Choir! Choir! Choir! has always fed off the energy of a live audience belting out arrangements of pop songs.

But social distancing and COVID-19 restrictions means that the way people get together is evolving, and on Tuesday, the Toronto choir leaders Nobu Adilman and Daveed Goldman were preparing to live stream their usual show from Goldman’s home, singing into the camera for the thousands planning to sing along somewhere out there.

They planned a lineup well suited to a time of social anxiety and quarantine including: “Wish You Were Here,” “With a Little Help from My Friends” and “Lean on Me.”

Sitting on Goldman’s couch, at 9 p.m. Tuesday, 7,000 people were watching as they ad libbed lyrics on the fly, changing “Stand by me” to “Stand six feet away from me.” The live show had 16,000 comments by then: “Thanks so much for the past hour. Did my soul good,” one person typed.

They were hoping they could create an online space where singers could see each other — and maybe that will come at some point, but this was a start, a small gesture of human connection to make people “feel less alone,” Adilman said.

In the lead up to the event, 6,600 people said they were going, and another 16,000 were interested. “What a great idea during this stressful time. My daughter and I can’t wait,” one woman commented, as people confirmed they’d be watching from places like California, New Zealand and Hatboro, PA.

Choir! Choir! Choir! is just one of many groups that have gone virtual as the country faces unprecedented restrictions in an attempt to flatten the curve of COVID-19.

On Tuesday, Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency in Ontario, ordering the immediate closure of places of worship, theatres, private schools, daycares, bars and restaurants (with the exception of takeout). Public events of more than 50 people are banned until March 30.

As restrictions have increased at home and abroad, many artists have seen their events cancelled and postponed and have turned to the internet to offer an increasingly housebound public a break from the onslaught of news.

Cape Breton fiddler Ashley MacIsaac is planning an online “quarantine ceilidh” for April 1, with details to come (“If it goes sideways then I’ll have to say ‘April Fools!’ ” he commented with a smiley emoji on his Facebook page).

Instead of a live reading in Uxbridge, Toronto children’s book author Vikki VanSickle will be reading her book “Teddy Bear of the Year” live from her apartment on a livestream Wednesday morning at 10:30 a.m.

She knows it will be strange to not have the energy of children reacting to a story in real time, but she still wanted to connect, even if it means anticipating reactions like Mr. Rogers on a closed studio set. She is game.

“The most interesting thing to me is pausing,” she said Tuesday.

It is odd not to have the immediate reaction of a crowd, but it can also be charmingly intimate. Earlier this week, Jann Arden livestreamed a concert from her home, which had more than 600,000 views by Tuesday.

Arden began by adjusting her computer’s camera, laughed as she momentarily cut off her own head, and commented to guitarist Russell Broom that people were, in fact, logging on. This was no ordinary concert intro: Her slipper fell off, she warned the dog might bark, but she had showered, she said, and that was the main thing.

“I know these are really strange and difficult times,” she said. “A lot of us have never seen anything like this in our lives.” She encouraged people to stay home, be responsible, and then she began to sing as the comments rolled in. Adilman, of Choir! Choir! Choir! called Arden’s concert “beautiful.”

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“Our natural response as humans is to want to connect with people. Despite our limitations with coronavirus we are hard wired to find other ways and we will find other ways,” he said.

It is important to have a release valve for anxiety, some time away from worrying news and the instability of uncertain timelines. “I feel like people are carrying that stress,” he said.

He hopes that they will soon figure out a way to “up the game” with their technology so they can better connect with people as they sing, but at the very least, a Facebook livestream is a start.

Adilman is bringing balloons he found cleaning his place to help make the background festive. They will take song requests, and hope that whoever tunes in will sing and fill their homes and apartments with joy and optimism.

Maybe whoever is watching will sing out of their windows, like the videos of quarantined Italian neighbours serenading each other from balconies and windows.

“If you’re in an apartment, you might hear singing through the walls,” he said. “It might not be perfect sounds, but you might open a window, and you might start singing here.”

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