The Chasam Sofer writes that we should sing the viddui in a nice tune, since it is a mitzvah, and we have to do mitzvos with simcha.
The heilige Ruzhiner would mention the Bardichever every Yom Kippur night. He said that since the Bardichever was such a meilitz yosher for Yidden, it was a segulah for a good year to mention him.
His son, the Rebbe of Sadigura, would add that it was a segulah even just to mention the city of Bardichov. We see this in the Mishnah, where every day in the Beis Hamikdash, before starting the daily korbanos, the kohanim would ask, “He’ir p’nei hamizrach ad sheb’Chevron?” — is it light already all the way to Chevron? Rashi says that they would mention Chevron in order to bring up the zechus avos. From here we see that even mentioning the city where a tzadik is buried can bring a zechus.
When the Torah mentions Yom Kippur, it says Yom HaKippurim in the plural form. The Maharil says that this teaches us that it is a day of kapparah for all Yidden, even those who have already passed away.
The Baal Shem Tov once came to a town and asked the Yidden who was the chazzan on Yom Kippur. They told him that their rov was the chazzan. “Tell me if there is anything interesting that he does,” the Baal Shem Tov asked.
They told him that during viddui, he sings the entire thing with a happy tune. The Baal Shem Tov called the rov over and asked him why he sang a happy tune while saying Al Cheit.
The rov answered, “If I were a janitor in the king’s palace and I really loved the king, then even when I was cleaning out the sewer, I would be very happy, because I would be getting my beloved king’s palace clean.
“So too, during viddui. Every Yid is a dwelling place for Hashem, and through viddui we are cleaning Hashem’s palace!”
The Baal Shem Tov was very impressed by this answer.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 99.