‘It breaks our heart not to sing’: how choirs are keeping the music alive during Covid

Choral singing has become a health hazard - and reuniting isn't as simple as hopping on Zoom

As anyone who has tried to sing happy birthday" at a Zoom party this past year can tell you, online audio does not work well with multiple users.

This is because Zoom, like most other video platforms, experiences a 300-millisecond to one-second lag between computers as information gets sent over the internet. The delay renders directing and singing music simultaneously nearly impossible, making the pandemic eerily quiet for the one in six Americans who sing in a choir.