Since the 2010-2011 Christchurch earthquakes staff and learners at Waitakiri School have been participating in daily singing specifically to promote wellbeing, and wellbeing scores have remained high. Facilitation of the singing involved the creation of "no pressure", democratic and participatory conditions, with teachers specifically avoiding judging learners' progress and achievement, and having an unambiguous focus on being together and having fun. Coming together to sing provided the opportunity for a positive collective relational response to trauma that just 'felt right'. Despite their passion for daily singing, however, participant teachers felt considerably less prepared to engage with music education tasks, which they aligned more with the 'science' or 'technical aspects' of music. As part of our action research process we examined this apparent dichotomy, and found that even when teachers have poor self-efficacy with regard to singing they can engage learners in singing by taking the focus away from music learning; and that learners were developing key competencies and learning musical concepts when singing informally. We conclude that increased focus on positive participation rather than skill-based learning is likely to contribute positively to both education and well-being agendas.