For Whippany’s Garden State Threshold Choir, It’s All About Harmonies and Presence

Judy Hahn recalls the day.

It was in 2010, before she had started the Garden State Threshold Choir. Kate Munger, the founder of Threshold Choir International, was visiting the New York City chapter, and Hahn attended. While there, they put her in the zero-gravity chair, and the beautiful singing began.

“I still cry about it,” Hahn says. “It was the love, the sheer, overwhelming feeling of love that was directed at me.”

Threshold Choir International, a nonprofit network of choirs who sing for those at the thresholds of life, has over 150 chapters worldwide. New Jersey’s lone chapter, started by Hahn in 2017, celebrates five years together this summer.

Hahn that day in New York City was placed in the position of a terminally ill patient, experiencing what that person feels like as they prepare to cross the “threshold” to the next life while being sung to by a loving, small group of Threshold Choir singers. “It can be very emotional,” she says.

The Garden State Threshold Choir sings in small groups of two to four women at patient’s bedsides, invited by the patient’s family members themselves, by hospice, or healthcare representatives. And in addition to the melodious harmonies they provide, it’s all about being present. “We don’t entertain,” Hahn says. “We are a choir of presence, of witness, accompanying patients and their families and their caretakers on that journey across the threshold.”

Hahn explains the process of joining the 17-member New Jersey chapter. “We're accepting inquiries,” she says. “We don't hold formal auditions, but it's a process: them getting to know what we're about, and us getting to know them. I go through a process of having a conversation. The first thing I do is tell them to go the website, read everything and watch the videos, so that they know what type of music it is. And when someone hears it, if they get that chill that runs down their spine, then it's almost like there's no choice. You have to do it.” The Garden State Threshold Choir (courtesy of their website) asks that prospective members be able to “carry a tune, hold your part, blend with others, and accept peer feedback as we strive to bring the most blended and graceful sound possible to our clients. Above all, we ask you to communicate kindness with your voice.”

Most of the songs presented at the bedside of the ailing are almost all written by choir members. “Each chapter chooses core songs and lists, and our core list is about 30 songs now,” Hahn says. “For any given situation, we draw from that list. If a hospice patient is close to death, we sing a song with lyrics about ‘spread your angel wings and fly’ or ‘lay down your burden.’ If they're in a challenging situation, if they're in pain or they've just begun the hospice journey, then we sing songs about being surrounded by love, feeling peaceful, and resting.” The group bonds as well. “We also have our own gathering songs when we're together. We spend a lot of time together, and we learn the songs together. It's the lyrics, it's the presence, and it's the harmonies. We sing each song first - the short, simple songs - and we sing them first in unison. Then we repeat it with a line of harmony, and then we sing it one more time with another line of harmony. And it's that three-part harmony that creates that magic. Even if the patient is visibly not conscious, they will hear it to some degree, they will feel it. And it's the harmonies that create the vibes for everybody in the room.”

The Threshold Choir organization provides a lot of training. “We don't just learn the songs,” Hahn explains. “Besides learning from each other in a network of chapter leaders, Threshold Choir has developed curriculum and workshops, especially during the pandemic, and a lot of that training is about being present." That is so key, because when we're in the moment, when we're on Zoom for half an hour, or when we're at bedside, there can be a lot of distractions. A nurse may be doing something, or somebody's crying. We tune into each other and into the patient, so that we can focus.”

The Garden State Threshold Choir meets virtually the first and third Tuesday of each month at 4 p.m. for a Zoom Song Circle. “It's a half hour with a small team of us - three or four or five - and we sing solo, and we play audio and video recordings, so people who come on to that Zoom session can just sit back and hear our Threshold songs,” Hahn says. “Most of us don't take the time to just receive sound and let it wash over you, let it seep into your soul, and just relax. It’s so de-stressing.”

For more information about the Garden State Threshold Choir, visit www.thresholdchoir.org/Garden_State.