Choir leading as low-impact aerobics, or, how I gained weight during lockdown

Although I don’t have a regular choir, before the pandemic I used to lead one or two singing workshops each week.

I now realise that was my main exercise! Since lockdown, I’ve become a couch potato.

How to make plans for your choir with an uncertain future

The socially-distanced reopening of indoor performances in England was due to take place last Saturday, but the government has now postponed it for at least another two weeks.

With circumstances changing so frequently, how do you prepare for future concerts and rehearsals?

Balancing individual creativity with group collaboration

During lockdown many of us have had to fall back on our own devices. We’ve been cast ashore on a virtual desert island and asked to fend for ourselves.

It’s tough when you have to do everything by yourself, but it can also be liberating as you have nobody to account to. There are pros and cons to both ways of working: by yourself or in collaboration.

Is a choir a family?

People join choirs for many different reasons. Whatever those reasons might be, a choir ends up being a small community.

Photo by U.S. Embassy London

In fact, some consider a choir as a kind of family. But what might that mean?

Whatever you’ve managed to do during lockdown, you’re doing great

I keep seeing virtual choirs on Facebook and hearing about amazing Zoom singing sessions.

Photo by Virginia State Parks

It’s hard not to compare and feel that you’re not keeping up. But whatever you’ve managed to do, you’re doing great.

How to keep your choir or singing business alive while it’s shut down

I started my first community choir over 20 years ago. I used to worry that, after the long summer break, the singers would have forgotten me and wouldn’t return to choir when it started up again.

With choirs and singing groups not meeting in person, those worries are magnified. How can you keep your singing groups alive and ensure that your singers are still there when this is all over?

When did you last sing together? You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone

That last time I was in a room with a group of singers was nearly four months ago.

If I had known then that I wouldn’t be singing like that for the foreseeable future, would I have behaved differently?