Just sing along with Sarah

Anyone who visits the “Sing with Sarah” class at the Oasis Senior Center in Corona del Mar quickly learns that the class title is anything but arbitrary.

Every Thursday, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Oasis multipurpose room, a group of about 30 people gather and simply sing. The group has met for the past 20 years as part of the Coastline Community College Emeritus program, led all that time by the class’ namesake, Newport Beach resident Sarah Kerr.

The rule in Kerr’s class is that if you don’t know the song, sing it anyway.

Kerr, a family counselor and psychotherapist, found that expressing her joy of singing led her to sing with others and pass on a little vocal education in the process.

In between songs, she might give a lesson on singing in scales, or help the students “stretch” their voices by singing in higher or lower pitches.

Kerr’s charisma instantly gives those who visit her class a sense of confidence, whatever their ability to sing. Her students will attest to that.

Alice Smith has attended the class for more than 12 years, and the fact that she does not sing has never kept her away.

“I can’t sing a note,” Smith said. “But I can listen and make my mouth move so they don’t know I’m not singing.”

Smith will celebrate her 101st birthday Saturday with her family ? consisting of two children, three grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and twin great-greatgrandchildren ? and half of the neighborhood, she said.

“Alice is the only one who never misses a class [even after] falling out of a bus or getting her pacemaker in,” Kerr said. “I couldn’t believe it. She was back in class the next day.”

A teacher who delights in watching her students shine more than her own spotlight, Kerr shied away from any attention that took the focus away from the choir’s dynamic.

“I don’t do solos, and I don’t take photos.”

If Kerr notices a student who seems extra enthusiastic about a particular song, she often feels a solo coming on for them, she said.

A recent soloist, Daidra Tillman, performed “When You Wish Upon a Star.”

Tillman joined two years ago, after picking up a flier at the senior center.

“I thought I wanted to do some singing.” Tillman said. “And when I sing, it makes them happy and it makes me happy.”

The class began with “When You’re Smiling,” a song written in 1928 by Larry Shay. Shay, the former composer for musicals from the silver-screen era, came to the Oasis years ago and volunteered as an accompanist for the class.

Shay even wrote the class’ theme song, “Sing with Sarah.”

Aside from the theme song, Kerr holds other bragging rights in her classroom.

“We have songs in our book as far back as the 1800s,” Kerr said.

Still, Kerr’s greatest love is the music, and to her, Thursday at Oasis is the only place to be if you truly love to sing.