My shul often just barely scrapes by a minyan on Shabbat, but tonight there were over 75 people there and hearing that many people recite the Shema together was so beautiful and powerful I almost started crying!!!
Also, our shul has no dedicated cantor, we fly one in from elsewhere for the high holidays. There are 2 we have used in my time here: a woman who was raised in our community and went elsewhere as an adult, and a man who is a friend of my rabbi's from a previous synagogue he worked at.
And I like the singing of the woman who grew up in our community because she uses the same melodies I'm used to, but she's a soprano and I always try to match her pitch even though I am decidedly NOT a soprano, so it's difficult to sing along. And I like the man who knows my rabbi because his singing is comfortably in my range, but he uses melodies I'm completely unfamiliar with, so it's still difficult to sing along!
