creators, musicians, community,

all side by side.

This choir is a distilled representation
of what belonging feels like.

Disability pride runs deep
through our choir culture.

Let’s just be honest, society
hasn’t held the bar high for people

with the lived experience of disability
or those left isolated by something

as innate as race or sexuality.

This choir is a melting pot
of all these traits.

TR: Regardless of perceived ability,

what we found is that when you set
the expectation at a professional level,

each unique member of our choir family
can then rise to their interpretation

of where that bar is for them.

KT: We’re not just here to share
a joyful community built on music;

we are here to embed
a narrative of belonging -

one that can be seen,
one that can be heard.

Everything we do is supported
by a true model of inclusion,

one embedded in human rights.

Our greater vision is not
only for this choir in this moment;

it is the ripple effect -

creating an empowered narrative
that transcends outdated attitudes

and offers an experience

that just might change
the way you interact with the world.

TR: All right, so.

I’m going to sing something again,

and I’d love for you
to really sing it back to me.

Heyyo,

(Audience) Heyyo

Heyyo

(Audience) Heyyo

Nice. Where is your
vulnerability level at now?

So you’ve heard the power
of one voice, of two voices.

You’ve seen and you’ve heard
and you’ve felt the power of 200 voices.

Are you ready to add your voice

to this global narrative
of not just acceptance,

but celebration?

KT: Are you ready
to really interact with world?

TR: And is the world ready for you?

Thank you.

(Applause)