As the first chords of Jackie Wilson’s Higher and Higher begin to play, the chatter dies down. Seventy women begin to tap their feet, sway their hips, and then an explosion of voices fills the air. Within moments, Sound Waves choir has transformed the Temperance Hall in Kinsale into a music venue.

Just over two years ago, most of these women were strangers, nervous to start a new venture. But through every rehearsal and performance, their bond has grown, and a choral community has evolved.

“I’d be in traffic in town now, rolling down the window shouting out to one of the girls: ‘Do you have your lines learned for Tuesday?’” laughs Amanda McCarthy, a Kinsale local who works in gourmet cooking and has met a lot of new friends since joining the choir.

The Kinsale venture has been such a success that musical director Dee O’Kelly has recently expanded Sound Waves to a new venue in the Carrig Centre, Ballincollig, where there has been so much interest, she had to add two classes there. Now, members of the groups in Kinsale and Ballincollig are working hard for their upcoming performance, closing out the 2026 Women & Agriculture conference, supported by FBD Insurance. The event attracting 600 women has always been a day of support and positivity, and Sound Waves choir embraces that same ethos.

Dee says, “It’s been amazing to see so many women come together, of varying ages, backgrounds, and different levels of confidence and just give it their all every week to make this beautiful sound. “When someone joins the group, they are either high, mid or low, depending on their vocal range. Each group learns their lines and then we blend the harmonies together. Everyone works hard so when it all comes together, you feel the sound bouncing off the walls. There’s this great energy and sense of achievement.”

In this digital world, that sense of connection is more important than ever, adds Dee. “We live much of our lives online. Many people work from home, we scroll more than we talk, and Ireland has reported one of the highest rates of loneliness in the EU. Real, in-person community has never been more valuable, or harder to find. Joining a choir is a choice to do something just for you. For that hour, the outside world can wait.”

For some women, it was the music that brought them through the door; for others, it was something more – community, challenging themselves, making time for themselves in their busy lives.

Carol Murphy, an interior designer, says, “I grew up surrounded by music, and I really wanted it back in my life. I thought, how do I get that? Then I saw Sound Waves on social media.”

With two young children, it isn’t always easy to get out on a Tuesday night, and initially practice clashed with her husband Cormac’s training, “but now we get a babysitter,” says Carol. “My Mom has always said it’s so important to have your own hobbies, to carve out time for yourself. And this creative outlet is massively important for me now, but I also want the kids to see me doing something for myself. Moms are so busy driving kids to training sessions and after-school classes, but we lead by example. How can we expect our kids to get involved in activities if we aren’t?”

Making connections

Living across the road from Carol is Ella Larkin, a public health nurse and lactation consultant. Carol and Ella’s children are the same age and now, “they know all the songs,” says Ella. But the farmer’s daughter from Ballinasloe says joining the choir was as much about the music as it was about making connections.

She and her husband Gary moved from Galway back to his native Cork two years ago and Ella says, “You see people at the school gates, but we’re all rushing. I wanted to make new friends. The choir is such a diverse group, but the music is the common ground that brings us all together. You look forward to it all week, and then it’s great to be working towards something,” she says, in reference to the performances. “It’s cheaper than therapy,” she adds with a laugh.

For Kim Broderick, Sound Waves came into her life at a time when she really needed it. While she had been in a choir before, she had lived in Australia for three years. She says, “When I came home, my stepmother had just died and it was a tough time; I needed to do something for myself.”

Kim lives in Courtmacsherry, which is a 40-minute drive away, so on dark winter evenings, after working as a primary school teacher all day, she says sometimes the last thing she wants to do is head out for practice, “but then my Mom says, ‘I don’t know why you’re whinging because you always come back in great form.’”

Catherine Hillgrove, who works in the local pharmacy in Kinsale, and is a single mother of two, agrees, saying, “You’re in a room for an hour with different frequencies, the vibrations that are going on, you come out feeling amazing. I’m a Mom in much better form when I get home.”

The choir is made up of women from their 20s to their 60s and so the challenge for Dee is to choose a collection of songs that everyone connects with.

On any given week, the choir could be singing a song by Fleetwood Mac, Olivia Dean, Raye or Stevie Wonder, to name a few.

“Olivia, who? I said to my friend Celine,” says Amanda, referring to the choir’s set list. Sound Waves isn’t Amanda’s first choir; she was in a local folk group for over 15 years, which acquired the nickname ‘The God Squad’, although she says they didn’t just do masses – weddings, funerals, the Jazz Festival were all part of their performance list. “But I set myself a challenge to do something new.”

Amanda regales the group with a story about her version of events ahead of their summer performance in St Catherine’s Cultural Centre in Kinsale. It was her first event with the choir, “and the week before I realised we wouldn’t have lyric sheets.

“I said, I don’t know what I’m going to do. So I took three days off work to learn the lyrics. I mean, I was demented,” she says, laughing. “All my family were like, ‘If we hear that song once more.’ But I hate to let things beat me and I know I’m joking about it, but learning the lyrics was important to me. I knew my part in our performance would be better because of it.”

Dee says, “The choir is about having fun and doing something new, but also people make mistakes; that’s part of it.

“I put together the line tapes so everyone can listen to their lines during the week, whether they’re in the car or making dinner. I record them but even I mess up my lines sometimes. I’ll let the choir hear my dodgy takes as well, so everyone can have a laugh at me messing up. It makes everyone more comfortable to know that this is a safe space and just give it a go.”

Standing ovation

All of this work leads to the performances. “I’ve seen it again and again: performing together transforms the group. When everyone is backstage beforehand, a little nervous, it’s where strangers become great friends and a group of singers become a real community,” says Dee.

“The choir has kind of shown me what I am capable of,” adds Catherine. “I was so nervous before our summer performance, but I just pushed myself to follow through, and then I realised I was really enjoying myself. It was such an accomplishment.”

The summer performance actually made Ella quite emotional, with a tear falling down her cheek after a standing ovation from the crowd.

“You know, all my family came; they travelled from Galway and Dublin, and my husband was there as well and he was so proud of me; he’s never seen me push myself like that,” she says, poignantly. Quick off the bat, she adds, “I’m a bit of a crier anyway, but I’m on the HRT now, girls, so we’ll be OK for Women & Ag,” she says to screams of laughter from the group.

See soundwaveschoir.ie @sound_waves_choir

Sound Waves will be performing at the Women & Agriculture conference at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Little Island, Cork, on 29 October, supported by FBD Insurance. Information on the Women & Agriculture conference, scan the QR code below with your phone.